In my experience, if a rabbit gets to live for about 7 or 8 years, they back legs stop working and they eventually have to be put down.

I can't be the only person this has happened to. What causes it and what can be done about it?

I had a black doe, called Blackie, who had this problem but I did not want her put down as she was showing no signs of distress, until the night she died. I used to put her legs back underneath her when they slipping out and I saw that before she died she had to open her mouth to keep breathing.

She was VERY distraught on the night she died when I tried to reposition her, she was practically having a fit and it looked like she was trying to run away.

I did not actually see her die but I can only assume she had a heart attack or suffocated.

All this happened on the night she died only, if she was showing any worse signs I would have consulted a vet.

We had a New Zealand White buck beforehand, called Morris (my brother claims he was Blackie's dad, but I'm not sure). He lost his legs and we took him to the vet 4 times and each time they gave him a vitamin jab, until the last time which was to put him to sleep. None of this treatment helped him in the least. I wanted Blackie to have better, even if looking after her was going to be a little more difficult. She lived from c1989-1997. I did not want to pay money to have her killed, it just did not seem right. It felt like blood money.

Simon, it can be a sympton of EC.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

Also here.

It's by no means the only thing that could cause hind legs paralysis, though. But a possibility.

Panacur (the worming treatment) is a simple preventative - you need a vet's advice as to dosing levels etc.

Our rabbit lost partial use of one leg when she was around 12. The vet thought she might have had a mini stroke. She was otherwise well and bright in herself and still managed to hop around and clean herself. But she lost the use of the second leg about a year later so we felt we had to call it a day as she was then unable to clean herself or move around properly.

It was very sad as she was, despite now being 13, still very alert and friendly, but it was the kindest thing to do in the circumstances.

I guess there can be many reasons why a rabbit looses the use of its back legs, but in our case it was almost certainly very old age and a stroke.

It's not though, it's a privilege and a final act of love and kindness.

when one of mine, George lost the use of his back legs the vet xrayed him and he had a spinal degeneration caused by osteoporosis

Simon I once shared your feelings about what you said regarding putting your animal down. We had to do the same with our beloved lab cross years ago following a diagnosis of cancer. We were advised to have her put down because she was in desperate pain and would never recover. Fast forward a few years and another, dearly loved pet (our guinea pig) contracted blow fly and our vet and his nurses did everything they could to help him, with one nurse spending hours caring for his skin and bites etc (sorry if you are having a meal whilst reading this!). We had a huge bill for both animals including the final bill "for disposal".

I felt aggrieved about it but then I realised what the vets had tried to do in both cases and I considered that the money I was paying them was for the medicines and their care and attention, especially during the process of putting the animals to sleep. In our dog's case, my husband was asked if he wanted to be with her at the end to say a final goodbye. The vets were so lovely with us and we felt that the payment was not blood money but paying them for their level of expertise and knowledge and compassion. Someone has to do it and I certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for putting down my own animals and sorting everything out afterwards.

The cold fact is unfortunately, that nothing comes free in this world. Not even the process of death.