Little One

Question
Hi, maybe you can give me a little support. Someone had dumped a little white bunny in the field next to our house. I watched her for about a week. You could not get close to her.She started coming to an area near the front of the house. I started to coax her with lettuce and carrots, and eventually had her eating out of my hand.I could pet her, and she would come when I called her. Every night, she would go out in the field. She would come to the front of the house in the morning, and I would feed her and give her water. One day when I came home, she was lying on her side with her head tilted. I took her to the rabbit vet. She said after examining her, she had ear mites and possibly an inner ear infection. She also said she could have the e.cuniculi parasite. She didn't do a blood workup because she said it was expensive. I have been taking care of her for 20 days. She eats like a horse. She lays on her left side always, but will move her head around. She will groom herself. I have been giving her 1mil of cipro 500mg, twwice a day ,and .42 mil of fenebendazole once a day. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and I do stroke her neck and talk and play with her. Do you think she will come out of this and hop around again. How long should it take? She also had an eye infection which has since cleared up with medicated salve. Thanks, and hope to hear from you soon, Allan

Answer
Hello,

This condition is also commonly referred to as wry neck. It is a very serious condition and is very difficult to treat. When a rabbit does appear to improve, relapses are often common.

I do not want to discourage you or even say that it is not treatable. I just want to warn you that is a tough condition. From working in a veterinarian's office we see more rabbits that do not recover or relapse than rabbits that recover completely. It is not impossible though.

Although her diet is not contributing to her condition directly, a well balanced diet will be essential in her recovery. She should be a diet of pellets with as much fresh timothy hay as she can eat. Lettuce, especially iceberg lettuce can be dangerous to rabbits.

It sounds like your veterinarian has you on the right track.  Bare in mind also that wry neck can be caused by an injury. Without the proper culture it is impossible to tell. While the culture is difficult to obtain, from experience it should not be particularly costly.

Good luck! That rabbit is lucky you found her and are helping her now. I'm going to include some links to more information about the illness.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm
http://islandgems.net/wryneck.html
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/Holland-Lop-FAQs.htm
http://www.rabbitweb.net/health-problems.asp