Head Tilt for 4 Months on Antibiotics How Long Can Rabbit Stay on Antibiotics

Question
Dana:  I have a female rabbit (Lola) that has head tilt due to an ear infection.  I took her to a semi knowledgable rabbit vet and when she got worse I took her to a place in Washington State called Rabbit Haven.  The woman who owns this place is a godsend and nursed Lola through the worst part of the head tilt with Pen G, Metacam, Critical Care, and Probiotic.  I felt this was the best place for her as she has taken care of rabbits for 35 years. This was January and Lola was with Rabbit Haven for a month as we wanted someone who had more knowledge than us to take care her through the worst part of the head tilt.  We got Lola back a month later and continued the care.  WHen we tried to take her off of Pen G she started rolling again so we continued the Pen-G .45 daily.  We tried again later to take her off and the same thing happened the rolling started again.  As ofthe Middle of April we contacted Rabbit Haven again and asked for advice.  She advised that it was taking Lola long to recover and maybe it was time to try another antiobiotic.  We then started Lola on Bicillin and also are giving her Panacur just in case it might me ECunuli even though the only symptoms she has is the head tilt.  It has now been a month and the head tilt has gotten better but her head is still not straight.  SHe is using her litter box, eating her greens and pellets on her own, drinking water from the crock but her head is still tilted.  She gets Bicillin every other day .45, probiotic and Panacur which we received from the lady at Rabbit Haven.  OUr plan is to continue the Panacur did the amount she gave us is gone and continue with the Bicillin.  My questions are:  will Lola's head ever come back up, can she possibly need these antibiotics for the rest of her life and if so is there any harm in that?  When we try to put her outside of her playpen which is where she has lived since she was first diagnosed with head tilt she starts circling and rolling as it seems she gets stressed cause when we put her back she stops.  When we feet her her probiotic through a syringe she loves it so much we are able to have her move her head back and forth and up and down so it's not stuck in the tilt position.  She can straighten her head to eat from her crock and bathe herself.  Could it be possible that she is just being lazy?  If we take her to a rabbit savy vet what more could they do?  We have spent so much money on her already that would the money spent taking her to the vet help her any more than we already are?  I know this is very long but I wanted to explain how long we have been doing the treatment we have done for her.  Any help would really be appreciated.

Answer
Dear Heidi,

I know of bunnies who have been on antibiotics for longer than 4 months.  It's not a great situation, but sometimes you're between a rock and a hard place.  :(  

Adding the Panacur is not a bad idea, but if that's not working and you see no sign of infection, ask the vet about trying toltrazuril sulfate, which may be useful against E. cuniculi as well.  

As far as the tilt is concerned, she may always have a bit of a tilt.  But once the primary cause of the tilt is cured, the condition will slowly improve.  Exercise in a large area will help, as will firm but gentle massage of her neck, back, and the chest area below her chin.  Because the muscles can become fibrotic and fixed in position if not moved, physical therapy is very important.

Please see:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

and

http://bio.miami.edu/hare/tilt.html

for more information.   The latter has a link to a site written by a physical therapist who devised some novel exercises that helped his bunny regain normal posture after a head tilt.

I hope some of this will help.  Hang in there.  It can take a long time for a head-tilt bunny to come back to normal.

Good luck!

Dana