Rabbit falling over after spaying

Question
I have a house rabbit, about 6 months old, who was spayed about 3 weeks ago. I took her to my regular dog and cat vet, where they said they have a rabbit expert on staff. He may be and expert, but I have my doubts at this point. When she returned home we noticed that she had limited use of her right hind leg. This was especially apparent when she tried to jump into her litter box and the leg became caught on the rim. We returned to the vet who said that the leg looked fine to him but prescribed prednisolone. About a week ago she started falling over occasionally when walking, shaking her head or scratching her ears so I returned to the  vet who looked in her ear and diagnosed her with an ear infection according to a small amount of crust and she was put on 10-14 days of baytril injections (he did not culture the crust nor acknowledge my concerns about the hind leg paralysis, saying that the way she was falling over was clearly vestibular). Now a week later, she is still falling over about as much as before and we have noticed the  hind right foot is contracting a little and seems to be balled up when she hops on it, not outstretched like the other. She can hop around but loses her balance on the back right side every now and then and the position of her back seems to demonstrate that she is distributing her weight to the left hind foot. I fear that my rabbit does not have an ear infection, but permanent nerve damage to the right hind leg. Is this a common accident during spaying? Is this a common reason for rabbits to fall over? If this is truly nerve damage, will her balance on the unaffected leg improve over time so that she does not fall over? She had no physical problems before surgery. I find it unlikely that she would have suddenly developed an ear infection causing her to fall over when there is clearly damage to the hind leg, but I'm not a vet. This is our first house rabbit and I am feeling terribly guilty about getting her spayed because the outcome has not been entirely positive.

Thank so much,
Christine

Answer
Dear Christine,

I am very sorry about the bad outcome of this spay, and I have to admit that I, too, have misgivings about the expertise of the "rabbit expert" vet if this is what happened.

Please ask the vet *where* your bunny got any pre-anesthetic injections, and the names of all the pre-anesthetics and anesthetics they used.  If they give you an honest answer (and try not to let them know that you're wanting this information for any "suspicious" reason: perhaps say that you have a friend who's considering a spay for her rabbit, and *she* asked.), then write to me and let me know. Their answers may reveal a LOT about just how good they are with rabbits.

When we see hind leg weakness or numbness after a routine spay surgery, it's often because an injection of pre-anesthetic was given in the rabbit's leg, which is NOT an appropriate location in this species, though it is fine for dogs and cats.  A leg injection too often incurs damage to the sciatic nerve, and I have to wonder if this is what happened to your bunny.

The ear crusts and balance problems may be a separate problem, but an ear infection or ear canker outbreak could also have been fostered by the stress of surgery, which can cause some small degree of immunocompromise.  

In any case, I would *definitely* take your bunny to a different vet (preferably not close by), and tell them what happened at the other vet.  DO NOT tell them the vet's name, in case they are friends and the new vet might be tempted to "protect" the other vet.  Just be dispassionate and ask the new vet his/her opinions about the matter.

You should be able to find a more rabbit-experienced vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and get better treatment for the vestibular/middle ear problem, too.  Please read:

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

for more information, though she may not (yet) have a head tilt.  Please also see:

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

I hope this helps.

Dana