Well, disaster has struck.
I noticed one of my holland babies, the little broken sable point, was starting to show signs of head tilt. In a panic, I rushed to the forum, used my trusty google, and contacted Barbi Brown, a Wry Neck Guru.
Let me talk a little bit about wry neck. It is caused by a parasite that lives in the kidneys of rabbits. During stress, such as weaning, dehydration, weather change, etc. the parasite attacks and replicates, leading to a number of symptoms that may or may not be exhibited in the affected rabbit.
In this case, my little girl ONLY exhibits the tilting head. There is no eye darting, loss of appetite, weepy eye or any other symptoms. This leads me to believe that it could possibly not be wry neck, but I feel my best course of action is to proceed under the fear that it IS wry neck, especially because I caught it extremely early.
After emailing with Barbi, who responded AMAZINGLY fast, and I thank her for it, I treated the mother of the baby with Ivomec, 1/10th cc per pound of body weight, and gave the afflicted baby a drop as well.
I've been keeping hay in the cage and put in a special ceramic crock that is low to the ground, so the baby can eat like her healthy sibling.
In one week, I will be retreating the doe and the baby. In the meantime, I've been keeping an eagle eye on the rest of the herd, none of whom are exhibiting any signs of problems. I've also been gently rubbing the baby's head and neck, in case of a muscle strain. This is going to be one spoiled rotten baby!
I'm also happy to report that the condition has not worsened. The kit seems to enjoy her neck rubs as well.
I'll be updating on the progress of the baby!
I know a few folks out there are wondering why I'd talk about the baby, especially when she is sick. Honestly, everyone has things happen in their herds. We all do. I want to share what is going on here, in case someone out there has to deal with wry neck too. Hopefully by reading this blog, they can help their rabbit or diagnose something more quickly :).
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
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1 comment:
Hi Kristen,
I found this post rather interesting and would like to thank you for sharing. Although I have not experience any wry neck so far (I hope I don't have to), it will definitely come in handy. But I have a question regarding the relationship between intestine bacteria and mites. I understand that Ivomec is normally used for fur mites and external parasites. How would using Ivomec help in treating internal bacterias of the intestine that is causing wry neck? As far as I know, Ivomec stays at the "outer" layer of the pet's body which in this case the skin level. So when the mites take a bite on their skin, they would consume the Ivomec poison and die. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Tim @ TLR
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