# Meclizine for head tilt



## cmh9023 (Apr 30, 2009)

I was wondering if anyone has used Meclizine for their head tilt bunniesto help with dizzyness and how has it worked out?Also, how long after taking it should it be in their system and "work"? Does it make bunnies sleeping like motion sickness meds for people do? 

One of my girls has head tilt and it doesn't seem to be doing much to help. She hates taking it so much that I'd rather not give it to her if it's not really doing anything for her. She's had two doses so far.

Thanks.


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## Maureen Las (Apr 30, 2009)

I never used it Cara but I know it's prescribed 



Why don't you pm Jadeicing ..she's an expert on head tilt treatment
Which bunny is tilted?

While you pm her I'll try to find out more about side-effects for rabbits.
Sorry to hear someone is sick


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## Maureen Las (Apr 30, 2009)

https://ssl.search.live.com/health/article.aspx?id=articles%2fgs%2fpages%2f1%2f367-3379.htm&q=Side+Effects+Meclizine
these are side-effects for humans; i would guess similar side-effects couldoccur in rabbits


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## cmh9023 (Apr 30, 2009)

Hi Maureen,

That's a good idea to PM Jade Icing. I've been browsing through her thread about Ringo's life and her new foster. 

It's my newest girl Jessie (I usuallycall her Jessica though) from Angela's shelter. So far it doesn't seem to be a terrible case so I'm cautiously optimistic that she'll be able to continue to lead a good lie. 

Cara

P.S. Vivi is sleeping at the end of my bed as we speak (or type, I guess)! She is the biggest character. I'm so glad you helped to save her until I could come pick her up. She's hilarious.


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## Little Bay Poo (Apr 30, 2009)

We were giving ours Meclizine for a few weeks. He took to it quite well and didn't have any noticeable side effects. Meclizine helped Ronnie's eyes to stop darting back and forth from dizziness, and also lessened his rolling episodes. We forgot a dose one morning (he was getting it 2x per day) and he was really bad off with dizziness and rolling. 

I don't know much on the subject because we've only dealt with one head tilt bunny. Perhaps you can ask your vet if you aren't seeing any noticeable improvements. With ours the improvement was very noticeable, especially in stopping the dizzy eye movements (within 30 minutes of taking the drug).


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## tonyshuman (Apr 30, 2009)

I know Jadeicing uses it with her head-tilt guys. She may not give it 100% of the time, though. I also remember it helping out Ronnie.

It may not be working for your bunny because the dose may not be right. Perhaps a lower dose would reduce the side effects that make her hate to take it but still help with nystagmus (the eye-darting).


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## JadeIcing (Apr 30, 2009)

I have used it so much! On them and on me. I usually use bonine which the dremamine car one is made of. Now I just have that one and give as needed. No more than one a day unless Ringo is REALLY bad. Than he will get one in the am one in the pm. 

I have yet to see any adverse effect. I see results within a couple hours unless he is really bad than I have gone a day or two before seeing obvious results. If your not used to the rolling it may be hard to notice the difference.


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## naturestee (Apr 30, 2009)

My Jessie.:cry2

Would she take the meds if they're mixed in pumpkin?


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## cmh9023 (Apr 30, 2009)

Little Bay Poo- I remember following Ronnie's head tilt thread when he was sick. Did he seem to have good days and bad days? Which medications did her take? Her eyes stopped darting before she starting taking the Meclizine so hopefully that's a good thing.

Jade Icing- I thought about Dramamine. I take the chewable ones for motion sickness and they taste good. I thought that might be more palatable for her. But I wouldn't have any idea how much to give. Maybe my vet could calculate the dose? I think I'm going to take her in on Saturday to get some fluids. Also, same question, do you see good days and bad days with your head tilt buns? And which meds have worked best for you in EC cases rather than ear infection?

Everything I'm reading says to be patient and give them time to get better or adjust and that it can take a long time. I just don't want her to have any pain. She doesn't really try to move around. She'll be in the exact same place and position that she was in in the morning when I get home from work. But she is eating on her own so I think that's a good sign. Not really drinking though.

Thanks for the replies everyone!


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## Little Bay Poo (May 1, 2009)

Eating on her own is a great sign! We had to feed Ronnie Critical Care for many months because the medications ruined his appetite. Ronnie had good days and bad days. I only remember a few bad days...one in particular where he had a lot of rolling episodes. I remember it being stressful because he would continue to roll until he hit a wall, and then he would stop because he couldn't roll any further. I usually couldn't get to him fast enough to stop him.

After a while he gave up trying to right himself when he flipped over, and he'd just lay there upside down for about 30 seconds. I think laying there helped him to ease off the dizziness, and then he would get up on his own with one or two tries. 

I also remember it taking him a very long time to improve and thinking "What if he's like this during Christmas vacation? What will we do with him?" He got sick in October and it cleared up by early December, but it felt like such a long time.

Ronnie was on the following medications:
Meclizine 2x a day (was given on an as needed basis but he needed it for over a month)
Meloxicam 1x a day for the first 10 days
Pen G 1x a day for 7 days, none for 3 days, again for 7 days, off for 3 (approximately two months of this)
Panacur daily for about a month
Baytril 2x a day for 14 days (this was to help bridge the gap on the 3 off days of Pen G)
One thing I noticed (especially in the beginning) was that Ronnie had a lot of trouble on the days where he was not getting Pen G injections. He would gradually get worse and on the third day without it he was back to rolling a lot. Over time we saw gradual improvement where he wasn't relapsing so bad on his off days, and then all of a sudden he didn't need his Pen G at all anymore. It was a trial and error thing though, basically taking him off the Pen G to see if there was a relapse and he had none. His head is a little crooked to this day so you can't go by that.


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## cmh9023 (May 1, 2009)

Little Bay Poo- That's is great information and very helpful! I'm going to take your list of meds to the vet tomorrow when she gets fluids. I'm also glad you mentioned that he'd lay upside down after rolling. Jessis does that and it scares me to death.

Did Ronnie have an ear infection, EC or something else?


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## JadeIcing (May 1, 2009)

It is the car sick version. The ingredient you would be looking for is bonine. I mixed it with apple pedialyte.


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## Little Bay Poo (May 1, 2009)

*cmh9023 wrote: *


> Did Ronnie have an ear infection, EC or something else?


Ronnie had an ear infection. They did a swab of his ear and it came back positive for Pasteurella. This can be interpreted in different ways, but our vet chose to interpret the high levels of Pasteurella as that particular bacteria being the cause. 

ETA: Chris is reminding me that the culture also came back positive for EC. Based on information from this forum, we took this to mean that the primary cause was Pasteurella, and that the elevated levels of E. Cunniculi were a secondary effect of Pasteurella. (i.e. Ronnie's immune system was compromised due to Pasteurella and he couldn't keep the opportunistic E.C. in check).


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## tonyshuman (May 1, 2009)

EC usually doesn't show up first as a head tilt, but as urinary problems and hind leg immobility, so it is likely that the EC positive test Ronnie had was due to the compromised immune system. Benjamin has tested positive for EC with no clinical signs, so we know he's been exposed to it but doesn't have an active case, like most bunnies. At least that's what I think.


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## Little Bay Poo (May 7, 2009)

Any updates? How is Jessie doing? I've been thinking about her when I come to check the forum. Hope all is well.


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## cmh9023 (May 7, 2009)

Hi!

I just wrote an embarrassingly long new post on the Infirmary section with more information than probably anyone wants to read haha. Thank you so much for thinking of her!

Cara


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## amc88 (May 25, 2017)

I found this forum yesterday and thought it had really great information on it. My rabbit William has a major head tilt going on right now and I just started treating him yesterday, I understand it is a long road until he gets better or use to it. William is old and blind so I think it makes his flipping spells worse/more frequent. I hate seeing him like this, it looks so miserable, is there anything that can be suggested to make him more comfortable on his road to recovery? I put a folded up towel in his living space and he seems to like that, I just want to make him more comfortable because I feel so bad for him. I just started giving him meclizine last night, it seemed to work for a little bit but then wore off. Is there a meclizine you find works better than others?


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