Rabbit back legs not being used.

Question
I have a rabbit that has taken up with me. It's not a wild rabbit but is not a pet either. My neighbor raises them for a food source and I guess it escaped (about three months ago) I would see it grazing in my front yard so I got some carrots and it began to come to me and let me feed it by hand. I've grown very fond of this bunny. It's white with a few black spots around it's head. I named it SPOT. Two weeks ago I noticed it was very sluggish in it's movements. Then it looked as though it couldn't control it's hind legs( kind of dragging them around). If it is scared it manages to use it back legs sometime until today. It tried to run when I attempted to pet it and kind of fell over on it's side. I haven't been able to pet it yet but was taking my time, occasionally touching it's nose or stoking it's back. It knows me and use to come happily hopping when it saw me. I feel it might have been bit by a snake, a cat might have hurt it , or maybe has a tick on it(?). I've had dogs that got ticks on them and they were almost dead before we found the tick. What could be wrong with this Bunny??? I don't know if it's q7nnba girl or a boy. Please help me . I really LOVE this little guy and don't want any harm to come to it.. Thanks in advance. Randy

Answer
It sounds like it could be one of two things:  an injury or a parasite.  An injury to the rabbit's back would cause paralysis of it's hind legs, but usually right away and not gradually over time like it seems to have happened in this case.  There are pin worms, bot flies and ticks that can travel to a rabbit's brain and also cause paralysis, although more slowly like what you've described.  The only way to know is to get a hold of the rabbit and give it a thorough look-over.  Pin worms cannot be seen, but a bot fly larva would look like a large abcess with a hole in the stop and a tick can be seen sticking out of the rabbit's skin.  The tick or the larva would need to be removed in order for the rabbit to get better, this can be done by pouring mineral oil over the parasite and grabbing it with tweezers when it pops its head up searching for air.  A pinworm infestation would be harder to diagnose, but can be treated with a pea-sized amount of horse ivermectin 1.87% paste smeared on it's lips for it to lick off.  Even if it doesn't have pinworms, it likely has some worms that it's picked up from being on the ground and it's good to treat it with this medicine anyways.  If it's an injury, unfortunately the prognosis is not as good as the paralysis isn't likely to resolve no matter what you do.  Sorry I can't be of more help, but if you can capture it a vet can always look it over and hopefully give you a better idea of what's going on.  To determine if it's male or female, look on either side of it's genital area.  A male would have a testicle just under the fur on each side of the genitals and a female would have nothing there.  Best wishes!