Rabbit Twitching

Question
Hello,

I recently adopted a blind rabbit that was born with only one eye, and that has an injury on her other eye, and so is now almost completely blind.  I have found that when she gets nervous (usually when I am in her cage area, or pick her up) that she has a twitch.  She twitches her head to her right (the same side she is missing and eye on) and the twitch eventually causes her head to almost turn completely to the side, so that the side of her head with no eye is practically resting on her stomach.  Her one eye also twitches during this. She has been to the vet, and he saw the twitching, but it was not a stroke (her eye twitches side to side, not up and down). Do you know what could cause this? She is on medication for an inner ear infection to see if that helps, but it doesn't seem to be helping the twitching.
Thank you!!

Answer
Dear Elizabeth,

It does sound as if she has more going on than just blindness, and I think the vet was wise to treat for an inner ear infection.  But torticollis (wry neck; head tilt) can have many possible causes, as enumerated here by a very well respected rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

Each cause has its specific treatment, so please feel free to share that article with your vet.  

One possible culprit may be Encephalitozoon cuniculi, a parasite that infects the central nervous system and can cause a characteristic type of blindness via cataracts (of a recognizable type that a good veterinary ophthalmologist can detect).  Please also see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/fenbendazole.pdf

I hope that helps.

Dana