Suspected Seizure

Question
Hello,

I have a two year old small, lop rabbit. In the past few months I have noticed that when I put my hand beside his body and slighlty behind his neck but close enough to his face that he can see it he runs in very tight circles around my hand as if he is chasing it. He will do this continously for as long as I leave my hand there.

Tonight I think he had a seizure. He was playing and then all of a sudden began doing what I've described above, except I wasn't teasing him with my hand. His eyes were rolled back in his head so I could hardly see any of the bown of his eye. He also seemed to have no sense of balance as he often fell over. However he always returned to this frantic running of circles. I put my hand on his upper back to steady his body however his head kept moving, I could also hear his teeth chattering.

This whole epsiode lasted about two minutes and when he'd finished he seemed stunned for a minute and then normal, as if nothing had happened. He was however very thirsty and drank from his bottle for close to ten minutes.

I do not know what to make of this, he is in good health and has to my knowledge not done this before.

I appreciate any assistance you may be able to give me.

Thank you

Jennifer

Answer
Dear Jennifer,

You need to get your bunny to an experienced rabbit vet for full evaluation, including blood chemistry, to see if anything can be seen there.

Rabbits are showing up more and more with epilepsy-like symptoms, and sometimes these are not associated with any obvious medical condition. But your bunny may have an inner ear infection (unfortunately common in lops) or other condition that is treatable, and the best way to get this started is with prompt veterinary attention.

Please read:

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

for causes of head tilt that also may be responsible for neurological signs such as what you're seeing.  You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana