Epilepcy in rabbits

Question
Hello.My rabbit(Holly)is about 10/11 months old.The last few days she hasn't been herself.She has gone off her food a bit and I see her lying alot and resting on one side.Yesterday evening I was holding her and her eye started to jump in her head or go back and forth and her head tilted to one side slightly.I put her back in her box and she sat in a corner and lay out and she also seems really dosy or sleepy in herself.I brought her to the vet today and she said that she couldn't see anything wrong with her.So then we put her on the weighing scale and she sort of went sideways slightly and the same with her head.The vet said she may have just been sniffing it.I told her about the eye jumping thing and I asked what would that be the sign of and she said epilepcy.she said that it is uncurable.So I need help,I don't know what it is or if it is that and can I cure it.Please write back as soon as possible.Thank you.

Answer
Dear Keshia,

I found your question in the General Question Pool, but hope it's not too late to answer your question, even though it wasn't directed to me.

Your rabbit is showing signs of head tilt/torticollis, which can be caused by many different things, including an inner ear infection.  The vet who saw your rabbit does not sound as if she is very experienced with rabbits, since epilepsy is very rare in rabbits and other causes of head tilt are quite common.  

Please find a more experienced rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and read about head tilt here:

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

The eye movement you saw is called nystagmus, and it is a sign of dizziness.  There are medications that can be used to control this while the cause of the torticollis is being treated.

You can read a long and more technical article on the various causes and treatments of this common rabbit problem here:

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

Please feel free to share that one with your new vet, since that article was actually written by a well-respected rabbit expert veterinarian.

I hope this helps, and that your bunny will be fine after getting the proper treatement.  Please feel free to write to me if you have more questions.

Dana