Splay-legged Bunny

Question
My husband and I have had our splay-legged bunny for around 4 months and she was about 2 months old when a co-worker caught her. He though she was preyed upon because of the position of her legs. Her legs aren't as bad as some others I have seen. Her right hind leg stays completely straight but she can lay it right beside her body and her left leg is at a 25 degree angle from her body. She moves find, occasionally she'll drag the right foot, but other than that she's okay. We had her a designated litter box but she got too big for it and she doesn't want anything else we have given her. So currently she poops in her cage into the removable tray underneath. Recently, her poops are getting suck to her fur underneath her and she'll poop around the house (or at least the poops fall off while she's running around). She is a Dwarf Hotoe rabbit and she's about 1.5 pounds. We feed her 1/8 cup pellets in the morning and night and Timothy hay throughout the day. She does get fresh greens every other night for dinner. Is she too fat or is she just lazy? My vet says she's lazy and I just don't know anymore. Please help!!!

Answer
Dear Paige,

If your vet thinks the reason your bunny has poop stuck to her bum is because bunny is "just lazy" then you DEFINITELY need to find a better vet who is more experienced with rabbits.  Please find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

That diagnosis is just ridiculous.

If the bunny is still relatively young (and she is), then the splinting protocol here:

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

might still help her regain normal posture.  At her age, her bones are still growing, and her cartilage is still forming.  I would not be surprised if she could regain some normal leg position with this treatment.  But I would do this under the supervision of a different vet!

As far as the messy bottom is concerned, please see:

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

It is very possible that the pain in her joints from the splayleg is causing enough stress to slow down her GI tract movements, and this will result in cecal dysbiosis.  Also, if she has abnormal leg position, she may not be able to reach her cecotropes to eat them, and ends up smashing them on her bum.  

So this is a multi-faceted problem that needs to be addressed one step at a time.  Pain management might help.  We've found that tramadol combined with metacam is excellent for this type of pain.  Please ask your NEW vet about this.

I hope this helps get you started.

Dana