French Lop 4 1/2 years old

Question
I have a very active french lop bunny.  She likes to stay in her outside cage most of the time.  On Saturday, we took her out of her cage to run around our enclosed backyard.  When we took her out of the cage she hopped or tried to hop about two times before her back side drooped and she fell over.  I carried her to an emergency vet right away.  She was examined and I was told that it looked to be a soft tissue injury.  My bunny Gracie got an injection of Metacam to help with pain.  The doctor then gave me two more doses of the metacam to give to Gracie on Sunday morning and this morning by mouth.  Gracie seems to be in pain when I pick her up and support her back legs.  She has been confined to her inside cage and I have blocked off part of it, so she would not try to hop around it (per the doctor).  The doctor told me that if she did not get better to bring her back for an x-ray.  She is eating and drinking very well, and seems to want to play and get out of her cage to roam the house. She seems to be about 15% better, but she can not hop very well, she seems to crawl.  When she sits her right leg/hip is in front of the other side.  When she hops she keeps her back legs together and when she stops she falls on her right hip.  I just got off the phone with her doctor. The doctor thinks her hip is dislocated.  He wants to put under and do some x-rays.  What is your opinion?  Please help my bunnie!

Peggy
Kernersville, NC


Answer
Dear Peggy,

It is a good idea to rule out trauma as the cause of this problem, and radiographs would be the way to go.  If she seems as if her hips or other area of the pelvic region/back legs are actually *painful*, then it's more likely to be a traumatic injury than something like E. cuniculi.

Still, please have a look at this:

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

and make sure the vet you are seeing is very familiar with all the possible causes (and treatments) of hind limb paresis in rabbits.  If you're not sure the vet is expert with rabbits, please find another vet here for a second opinion:

www.rabbit.org/vets

In case this is an injury, it's best to try to keep her as immobile as possible so that she doesn't hurt herself more.  If it's due to E. cuniculi, this won't matter, but ask the vet about starting her on ponazuril and/or fenbendazole if the vet suspects this could be E. cuniculi-caused paresis.

I hope this helps.

Dana