Rabbit Emergency!

[Mykee]

My 4 year old rabbit doe has a slightly tilted head, gunky eyes (She won't open them) and is sitting in a lump in the back of her cage. Her head doesn't look right either. It looks flat or something. Please help! I can't really bring her to a vet, either.

Update: I just went to check on her and she had moved her position. Her eyes were open a little more, too. Her head is very slightly tilted to the left, and it is a little mishapen, as though swollen from her ear to nose.

 

[riddleluvsrotties]

There's a lot of different things that can cause this, check inside her ears as the most common causes of head tilting in rabbits is mite and/or infection. Her ears should look clean, there should be no swelling or redness. If theres crusty film, and a weird almost amonia type smell, she's probably got mites.
Her eyes could be any number of things, common infections, allergies... you name it. A rabbit's body is just as sensitive as ours.
Have there been any changes to her enviornment? Any at all, you'd be surprised what type of things can mess with them.

 

[Mykee]

I just went to check on her agian, and she seems very weak. She is in a cage, but she won't strech her hind legs out. Her left eye is much worse than her right eye, with gunky, almost hot-glue like stuff coming out of it. It is also red and both eyes have a milky film.
Some background health issues:
Every winter, her nose loses all the hair and grows "warts". It was much worse this year, and she lost nearly all the hair on her head, except for under her eyes.

Is there anything I can give her (preferably not drugs) that would help her immune system?
Thanks.

 

[dainerra]

honestly, my only advice is to go to the vet like yesterday. Check your PMs....

 

[EmAbTo48]

Sounds like Pasteurella look it up, is your rabbit congested, wheezing, coughing???? It really sounds like this and the only way to help it is antibotics, rabbits can live with it but it always stays dorminant inside them and stress causes it to appear.

Please take it in its the only way you will help it.

 

[riddleluvsrotties]

To boost her immune system, you should offer lots of dark leafy greens (folic acid) You said you'd prefer no drugs, do you consider vitamin drops drugs? I offer my pigs and rats "sun seed" vitamin drops in the winter, it's got vit C and that's an immune booster.
I know what it's like, to not have the money for a vet, which is why we only have a few chickens and not the huge flock that some folks have. If we had a hundred birds, we'd lose our house paying for feed alone. If you don't mind me saying so, a little trick we've learned here is to buy meds from Lambert Vet Supply. It won't help your bunny, because it takes a few weeks to arrive via postal service, but there's a few things I think EVERY pet owner should invest in. Some antibiotics, the type would depend on what types of pets you have, we keep Penicillin, Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Tetracycline, and Cephalosporin on hand year round when we can. (one bottle goes a long way) And LVS has the lowest price for Pen that we've found. *fish mox fish pen fish cillin* The stuff packaged for fish is non prescription and cheap. Whenever something gets sick -if we can't fix it ourself- we call our vet for advice and dose. Ivomec, the ultimate in parasite control. Costs a bundle but, it works and as with the antibiotics, it goes a long way. mind you, we can't afford to but all that at once, so one bottle here, one there... when the money is available.

I'm not telling you "don't take your four year old doe to the vet", I'm just offering some future planning advice. Honestly, she sounds like her best hope is with a vet. I know how the small animal specialist vets can feel like robbery so I do understand your hesitation.

 

[Mykee]

Thanks guys for your help. My rabbit died Jan. 14, at night. I think she might have had cancer (if you want to know more, PM me).

 

[chinbunny2]

It sounds like she had wry neck. A condition that can be successfully treated with proper anti-biotics if its caught on time. At the same time, it can also be difficult to treat. Next time you get a rabbit that does that, try using the medications on this website. whether you like using meds or not, sometimes oyu have to treat them. All the information given to you above, was not correct, unfortunately. Wry neck can be successfully treated without a vet. The 'warts' you describe sound like she also had vent disease or mites. Both also easily treatable without seeing a vet. what I really suggest you do is read up on rabbit diseases and treatment. That way you can learn to treat the animal yourself, which will save you some future vet visits.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

 

[Mykee]

I first thought about wry neck and did some research on it that morning. Her head wasn't really tilted that much, though, and she straightened it out frequently. About the warts, I got some opinions on them, and the only thing we could figure out was a genetic problem. That was the website I used for my info. The problem was, it didn't give me a clear picture of how to treat her at home.