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Rabbits - 4 month old Mini Holland Lop seizures

Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 11/9/2009

Question
Hi there,

Just a couple house ago, our miniature Holland Lop bunny was sitting on my lap just hanging out when he suddenly stood up, crooked his neck up to look at me and his teeth started chattering rapidly. After about 5 seconds he stopped.
About 10 minutes later, his front paw started twitching rapidly and his body started twisting and his teeth were chattering again, I believe that he had a seizure, it lasted about 5 seconds also. After the seizure, he just flopped down on the couch and looked very scared. We put him back in his cage where he started eating and drinking his water. After about 10 minutes, we went to check on him, opened his cage door, and he ran out to be hugged and started crying. We put him back in his cage after we calmed him down. About an hour and a half later, he sat and tilted his head and started chattering his teeth rapidly again but his body did not twist and his limbs were not twitching.
These are the things that happened today that may have caused it and some facts about him for you:
1) He learned a new trick to knock things off the edge and managed to knock a mini tomato off the kitchen counter and ate it.
2) His water came from the bathroom sink instead of the kitchen sink (only time), the bathroom sink water may have had lead in it.
3) He roams free in the house and bonks his head on things alot of the time.
4) This is the very first time he has EVER had any symptoms of a seizure.
5)He has a litterbox, a food dish, hay and a water bottle in his cage but no bedding in the cage itself.
6)We use organic litter that has no toxins.
7)After the seizure, when he runs/walks, his front paws twitch out, which didn't happen before.
8)Did not act lethargic or any differently after the twitches/seizure.
9)Still eating and acting like his normal self, just a little scared.

Thank you so much for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!

Joanna

Answer
Dear Joanna,

This is very, very odd. If the bathroom sink water has lead, then no one should be drinking from it. But it's doubtful that only one drink from that faucet would be enough to cause lead poisoning. Not sure what else might be in the water, though.

I would try to get your little guy to a competent rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

for blood analysis, and tell the vet what you saw. If this is due to some sort of toxic insult, he may need medications to chelate heavy metals or other substances.

I hope your vet can help you solve this mystery, because the signs you describe do not fit any common rabbit disorder. I doubt such a young bunny would have a stroke. But he might have something else going on that the vet will need to see him to diagnose and treat.

Hope this helps.

Dana

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