Back injury

Question
My daughter's flemish giant ran and twister her back and now has no use in her back legs.  My daughter has been been nursing her for the last 3 weeks and no improvement has been observed. The bunny is eating and drinking with normal bowel movements.  This last week we brought home another FG.  He is housed in a large cage with a double hutch with opening approximately 6-7 inches above the cage. Today my daughter went to care for him and he has no use of his back legs. He may have twisted his back coming out of or going into the hutch section of his enclosure.  Can you give me a prognosis on either of these back injuries?

Answer
Dear Mary,

What a terrible double-whammy.  Large rabbits are far more prone to back problems than smaller ones, but for this to happen to both rabbits is truly unfortunate.  

I hope they were both seen immediately by a good rabbit vet, as administration of anti-inflammatory drugs can make all the difference in a case like this, where trauma is the suspect.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html

for information on treatment of this condition, as well as various causes.  A bunny can still live a happy life without the use of his back  end, as long as he can urinate and defecate normally.  But adjustments need to be made, and the bunnies will certainly need to be housed indoors where they can be pampered and monitored for any problems.  Fly strike would be a concern outdoors, and I just would NOT leave a disabled bunny to live outside.  The consequences could be really bad.

You can find a good rabbit vet to help you here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

In case this has been caused by improper handling, please also make sure the vet instructs everyone on the proper way to handle a large rabbit.  If children have been handling the bunnies, then this is very important, as a giant rabbit is often too big to be safely handled by a small child.

I hope this helps.

Dana