Head Tilt - Urgent

Question
I have a male Netherland Dwarf rabbit, 2 years old.  Just got him at the end of January, he rode in the car for over 6 hours.  He was changed from a 30 degree barn to our 65 degree basement - I gradually moved him to the warmer place over a couple of days.  He did not eat well for 2-3 weeks but still drank water.  He did not move around a lot either.  Within the last week, he has started holding his head at a tilt and it has gotten more severe.  It appeared to me that he just wasn't using his left eye and thought maybe he had gone blind in that eye (he had had a pine chip stuck in his eye that I removed, but attributed the tilting/blindness to that).  He is now moving around a lot and eating, but has the strange head tilt.  How should I proceed?  I have another rabbit - they have cages next to each other - do I need to take precautions?  Why did this happen?

Answer
Dear Tami,

A head tilt (torticollis) can be caused by an inner ear infection, inflammation of the inner ear tissues, and/or by a parasite known as Encephalitozoon cuniculi.  Please read:

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

and

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

and find a good rabbit vet here:

http://www.rabbit.org/vets

The sooner this is treated, the better the chances for full recovery, so please get him to a good vet ASAP.  The other bunny is not likely to get this condition, as it is not contagious.  But if they are bonded, bring them both to the vet together so they don't fight upon being reunited if one of them smells different after the trip to the vet.

I hope this starts him on the road to recovery.