Problem with my rabbits legs please help
![[Deleted User]](https://wf.vanillicon.com/v2/fad0b8eac923bbeab72f44a7867b7665.svg)
[Deleted User]
Posts: 916 Forum Member
✭✭
Hello all,
its my first time posting in this part of DS forums, so hello to you all.
Two weeks ago my rabbit, only 3 months old, stopped using his back legs. I have been at the vets constantly and they cant decide whats wrong. hes starting to drag himself along the floor and push with his back legs but they still say if there is no improvement they will have to consider putting him down.
Hes so happy, and he's eating and drinking well. He's on anti inflammatory stuff and started moving more this week. He's not fallen or been manhandled hes really friendly.
Anyone else experienced this? can i give it more time? or is there anything i can do?
any help or advice would be really appreciated, thank you.
SJ (and Mario) x
its my first time posting in this part of DS forums, so hello to you all.
Two weeks ago my rabbit, only 3 months old, stopped using his back legs. I have been at the vets constantly and they cant decide whats wrong. hes starting to drag himself along the floor and push with his back legs but they still say if there is no improvement they will have to consider putting him down.
Hes so happy, and he's eating and drinking well. He's on anti inflammatory stuff and started moving more this week. He's not fallen or been manhandled hes really friendly.
Anyone else experienced this? can i give it more time? or is there anything i can do?
any help or advice would be really appreciated, thank you.
SJ (and Mario) x
0
Comments
Run a warm-ish bath (about the temperature you'd have for a baby), hold by his sides & place him into the water.
He should start kicking, & this will allow him to exercise gently & avoid muscle wastage.
Check out these sites :-
http://naturallycomplementary.com/Animal-Hydrotherapy-For-Pets.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuMWq78sGQ0
If you are able, get him to an exotic pet vet, not a normal vet.
farmed rabbit has a less gamey taste though, so appeals to more people
in all seriousness though, rear leg paralysis could be from bunny getting excited & "binkying" to display this.
unfortunately this can put too much strain on the spine and cause issues, in the same way as struggling when being handled or a fall.
i think all you can do is wait to see if his condition improves at this point, if your vet can do no more.
if he shows no signs of improvement then you need to consider his quality of life above anything else, it's a shame to lose a bunny so young, but if he's never going to regain the use of them to a good standard then he runs the risk of becoming overweight and depressed as a result
i hope he improves OP
The vet couldn`t work out what the problem was, and give an antibiotic injection to see if that would help (three injections within two weeks), it didn`t. He said that he could run some tests, but given that in two week things went very downhill (she wasn`t eating or drinking much by now and no movement at all in the hind end), he would prefer to put to sleep rather than letting her suffer while waiting for the results.
He suspected she may have a cancer of some sort and that it was kinder for the animal not to try and cure it.
Her top half was fine, but she just lost all movement in the hind end. We took her straight into the vet when we noticed.
The real problem is finding a vet that knows a lot about rabbits. It`s a shame, but rabbits don`t seem to be an animal that vets deal with, which means no real experience with them. They are also prone to a lot of problems I found after looking around online for information.
While your rabbit is still eating and drinking, i`d say you have time to try and figure out what is going on. My vet give mine a chance in the first place because eating and drinking is a good sign apparently.
It`s really hard to know what to do, as you don`t want to just give up, but don`t want to see them suffer either.
Sorry my post isn`t helpful to you, but at least you know you are not the only one who has had to deal with this issue.
Really hope things work out for you and your rabbit.
try putting a drop (third of a teaspoon) of organic cider vinegar in his water and see if there is any improvement after a week, but keep an eye on him and if he refuses his water then stop.
Never knew it was called binkying! We call it HappyHops.