Balance

Question
For the last 3 days at 8:30pm, first time unsure on first episode; I heard unusual noise in her room.  When I first saw her on all 3 occasions, she was going in a 5 foot circle with her head angled, but her rear wouldn't go fast.  She was confused looking and breathing very hard.  Went to vet and on medicine for her ear after culture showed no yeast, bacteria, mites, but some wax etc and in inner ear.  In my heart, I still think it is something else, maybe the start of Wryneck or Head Tilt.  She is 5.7 y.o. and spayed and never head a problem like this ever.  She is an indoor, only pet, same routine and runs in a penned room.  Last night, I heard a commotion after watching her all day and I saw her just 'sidewind real fast' past the baby gate and plowed into the cage and door.  I freaked out again, picked her up and calmed her down.  This only happens once a day from what I observe/hear as I am home all day.  I caged her in a padded cage and slept near hear and nothing.  Her head was angled to the right last night.  Nothing is wrong, her head and everything is totally normal now.  Could this be inbalance due to her ears?  Please help me.  

Answer
Dear Holly,

Your rabbit is suffering from torticollis, or "head tilt," which can have several different causes.  It's extremely important that your vet understand the cause of your rabbit's head tilt in order for it to be treated correctly.  Please print and share this article, written by an expert rabbit vet, for your vet:

www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html

or go here to find a vet who is more experienced with rabbits:

www.rabbit.org/vets

(and bring the article, anyway).

You can also read this one, which is less current, but has some of my own experiences with head tilt:

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

This is treatable, but it may take time for improvement to show up.  I hope this will help get you started, but please write back if you have any other questions once you've read those articles.

Dana