rex rabbit seizures

Question
Hi, first of all, thank you so much for sharing your advice. I have a 4 year old Rex rabbit who has a large swollen place under and around his neck.(male rabbit by the way)  My mother thought it could be a goiter (SP?)   So I started feeding him iodized salt. At first, he was eating a lot of it and the swollen area seemed to go down. Then about two weeks later, it started coming back, he will not eat salt now, but still eats regular diet and drinks lots of water. After the neck began swelling for the second time, i think he has started having seizures, he will stretch out all the way and roll wildly in the floor then stops and lays stiff for about a minute, then he will get up and act normal, kind of tired acting just like a person does when they have a seizure. He also now holds his head sideways because of the knot. I am trying to save a little money up so I can get him to the vet a.s.a.p.. Because the ones around here wont see animals until you have the money all up front. That is all the symptoms right now. Please, anything you might think it could be, please let me know. Thank you soooo much

Answer
Hi Greg

Oh the poor little guy.  I have to tell you honestly that I think the symptoms are probably all related.  However without a veterinary exam it is impossible to determine the cause.  The good news is that they have treatments for rabbits with neurological disorders.  I hope that you can save the money quickly because he needs to be checked to find out what is wrong so he can receive the correct medication.  I don't know if maybe you can find a vet even a few hours away that doesn't charge as much.  You can try the HRS site  http://www.rabbit.org  on the right hand side is a link to vets that are state by state.  I have found that many of the vets who are independent rather than an actual animal hospital are more willing to work with you.

The best thing to do is to make sure he keeps eating.  His tilted head may become worse and he may have difficulty getting to his food and water.

I am attaching a site I found on neurological illnesses in rabbits.  

http://www.hrschicago.org/headtiltfr.html

I hope that he does ok.  His best chance is to find a doctor.  Like I said sometimes a 2 or 3 hour drive to find a doctor that cares more about animals than profits might be worth it.

Good luck and I hope your little guy is ok.

Pam