Head Tilt
Your bunny loses his balance, and his head starts twisting toward the ceiling; he looks like something out of The Exorcist. He is dizzy, unable to regain coordination. If he tries to walk or hop, he falls over and starts rolling around. In some cases, his eyes dart back and forth very rapidly, and the iris appears to be almost vibrating.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TIL YOU GET TO YOUR VET: PAD YOUR BUNNY'S ENVIRONMENT!!! Your main job until you can get to your vet is to prevent your bunny from hurting himself while he's seriously uncoordinated and/or rolling. Prepare a box (or other carefully restricted environment) for him, thickly padded with towels or fake sheepskin. The idea is to provide him with a totally cushioned and absorptive environment that will restrict his rolling and uncontrolled movements until he can get full treatment.

A head-tilt presentation can be very frightening for owners. Many dog-and-cat vets will tell you that a head-tilt bunny should simply be euthanized. The experience of many excellent rabbit vets, however, has shown that, with a dedicated owner (treatment may extend over a period of months) and a bunny who is a fighter, head tilt can be treated very satisfactorily, and many (if not most) bunnies can make a full, or close-to-full, recovery. NB: Head-tilt bunnies often continue to have lusty appetites, but their lack of coordination makes it very difficult for them to eat or drink. Help your bunny to eat or drink in any way you can: hold the water bottle near his mouth, or carefully syringe water into him through the side of his mouth (watching to make sure he is not aspirating it!), hold his food (vegetables, hay) for him, and offer it piece by piece, etc.

Severe Diarrhea
Diarrhea, is not the same thing as soft, mushy stool, that sticks to a bunny's butt (this is usually excess cecal production). It is brown, watery discharge, which is often profuse. The bunny may be limp and very weak. Because it causes such rapid dehydration, diarrhea can be life threatening. If you can get to a veterinary emergency clinic, your bunny can receive subcutaneous fluids. If there is no such clinic near you, please ask your vet now — before an emergency arises — to teach you how to administer fluids at home. This kind of diarrhea is generally the result of parasites (coccidia) or inappropriate antibiotics administered by well-meaning (but not well-informed) vets. See your own rabbit-savvy vet as soon as possible for proper diagnosis and follow-up treatment.

Bites
Bunnies often inflict serious bites on one another, if they are not properly bonded. Bacteria introduced into the bite wound can travel through the bloodstream and seed other body areas, eventually producing abscesses. For this reason, you should definitely ask you vet to check any but the most superficial bites.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TIL YOU GET TO YOUR VET: If there is serious bleeding, apply pressure until a clot forms. Gently wash the area around the bite wound with Nolvasan (chlorhexidine) solution. Apply a very thin layer of regular Neosporin (triple antibiotic ointment); do not use Neosporin Plus! If the bites are extensive, try to get to an emergency veterinary service. The emergency vet can clean and dress the wounds.

Most superficial bunny bite wounds can be treated by shaving the hair and applying topical ointment and dressing until you can see your regular vet. If the emergency vet feels systemic antibiotics should be administered because of the extent of the bites, make sure that oral penicillin and derivatives (such as amoxicillin) are not used. Micotil and cephalosporins should also be avoided.

Some bunny-friendly antibiotics: Baytril (and other fluoroquinolones, such as Orbax, Dicural, Ciprofloxacin, Maxaquin), Trimethoprim Sulfa (aka: Sulfatrim, Bactrim, Tribrissen, TMP-SMZ), chloramphenicol (take extreme care not to touch it when administering it; it can cause aplastic anemia in some people), Gentocin (and other aminoglycosides — though these need to be used carefully to prevent ear and kidney damage). Although penicillin is not ordinarily a drug of first choice for most bunny ailments (and it should never be administered orally), injectable Pen-G Procaine can be very useful for specific kinds of problems.

Sudden Fever
If your bunny spikes a sudden, very high fever (we have seen fevers as high as 106 or 107 — literally off most thermometers), cool him down by swabbing his ears with alcohol or wet-towel-wrapped ice cubes. You can also dip your fingers into ice water, and gently stroke his ears for several minutes at a time. Try to get his temperature down to around 104 (normal is 101-103), i.e., a fever that is useful to his body, rather than harmful. Extra cooling can be achieved by taking chilled cans or frozen vegetable boxes from your refrigerator, wrapping them in towels, and packing them around your bunny. Administer subcutaneous fluids as soon as possible. See your vet, ASAP, for a thorough examination, diagnosis, and follow-up.

Heat Stroke
Cool your bunny as above, and administer sub-q fluids. See your vet ASAP.

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Help! My rabbit is sick and I can’t reach my vet!

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