Legs protruding out

Question
Dear Lisa,

Please help me and most importantly my rabbit,Kiko.

Kiko is a female, mixed breed of maybe a lop ear and dwarf rabbit, 3 years old, not spayed/neutered, housed indoors, cage is wired but has a base bottom and I only have one rabbit.I feed her Oxford pellets and hay both Timothy only. I give her mixed food treats only when I'm training her to stand up.

She had just started acting weird ever since I've reached home. She doesn't eat even when I feed her her favourite snacks, Lick me,and jump around the cage asking me to let her out.

Then I notice that her back legs are protruding out and when she lies down, she curves her body to one side. When I opened her cage door, she doesn't even one to come out. No matter what method I use, she doesn't want to come out. When I decided to carry her, there was nothing. No injury or  anything. Except for her sore hocks which I brought her to the vet couple of times and no matter how many times I apply the medicine for her like what the vet describe, it is still there and her fur does not grow back. Maybe is because of the sore hocks? But she doesn't react like this yesterday, the day before, or even in the past.

And just a few days ago, she hurt her front paw toe when she tried to escape from her exercise area and it was bleeding. I used a towel and all that and the next day she was alright.she lick me and all but then I realize maybe her other paw was injured too cause she does not really allow me to check her nails if they're alright. Maybe the reason for her legs is because of this?

Please help me and Kiko Lisa. My heart aches to see her suffer.

Answer
Hi Stella:

It sounds like Kiko may have sustained a back injury or the sore hocks has caused her to alter how she walks which has affected how her hips are oriented.

Pet rabbits evolved from wild rabbits and in the wild, rabbits are prey animals.  They are a common target of predators such as wolves, coyotes, wild dogs, bobcats, etc.  As a result, they never show pain - the hide it because a weak animal is an easy target for a predator.  They look for the weak ones as any easy kill.  So the fact that your bunny is not acting as if she is pregnant or in pain, does not mean she is not.

Sore hocks is a very, very painful condition and in most cases, never goes away.  Most often, it flares up over and over in a rabbits life.  The damage to the feet actually entends in farther than is visible and I can assure you, the rabbit is in pain.  Please DO NOT try and have the bunny stand up.  This is asking her to put all her weight on her back feet which is incredibly painful for her since she has sore hocks.  Its hard enough for them to tolerate the pain of sore hocks when their weight is distributed on all 4 feet;putting their weight on two feet is pain I cant describe.

Given her behavior, It would be best for her to be seen by an experienced exotic animal vet who can do x-rays.  There are many possible causes of her behavior and some of those causes can be very serious.  It would be wrong of me to guess what might be wrong with her without seeing her or seeing x rays, but based on your description, I believe she has either injured her back (which can also be the result of standing up- its not a natural position for a rabbit) or the sore hocks may be just too painful for her.

Please schedule a vet visit as soon as possible.

I wish you and kiko the best of luck and many happy healthy years to come.

Lisa