I’ve always thought it would be adorable if one rabbit was aware of another rabbit’s ‘head tilt’ condition. Like the one rabbit just cares so much that he wants to help the other just view the world from an upright position. If you try rotating a ‘head tilt’ rabbit’s head back upright, the rabbit will just fall over.
Head Tilt Quick Notes!
Head tilt can be caused by many things including ear infection, stroke and commonly E. Cuniculi.
E. Cuniculi is a parasite that affects a rabbits nervous system. A rabbit can get this parasite in utero or from contact with infected urine. The parasite starts its way through the blood stream affecting many organs and ultimately making its way to the brain. Medication can be prescribed to help the immune system combat the parasite but it can not be eradicated. On medication and with some learned caregiving, your rabbit can still live a full happy life.
This is my little bunny girl Blacky. She'll turn 4 years old soon. Currently Blacky lives a very happy life in our garden, sharing about 14m² space with her partner Paul. Whenever we're home, they'll get to enjoy running around the whole garden.
Blacky is a very strong girl. Around Easter 2016 she got very sick. Diagnosis: Encephalitozoonosis. Thank god, we realized quickly that she was not fine and after three trips to the vet within two days, we finally knew about her illness and could start the treatment.
It started out on a Friday when she showed clear symptoms of a colic. We have emergency meds at home but they didn't do much, so we took her to the vet's. Some more meds and an infusion later and she seemed to be okay. But not for long. About two hours after we left the vet, she started to appear very tired and almost fell over while grooming herself. Then she tried to hop onto the roof of their little house (about 20cm high), slipped and fell off.
It was obvious, something wasn't right. So at about 10pm we packed her up and rushed her to the nearest clinic. They checked her again, gave her some more meds and informed us that it could very well be Encephalitozoonosis. We took her home again but during the night it became clear that she was getting worse. She wasn't eating, she wasn't grooming herself, she didn't play or hop. She also seemed quite disorientated and in pain. We took her back to the clinic the next morning and they decided to keep her overnight and start the treatment with Fenbendazol.
On Sunday afternoon we took her home. The prognosis was fifty-fifty. The vet told us, that the first three days were usually the worst and if the bunny survives that, it has a good chance to survive E. cuniculi as a whole.
On Tuesday she ate by herself. Just hay and some herbs, but she ate.
On Friday she could groom herself without falling over.
After two weeks she was back to her naughty self, annoying the other bunnies, digging holes, play-fighting with us and eating for three.
Encephalitozoonosis is a very serious disease, affecting many kinds of animals, including bunnies, rodents, dogs, cats, cattle and many others. There is a possibility of humans getting infected but only if said humans have a weak immune system, for example people undergoing chemotherapy.
If not recognized and treated in an early stage, most animals will either die or will have to live with permanent damages, such as kidney problems or paralysis.
E. cuniculi can show through a wide variety of symptoms, for example
neurological problems (balance problems etc.)
cognitive and mobility impairments (paralysis etc.)
eye diseases
kidney failure
epilepsy
indigestion
Unfortunately there is no vaccine against Encephalitozoonosis. Animals stay infected their entire lives but if you're lucky, you can reduce the symptoms and give your pet a few happy years to live. Lots of bunnies are infected without ever displaying any symptoms (latent infection), by the way. However, even if your bunny appears to be healthy, E. cuniculi can break out at any time, often triggered by chronic stress or an unsanitary environment.
Blacky has thankfully not displayed any symptoms for the last 1,5 years and we hope that she has some more healthy years to live. The only permanent damage that she suffers is her weak immune system, which is a reason why we vaccinate her regularly against Myxomatosis, RHD and RHDV2. We try to keep our garden as clean as possible and to avoid any unnecessary stress.
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask me. However, keep in mind that I am NOT a veterinarian and all the information I can give you is from my experience and my extensive research.
