Rabbit dragging legs

Question
Hi Sarah,
First off, thank you for providing this service.  My 6 year old neutered dutch rabbit (house rabbit), Jackson, is currently at the vet, but I am sitting here going crazy right now.  
He was totally normal last night, hopping around, eating, drinking, etc.  This morning his legs were splayed out sideways (kind of like a frog would look all stretched out).  I picked him up and put him on a large carpet area, where he kind of just dragged his hind legs around.  When I picked him up, his legs did react to touch, and I could feel him moving them a little.  It looks like he is trying to use them, they are just slipping out from the side.  
Now, I know there are a million worse case scenarios here, I'm just hoping to grasp on to something that may not be the worst case scenario.  His very qualified vet is also out of the office with a broken collarbone, so I'm also hoping to be armed with an idea of what might be going on when I go in to see him.  
Also, he was eating and drinking this morning.  His eyes are clear and ears are alert.  
Thanks so much.  Happy Holidays.  Lauryn


Answer
It sounds like he may have hurt them by sliding on something (such as linoleum or tile, where there is not much traction, though ocassionally it has been known to happen even on areas with decent traction). Legs splayed out to the side are usually caused by that rather than disease. Legs that are affected by E. cuniculi, a broken back, etc. are almost always carried behind the rabbit rather than out to the side. It is quite possible that he only got bruised, but worse case scenerio would probably be that he broke something or tore something. Either way, prognosis is usually better than E. cuniculi or an injury to the back.

If he is overweight it will make recovery much harder (more weight to carry on injured legs), so when he comes back, make sure to keep him at a healthy weight. Something that may work well to help him recover (depending on what was actually injured) is a shoot that is just barely wider than he is (no room to turn around). Make sure it has plenty of traction, and place him in it. It will force him to keep his legs underneath him rather than letting them splay out to the side. This is a common technique for splay legged babies, which usually get that way from being too fat, causing their weight to be too much for their still-developing legs to handle. Adults, however, usually only get splayed legs due to injury.