Hind leg paralysis

Question

-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
Hi
Our 4 month dwarf lop is very poorly. He is on cage rest at the moment awaiting a second visit to the vet later today. He has , so we believe, a trauma to his back overnight (thursday) in his cage and after a day of not being himself not wanting to come out of his cage and not eating I brought him inside to see that clearly he had a problem with his back leg or legs. We attended the vet yesterday to be told he is very poorly and after a large steroid dose we came home to give him 24 hours and a chance of improvement. He has eaten just a tiny amount overnight and has produced some droppings, but he is grinding his teeth a lot, so I know he is in pain and I feel helpless,,,im almost scared to take him back to the vet in case there isnt an improvement and we would have to take the kindest course of action in lettiung him go to sleep. He is our baby and we are all devastated, Do you think that there would be any chance of a recovery at all?

Answer -
Hi Bev,

sorry to hear about your little guy's condition.  I'm not a vet and I haven't seen him, but I would say there is always a chance he could improve.

Do you have any idea how this could have happened?  Usually back trauma doesn't just happen without something going wrong and them wrenching their backs.  Did the vet xray him to see what might have happened?  If you don't know the extent of the injury or what caused it it is difficult to say.

I hope your vet gave you some pain medication to give him, if the vet felt he was medically able to take it in combination with the steroids.  A good rabbit vet knows the importance of pain management with rabbits.  I would bet right now that he's more in danger of not making it from the pain (if it is not managed) than the injury.  If the vet didn't give you pain meds, get some from him if it won't interefere with anything else he's taking.  Metacam is the general well-tolerated good pain med of choice for rabbits.  

Your vet may not think rabbits can live a quality life with a disability.  It does have to do with exactly what the injury has 'injured' and it may be that it's too severe, but from your description I don't think it is especially if they let you take him back.  He may think you're not up to the task of taking care of a disabled animal but you should let him know that you would do so and that pain control needs to be addressed so that your rabbit can survive the initial trauma/pain of the injury.

If your vet is not a rabbit-savvy vet and does not see a lot of rabbits, please go to the House Rabbit Society web page (www.rabbit.org\vets) and find a good rabbit vet in your area of the country.  You need a vet who works with rabbits a lot, and has lots of experience with rabbit problems to do a quality diagnosis and provide treatment options.  They will most likely give pain meds there and for you to take home and can give you a better idea of the injury and what all your options are.

Even if he has a permanent injury I would not give up on him if it appears he has a will to live.  Rabbits can learn to get along with a disability easier than people can.  They pretty much live in the moment and kind of 'make do' with what they have.  They don't sit there and sulk about what they lost, they try to do what they can with what they have right now.

If he can get over whatever happened to him, many rabbits that have limited or no use of hind legs can still live happy, meaningful lives.  I have seen many pictures of rabbits that have mobility with little carts for their 'rear ends'.  Some don't have mobility but their owners wind up taking care of them and giving them nice views of the outdoors, and spending lots of time with them.

My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your little guy.  We have one lop that we fostered and then adopted, that we took in to nurse him through a rather bad head tilt case.  He is very precious to us.  I can imagine how you feel with a 4-month old bun.

Please write back anytime, and let me know what happens along the way.  I will help/talk any way I can.

Lee

Hi Lee
Many many thanks for your reply, it has given me such a lift!!
I was expecting the worst when I took Sunny Jim back to the vets yesterday and I was absolutley distraught!!
The vet thinks that he may have been spooked in his cage and kicked out awkwardly, although we will probably never know how he has recieved his injury.... its very sad.
Sunny has regained a slight reflex action in his legs so we are praying its a a temp paralysis from brusing rather than any breakage and he is having complete cage rest plus an abundance of meds. We are concentrating on managing his pain and getting some food and liquids inside him. He has managed to wee and poo overnight which is what the vet says we need to be hoping for. Our vet has said that if im prepared to nursemaid him through this then he will have the best chance I know we are not out of the woods yet, but he is still with us and for that im SO grateful.
Keep your fingers crossed for us
We are going back today for another evaluation.
Thankyou so much
Bev  

Answer
Hi Bev,

that is great news to hear he has some ability back there.  And that he had some output as well. It also is good the vet is talking about you being able to care for him through this.  

If you think it might've been because he was spooked, you may want to try to evaluate his housing location and height of the house he's in.  If he's too close to a noisy part of the house, or too close to traffic or outdoor noise, you may want to shift him to another spot.  You also might consider a bigger house to give him more room - it might help if he spooks again that he may not run into/kick something if he has more space.  You may want to consider makig him a hidey-box he can go into when he feels like he needs more security.  Also, if his cage is on the ground and certain parts of his view are blocked by tables, chairs or sofas, etc, things may wind up surprising him because all of a sudden "its there!" and he has to react quickly.  We have our guys in Prevue cages that are about 20 inches off the ground (metal legs on rollers).  They kind of remind me of a baby crib, but for small animals.  Our guys have an unblocked view of what goes on in the room, and are much less startled by things.  Generally I have found, especially with my lop, that if they can see a source for noise they aren't nearly as spooked as if they hear noise but do not have anything to relate it to.  They get spooked much more easily even when it's someone they know (ie when the noise source does appear).

Neighbor loud music could do it.  Kids running through the house could do it, especially if he's resting and gets shocked awake.  You'll have some time to think about what could be done to keep things less stressful for him.

The vet will probably recommend if you haven't already done so nice comfy and soft bedding for him to recover on.  Synthetic or natural wool is good, but medical pet bedding is also excellent, it like wool will wick away moisture.  Palace Pet Products makes these mats and you may be able to find them or the wool at your local pet supply store.

If he is getting metacam for the pain that is excellent.  It has good pain aleving properties plus it also works on keeping swelling of inflamed areas down.  If not ask the vet about this and ask if Sunny could benefit from a med that can reduce swelling.

I'll keep praying for you all and Sunny.  Nice name for him, I bet it fits hits character well.  If you can, let me know how it is going.

Hugs to Sunny, Lee