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rabbit with head tilt due to middle ear bone infection

22 10:32:12

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my 4 year old lop has been in hospital for a week with head tilt, she took a turn for the worse on wednesday when she went on to her side and had problems getting back up. My vet x rayed her and discovered she has an abscess in the bone of her middle ear ( she has been treated for osteomyelitis in her jaw for the past 3 years).  The vet wanted to give her a chance so he flushed out the ear and upped her antibiotics, when I phoned today he said there was no improvement and that he would assess her again tomorrow and if there was still no improvement we would have to make a decision on her future.  I am worried he will be giving up too soon as I thought this could take a while to show improvement.  He is one of the leading rabbit vets in the u.k and he has taken really good care of cuddles for the last 3 years, is he right to give up or should I ask him to keep trying for a while longer.  Any help would be appreciated.

ANSWER: Dear Jacquie,

Before giving up, please read:

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

and

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

I'm glad your bunny is in good hands, but it might be wise to bring him home for treatment.  No matter how great the vet and staff are, the hospital is a scary place for a rabbit.  Reducing stress by bringing him home can make a huge difference.

Please also see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/jawabscess.html

I hope you can ask the vet about trying Penicillin-G Procaine, even though bicillin is not available in the UK.  Combining it with zeniquin (marbofloxacin) has given us very good results in many cases.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Dana,Thank you for answering my question so quickly.  Could you please let me know what the dosage would be for both of the antibiotics so I can pass this on to my vet.

many thanks,

Regards Jacquie

Answer
Dear Jacquie,

I'm sure your vet has a dosage.  But in case s/he does need this information, our vets use Pen-G at a rate of 50,000IU/kg once per day (once every 48 hours if you can get bicillin).  Our vets generally dose Zeniquin (marbofloxacin) at 20mg/kg once every 24 hours for the first five doses, and then back down to 15mg/kg every 24 hours.

We are instructed to give the antibiotics for a *minimum* of two weeks, and at least 10 days beyond the time signs of infection have subsided for best results and getting as many of the bacteria dead as possible!

I hope this helps.

Dana