my baby rabbit is 7 half weeks...

Question
i just wondering if you could help me i ave a 7 half week old rabbit called patch his hide legs are paralyzed and i took him to the vet to get him checked out. the vet gave him a injection to see if it might help but he's still not feeling his back legs. is there anything i could do to help? your truly Victoria x

Answer
This answer will cover two areas, the medical issue and the supportive care.

First, the physical problem.  While you don't go into detail, I'm going to make a guess that your bunny was fine and then suffered a spinal injury.  I'll also assume that the vet gave a steroid or some other anti-inflammatory to help reduce the pressure on the injured area.

I had a rabbit that suffered a back injury.  It took some time for his body to heal enough that he could walk around.  

Hopefully your vet told you to bring your bunny in for a status checkup or another administration of medicine.  These kinds of injuries are tricky and vets may not have an exact time line for when things will start to get better.  

Also, if it's available in your area (state laws vary), you could try acupuncture for your rabbit.

But hopefully your vet will be on top of things with the treatment and your bunny will get better.

It took my rabbit a few months to get better.  During that time, I had to provide some supportive care.

First, your bunny may be upset or depressed by what has happened.  If he has a bunny friend, continue to let them be together.  You may want to supervise at first, just to see how everyone reacts, but bunny friends are a big emotional help for sick or injured rabbits.

If your bunny doesn't have a friend, you'll want to give him some extra love and time.

Some other things to consider is flooring.  It will be tough for him to move about for a time.  He'll need something that will provide good traction and make it easier for him to move.  Towels and mats won't stay in place well enough.  But soft doormats or carpet remnants work well.

The other issue is grooming.  Rabbits use their back legs to do some of their grooming.  You'll need to check and clean his ears for him.

Rabbits usually sit up to groom their face, but he probably can't do that right now.  You'll also need to clean his face particularly around his eyes.  A damp cloth or paper towel can remove the eye crustys that gather in the corners.

You'll also need to brush the loose hair for him, since he won't be able to.

Now for the messy area.
You will need to watch for a few things when it comes to keeping him clean and healthy around his back area.

First, it's likely for awhile that his poops may get mashed and stuck to his bottom/groin area.  You'll need to carefully clean this area when this happens.  You'll also need to watch out for urine scald.  If he can't get enough clearance when he pees, his fur is going to get wet and his skin irritated.  You'll have to try to keep him clean and dry.  

You'll also need to keep a look out for his cecotropes.  These quite likely will be mashed to his bottom.  Cecotropes are different from regular poop.  Regular poop is firm and circular shape.  Cecotropes are small, soft, circles and can easily get mashed on his bottom.  They also smell.  When you see this, you'll need to present them ,even if mashed, to him to eat.  His body needs to eat these to get all its nutrients.

This site give instructions on giving a dry bath and a wet bath
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

This site also has some instructions for partial baths.  You'll need to scroll down to the bottom.
http://web.archive.org/web/20011007073525/http://www.therabbitcharity.freeserve....

For a dry bath, you can also use a dry shampoo made for rabbits.  Some stores sell this.  You can also get nfx puffer from your vet.

To help with keeping your bunny dry, you could also purchase some faux sheepskin pet beds.  Some pet or farm stores sell these.  But the best ones I've used come from here:
http://www.palacepet.com/
They are much better in keeping urine away from the animal and much more durable to washings.

This site has a first hand story of life with a paralyzed rabbit, one that was permanently disabled
http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/barney.shtml

I hope this info helps, at first it may seem like things aren't getting better.  But your bunny is young and will good veterinary care, hopefully will make a good recovery.