Rough Day for the bunnies

This morning was quite cold. We have been expecting our 3 does to kindle this weekend. The bred does were Kwikspell, Lola Rockstar, and Princess Lulu, all due this weekend.

Princess Lulu went early this morning. She had the kits on the wire, and I haven't been feeling well, so I slept through the night without checking on her. We found four kits - one on the wire, and three had gotten out of the wire, and fallen to the ground. We lost all four. They looked perfect, and were all BEWs. I cried for quite a while. I don't handle loss very well.

We decided to move our does inside while they kindle. It's not freezing, but I didn't want to take any more chances with our kits.

In transferring our precious Kwikspell, my husband laughed ... she was behaving very oldly. I pulled her out, and my heart sunk. She had the beginning signs of wry neck (torticollis). We quarantined her, and began treatment: 2 types of wormers, now we have 5 days of biomycin, then 5 days of PennG. On day 7, we will do another round of the wormers.  I noticed the tilted neck at 8 am, and now, at 11am, her neck is almost tilted sideways.  It's heart breaking to see, but much of what I have read suggests that it is highly treatable.  We can hope and pray for our little Kwikspell.

Here's just my notes for MY REFERENCE.  If your rabbit has wry neck, please seek the care of a rabbit savvy veterinarian - ASAP.

Wry Neck:  Ear Infection?  (parasite infection?)

ALL STUFF AVAILABLE AT IFA (we had Biomycin on hand, everything else cost a total of $27)

Give

Ivomec  (horse wormer)

+

Kitten or Puppy Wormer

Day 1 Start Biomycin  (Make sure it is NOT expired)

A lot ---- (a least 1/2 cc or 3/4 cc)

5 days

accompany with Pea size of ProBios

Day 6 Start Penicillin G

A lot ---- (a least 1/2 cc or 3/4 cc)

5 days

pea size of probios

Day 7 - worm again.

Day 10 to  3 months ... hopefully better!

Some Reference Links:

Barbi Brown's Page on Wry Neck
Pet Eduction Article
University of Miami Torticollis Article
House Rabbit Society Article


What your bunny may look like with major Wry Neck:

That is what Kwikspell looks like now at 11 am.

Early today, she looked very slightly tilted:

Her head was slightly tilted - the way I knew was when I held her on her back, or turned her, she wouldn't turn her head the other direction.  My suspicion began when she stood on her hind legs in her cage, and fell backwards violently.  She was too dizzy, and her eye was bulging a little.  In just 3 hours, her condition has worsened dramatically.  I'm pretty worried about her.