Rabbit tilts head to one side & stumbles when trying to walk

[Roslyn the Gosling]

Rabbit tilts head to (R) side. Falls to (R) when trying to walk. Think he may have earache or infection, ear mites or tick in ear. We don't use drugs or chemicals. I guess I could pull tick out but what if mites or ear infection? Any suggestions? Thank you guys.

 

[NotabitaiI]

Rabbit tilts head to (R) side. Falls to (R) when trying to walk. Think he may have earache or infection, ear mites or tick in ear. We don't use drugs or chemicals. I guess I could pull tick out but what if mites or ear infection? Any suggestions? Thank you guys.

Do you have pictures of the inside of the ears? Is he eating and drinking? Does he have sore hocks or any other sort of broken skin/infection/injury? How long has this problem been going on? Is he new to you or have you had him for a while?
Sorry for all the questions but I've dealt with all manner of head tilts with my rabbits and it can be caused by many different things, hopefully for him it's just ear mites.

 

[Roslyn the Gosling]

Do you have pictures of the inside of the ears? Is he eating and drinking? Does he have sore hocks or any other sort of broken skin/infection/injury? How long has this problem been going on? Is he new to you or have you had him for a while?
Sorry for all the questions but I've dealt with all manner of head tilts with my rabbits and it can be caused by many different things, hopefully for him it's just ear mites.

No pix. Have had him for about 9 months. He gobbled up his kale & carrots this a.m. In fact, he saw me & got to me pretty fast except for having to 'right' himself when he stumbled.

I noticed him stumbling last night but he was eager to get his apple & kale so I thought he sure was clumsy as that was the first time I saw him stumble. I stood & watched him eat & he was gobbling up the goodies so I came back in. This a.m. is when he clamored for his kale which he LOVES & he fell over to the (R) & took a few secs to get back up & THEN I got suspicious it being the 2nd time in 2 days & his head tilted to the (R).

I got him for the poop for the garden & haven't tried to make a pet out of him but this has made me realize how much I do care for him & if he was a pet I would've been with him more & maybe caught this sooner.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

Could you try human at-home exercises on the rabbit to help with inner-ear balance/vertigo? I'm not sure how effective it will be, or even possible, but it might be worth a try.
Antibiotics in the ear cannot hurt too much if done correctly. For the possibility of a tick/mite:
> The tick would cause rashes/swelling and would be generally apparent, the area would be itchy, and the rabbit would show signs of that.
> Mites are so small that it is basically impossible for them to, alone, have an effect on the ear canal. Additionally, they basically just eat ear wax and also make it itchy. However, they can cause infection. If you can stick JUST the end of a cotton swab (make it wet, make sure to get off any loose cotton, and stick in ONLY the cotton part, not more of the stick, and twirl it) and see any black/dark brown debris, that is the sign of mites. There is no way to get rid of in-ear mites without a vet to my knowledge, but should treat as if infection. If you end up finding over-the-counter stuff for treating mites in ears after confirming your rabbit does have mites, inform us!

What is most probable as the cause is infection, or the rabbit was born with a balance issue related to the ear and skull, and it has become apparent now if it is still growing. That is, if all of what @NotabitaiI said wasn't applicable, which had good concerns.
That, or your rabbit is being extremely silly in method to lie down, but that doesn't sound like the case if it tries to get back up.

 

[NotabitaiI]

No pix. Have had him for about 9 months. He gobbled up his kale & carrots this a.m. In fact, he saw me & got to me pretty fast except for having to 'right' himself when he stumbled.

I noticed him stumbling last night but he was eager to get his apple & kale so I thought he sure was clumsy as that was the first time I saw him stumble. I stood & watched him eat & he was gobbling up the goodies so I came back in. This a.m. is when he clamored for his kale which he LOVES & he fell over to the (R) & took a few secs to get back up & THEN I got suspicious it being the 2nd time in 2 days & his head tilted to the (R).

I got him for the poop for the garden & haven't tried to make a pet out of him but this has made me realize how much I do care for him & if he was a pet I would've been with him more & maybe caught this sooner.

If you get a look in his ear and find scaly skin and blood then you need to fill the ear with oil, they also make many treatments that you can find at your local pet stores, that has been my remedy for mites, mites can absolutely cause a head tilt if they've gone untreated for a while. If as I suspect your rabbit has a meningeal worm or infection and you don't want to use chemicals the kindest thing to do would be to cull.

 

[Roslyn the Gosling]

That's okay. I used Brighteon's AI, Nemo. The most accurate AI, not big pharma based & FREE. Got responses on a number of natural remedies using essential oils, herbs & vitamins that I'd forgotten I already had so we're good to go & Bun-bun is happy again!

But THANK YOU for your valuable time & support.

 

[Roslyn the Gosling]

If you get a look in his ear and find scaly skin and blood then you need to fill the ear with oil, they also make many treatments that you can find at your local pet stores, that has been my remedy for mites, mites can absolutely cause a head tilt if they've gone untreated for a while. If as I suspect your rabbit has a meningeal worm or infection and you don't want to use chemicals the kindest thing to do would be to cull.

This is what I learned from Nemo:
{Yes, DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) can be used for treating otitis (ear infection) due to its ability to transport antibiotics through the eardrum, making them more effective. This property has been studied and documented, indicating that DMSO can enhance the delivery of antibiotics to the infected area, helping to clear the infection more effectively.}

I'd heard YEARS ago about the wonders of DMSO & it's still living up to its name. I treat my cat's asthma with it with just a couple of drops to the back of her neck. Before that was always expensive visit for shots EVERY month. Just be sure to learn proper way to apply for best results. DMSO is highly absorbent & gets DEEP into tissues. Be sure to use carrier oil like castor oil or coconut oil. I've used black seed oil as well. Be sure area of application & what you're using to apply with is clean as any contaminants will be taken down into your tissues as well. There are a number of videos available on line explaining the miracles of DMSO & proper application.

 

[Susan Skylark]

For someone who doesn’t want to use chemicals, dmso is a rather nasty one, it is great for certain purposes because it carries other medications into inflamed tissue but this also means it helps bring lots of unintended stuff into the skin or tissue as well and should be used with caution, especially on rabbits and birds. Also, even water is a chemical, so enough with the ‘all natural, chemical free’ jargon, you yourself are one giant chemistry lab, every living organism is, and all those essential oils and natural remedies are also chemicals, penicillin is derived from a mold, it has just been isolated by a lab and sold as a pure isolate. It is one thing to treat a mild problem without medical oversight or with basic stuff around the house, it is quite another to deprive an animal of proper treatment and make it suffer through a terrible illness because you are morally opposed to penicillin or whatever, humane euthanasia would be a far better option for the animal, sorry about this little soap box but I once treated a beautiful little Jersey cow, or she should have been, but she was miserable, peeing pus, and skin and bones, she was suffering for months and because she was an organic cow she couldn’t be treated with antibiotics. Finally the farmer let me treat her, she was now a regular cow, but she wasn’t at deaths door over a stupid man made rule, it was a kidney infection and very responsive to proper treatment but it was withheld for red tape. We need to do the best and right thing for the animals in our care, regardless of our preferences and opinions, I’m not saying spend thousands on something but if there is a reasonable treatment available withholding it is cruel. Head tilt can be a sign of inner ear issues but also neurological problems. Cats have an idiopathic version that clears up in a couple weeks with no known cause or treatment. Inner ear infection, either from external ear infection or spread from the blood is a possibility. Some sort of mass or tumor pressing on the area is another option. Stroke or head trauma is on the list. In rabbits I would also consider Pasteurella, it is more famous as sniffles but could easily cause inner ear issues, a course of baytril/enroflaxacin wouldn’t be a bad idea. Never use penicillin or amoxicillin orally in rabbits. If it is an inner ear infection treating topically isn’t going to touch it. I can’t recommend pouring anything into a rabbit ear with a possibly ruptured ear drum, especially dmso, it is right next door to the brain and bunnies are very sensitive critters. I also wouldn’t take medical advice from AI, while it can be helpful in many cases, it can be disastrous because it doesn’t vet the information whether it is true or reliable or even real, I just read a great article on people using AI to plan vacations and ending up trapped on a mountain overnight or paying lots of money to visit a place that doesn’t exist, but the AI can’t be wrong, I’d hate to have 5is happen in a medical case!