Injured back or leg?

Hello it's my first post. I have an almost 7 year old Dutch bunny girl. I took her to the vet just for a well bunny check (she's had bladder sludge in the past and I wanted to talk to the vet and have her checked over - otherwise she's been healthy)...this was Monday. When I got home I set her carrier in her the room we let her run around in and when she hopped out she was hopping funny. Her left front paw kept stroking the floor like she was on ice - or like a swimming motion. Her back left leg also seemed not quite right. It is honestly hard to tell if it's just the front left or her whole side. When she sits in the "loaf" position she has been sticking her left front paw out rather than tucked under. It's been about 48 hours now and she is moving better I think. She continues her usual routine of getting excited for treats and she can run...but it is with limping. She is eating/drinking/peeing/pooping like normal. She is playing just about the usual amount. She is probably a bit less active but she is more active today than she was when we first got home. Last night she came flying to get a treat - in a limping way - but so fast I wanted to yell at her to take it easy. I guess she doesn't seem in pain to me and is acting mostly normal other than the limp. I have pressed a bit on the left paw and arm and she doesn't seem to act like I'm hurting her. I don't want to pick her up really in case I cause more damage.

I talked to the vet last night and sent him a video. He thinks that she injured her back perhaps by getting startled in the pet carrier. He's a fantastic vet and I has worked with a lot of rabbits and I have no reason to think something happened there. She was actually very agitated when I was carrying her to the car so perhaps it happened then but I was super careful with her in the carrier ...she was just moving around a lot. He mentioned trying a course of prednisone. He asked me to call this morning and I did and I'm waiting for him to call me back.

Any tips? insights? Is it possible she just sprained her back or leg and will get better? Maybe dislocated her left shoulder? is that an option? I just feel beyond horrible that this happened and I am constantly watching her now - I'm sure she wishes I'd stop checking in on her every 5 minutes lol.

If both the left back and left front leg are showig compromised function, it's possible she had a stroke or a TIA. If it was a TIA, she would start to regain normal function soon after the event. If it was a stroke, the effects will be more long term. And this could have been brought on by the stress of the trip and/or vet visit.

If it was a leg or spinal injury, usually it won't present on just one side of the body. An injury will usuall be isolated to an individual limb. A spinal injury will usually be full paralysis or compromised funciton of both hind limbs.

That would be my guess with seeing reduced function on just one side of a rabbits body, if this is what you're seeing with your rabbit.

JBun said:

If both the left back and left front leg are showig compromised function, it's possible she had a stroke or a TIA. If it was a TIA, she would start to regain normal function soon after the event. If it was a stroke, the effects will be more long term. And this could have been brought on by the stress of the trip and/or vet visit.

If it was a leg or spinal injury, usually it won't present on just one side of the body. An injury will usuall be isolated to an individual limb. A spinal injury will usually be full paralysis or compromised funciton of both hind limbs.

That would be my guess with seeing reduced function on just one side of a rabbits body, if this is what you're seeing with your rabbit.

Click to expand...

Thanks too much for the info! She definitely has an issue with the front left leg. It's possible that her left back leg just looks "off" to me because she is compensating for the front. Her back legs are definitely working and the right side seems normal to me. I think she has continued to improve and she is doing her usual activities for the most part. She is most active in the evening and night so I will see as the night goes on. I'll try to upload the video I took shortly after I got home Monday which was 48 hours ago now. It doesn't have the allowed extension (it's .mov) so I need to figure out how to do it.

I can't figure out what types of video files are allowed to be uploaded - it says my .mov and .mp4 are not allowed extensions.

It's easiest to upload to a site like youtube, then share the link to the video here.

JBun said:

It's easiest to upload to a site like youtube, then share the link to the video here.

Click to expand...

Hopefully this link works!

This is from 48 hours ago not too long after we returned from the vet. She is more mobile now for sure but still has some odd movements of that front left leg like in the video. Thank goodness she is improving but I'd like to hear what you (and others) think might be the reason.

It actually looks like she may be trying to compensate for the back left leg and it's not the front leg causing any problems at all. It just looks that way because of the way she's holding her body and torso elevated that it's putting the front leg in an odd position. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in the left hip the way she is holding the back leg tucked under. To me it doesn't look like a spine or front leg issue.

Something else to consider, is that sometimes it's not the leg or spine, but a problem with the heart or a mass in the chest that can cause odd movement behaviors in rabbits like that. You most likely will need to get a full set of xrays done and possibly blood work, for the vet to figure out what the actual cause is. I wouldn't let them just presume it's a spine injury without actual xrays being done.

JBun said:

It actually looks like she may be trying to compensate for the back left leg and it's not the front leg causing any problems at all. It just looks that way because of the way she's holding her body and torso elevated that it's putting the front leg in an odd position. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in the left hip the way she is holding the back leg tucked under. To me it doesn't look like a spine or front leg issue.

Something else to consider, is that sometimes it's not the leg or spine, but a problem with the heart or a mass in the chest that can cause odd movement behaviors in rabbits like that. You most likely will need to get a full set of xrays done and possibly blood work, for the vet to figure out what the actual cause is. I wouldn't let them just presume it's a spine injury without actual xrays being done.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for taking a look. Looking at her movement now her back leg moves more normally. I was just watching the video again and she is no longer turning her back leg out like that but she does have her front leg out still...just not as much. She didn't have any of these issues before we went to the vet so I sure hope it's not a heart or tumor - ugh.