Bunny recovering from ecuniculi- loss of mobility in hind legs

Question
Hi

I have a 2 1/2 year old rabbit who, for the past month, has been receiving treatment for e-cuniculi following taking ill with a severe head tilt and general overall weakness in her limbs.  The medication has had a great effect and the head tilt and majority of ailments have all restored to normal.  However, she has lost a lot of mobility in her back legs.  She is losing a little bit of weight still each week (vet advises due to loss of muscle in legs).  She is getting a low steroid injection each week to help.  The vet has stopped the baytril on friday as she has now completed a 3 week course.  We are spending time manipulating her legs to get them moving and stretching etc.  Although she is eating and drinking happily and, being an indoor rabbit, is shuffling herself over to her litter tray (we have modified her hutch with vet bed, cushions, support props etc), if she falls over she does not have the power at the moment to correct herself and pull herself up.  Is there anything that you can suggest that we can do to increase the muscle in her back legs?  Apart from this weakness she is looking very healthy again.  Many thanks, Fiona

Answer
You can try to build her a narrow shoot which will force her legs to move along behind her, so long as she has any mobility at all. This is a shoot that is about the same width as her. You would place her in it, with her legs underneath in a normal position. Then she would be forced to move forward or backward, as she would not have room to turn around. This works best if the legs are shoved out to the side, but it has limited success with rabbits that have their legs dragging out to the back so long as they have some mobility and are not allowed to put their hind legs behind them during the session.