hip? Arithritis? Something else?

Question
Hi. My 9 year old dutch bunny has been put on long term metacam lately (a few months already) for arithritis. He sees a very good vet but alas, it's Saturday. We can't take him in until Monday and we are very concern with his behavior this morning.

This morning, we found him in a strange pose. His lower body looks like he is sitting but his upper body looks like he is standing, with his midsection stretched in an odd way, sort of like a sphinx but with his front legs standing/ stretched vertically. He looked like he kept wanting to shift his weight and turn to a side but kept righting himself. Then he hopped with his butt/hind legs sitting on the floor like a pivot, and as a result he just went in circles.

My husband just gave him his metacam a few minutes ago when I found him acting strange. Before that, he ate his morning salad like usual. Now, he seems to a bit better and is able to hop in his litterbox to eat some hay.

If it's just his arthritis acting up, we will take him to his vet on Monday. But we are worried if it could be some emergency (like spinal injury or something) that can't wait till then. There are emergency animal care in town but our experience with them have not been good. We will take him in if necessary though.

Please help.

Answer
Hi,

I would get to an emergency vet to be safe.  He might have a distended stomach (full of fluid etc) and if so, is probably dehydrated - and this is serious because it can lead to gut shutdown and shock, which can kill a healthy bunny in a day.  It sounds like he's trying to keep weight off his upper section, and that's where his stomach is.

The reason why a vet's needed is because they can xray the gut and see if there's a blockage or not, and if not, they can give him a drug that can get the stomach working again to get material and fluid into the intestines.  If there is a blockage they might be able to do non-surgical things or start getting him prepped for surgery to remove the blockage.

But I would not wait, I would go immediately.  Check his temperature with a digital baby thermometer, only put the tip in his rear end 1/2 inch, and take a reading.  Regular temp for a bunny is between 101 and 103.  If he's higher he's got an infection (or in the summer, heatstroke), if he's lower than 100 (especially 99 or lower), he's going into shock and he's in critical condition.  In this case if you need to warm a gel heating pad, then pat the gel pad to move the gel around to reduce hot spots, put a dishtowel around it, rest him on it, and put a towel or two over/around him and get him to the emergency vet as soon as physically possible.

Please get him in immediately. IN the car call ahead to let them knoe you're coming in with a bunny in critical condition (if he's in shock, possible stomach blockage for X hours, etc)...