Rabbit roll?

Question
Hello. We have a female dwarf bunny, just over one year old. She was spayed months ago and has recovered well. We let her roam the house often and she is caged when unsupervised. Following her surgery, she had some sort of episode in which she collapsed a few times and was panting, but then she immediately resumed playing. I didn't see this first hand. My in-laws were watching her at the time. We thought it was strange, but figured she was playing. She will often lie down and stretch out.

Today I actually witnessed an episode. She was playing outside of her cage. She returned to her cage very suddenly, and backed into the far corner of her cage. She looked very uncomfortable, and kept trying to turn her head toward her tail, as if trying to reach something that she couldn't reach. She kept stretching out, and then almost coiling up. Then she rolled over onto her back a couple of times, which I have never seen her do. It was somewhere between rolling over and throwing herself onto her back. Not quite violent, but she definitely wasn't comfortable. She seems fine now. Playful as ever. She is eating and appears to have regular bowel function.

We called the vet who performed her surgery. They said to bring her in for a possible E. cuniculi infection... but based on what I have read, symptoms for E. cuniculi have a gradual onset  and usually manifest (if they ever do) in older rabbits.

Thanks for your help!

Answer
hi,

E cuniculi is not what she has given what you're describing.  It starts with an increasing head tilt that gets worse to the point the rabbit starts falling over (rolling) because it's orientation/balance is messed up.  It doesn't go away.

The collapse/playing thing is what bunnies do.  they play hard awhile, and then they sometimes do a sudden 'bunny flop'.  Some people call it 'dead bunny flop' because some people think the rabbit was moving along fine but had a heart attack.  But then they shortly get back up and start playing or eating hay, etc.  Happy bunnies flop like that after playing, especially running around.

Sometimes they flop and roll a bit onto their back.  It's not a big deal.  Sometimes they are caught a little off-guard because they happen to roll maybe a bit more than they expected.  They generally do not like to be on their backs, exposed like that.  So they do do their best to try to correct that as fast as they can.

And FYI, E cuniculi can hit rabbits at any age.  But that's not what your bunny has.  She just likes to flop after playing hard.  It can manifest later as they age, but it can hit them at any age.