lopbunns
Member
Hi everybody, I decided to join this online forum because I was curious if anyone had any insight as to what could be possibly wrong with my rabbit, George. I have had George for over two years and he has a few quirks. For some background info, I received George from a woman who had experience breeding and raising rabbits, and I got into contact with her through a family friend who had known her for awhile and who also is a fellow bunny lover. So I felt like I could trust the situation. Pictures of George were posted on facebook and that is how the family friend saw George. I was looking for a bunny and so when she showed me the pictures of George, I immediately knew I wanted to contact this lady. Not just because he was cute but because he was advertised as having some medical problems, and I didn't want him to go to a kid that had no clue what they were doing. So after contacting her she told me what was going on with him. She told me that while she was the breeder, George had previously gone to a family before me. She told me that they returned him after noticing that one day George wasn't moving. The lady told me that she was able to nurse him back to health but that he still has some residual side effects. Such as poor balance, nystagmus, weakness in a back leg, and some head tremors. She told me that she just suspected that he's just neurologic. When I first got him home he was still only a couple months old, but he looked very underweight. He had some fur thinning at the base of his neck and it was very obvious he had some mobility issues. But he was still able to eat and drink just fine, and even though he wasn't the most graceful he could still get around. I got him to use a litter box even after the lady said he could't because of his hind leg weakness. After having him for a couple months, he began to gain weight and his fur started growing back. In Spring of 2021 I took him to the vet for the first time for an overall health check and to talk about getting him neutered. Knowing that he shows signs of being neurologic, I wanted to make sure he was a good candidate for anesthesia. I gave the vet as much information about him as I could as well as what his previous owner told me. At the time because of covid regulations, I wasn't allowed to accompany George during his check up, but the vet called me on the phone throughout his appointment to gather info about him. She saw what I meant about his little quirks and said she had never heard of a rabbit being neurologic before. At the time she said that his first family he was sold to probably dropped him and didn't tell the breeder what had happened. The vet didn't ask to take any blood tests or labs, so after that I thought that maybe he is just a special case and will always be a bunny with little quirks. The vet said he would be fine to go under anesthesia and later performed the castration. George did perfectly well and healed up wonderfully. Almost a year after that, at the beginning of 2022, I had to do an emergency trip to the vet. I had been on a vacation for about a week and left him under the care of my mom. My mom had watched him many times and knew how to take care of him. When I got back, he was very lethargic, and not eating or drinking. I immediately thought he was suffering from GI stasis, I took him to the vet and they gave him fluids and warmed his little body up as well as did some blood tests. They informed me that he did not in fact have stasis as he was still able to go to the restroom. After getting his labs back the vet told me that his liver enzymes were elevated, she told me that some rabbits suffer from liver torsion, and the only way they could figure out if he had the torsion would be to give him an ultrasound. At the time I didn't have the money to spend on an ultrasound because after all the care he had received it came out to almost a thousand dollars. The vet understood and told me that if he had a torsion he would likely be even worse off and wouldn't be showing improvements. She informed me that she suspected that he has some sort of congenital liver disease. She told me that the excess liver enzymes could have been affecting his brain and could be the culprit for all of his quirks. She started him on milk thistle as a sort of liver support. I was giving that to him orally once every 24 hrs and he quickly went back to his old self. Over a year later for his annual check up they wanted to check his liver values to see if he improved and if he would still need the liver medication. His blood tests came back totally normal, and she told me he no longer needs the milk thistle. So after all of that background info, I thought maybe I would come on here and ask fellow rabbit lovers if anyone suspected that maybe something else is going on. Up until a couple days ago I had never heard of some called E. Cuniculi. After doing my own research I saw that George's quirks pretty closely line up to the symptoms of this disease. But what I don't understand that if this is such a common or well known parasite, wouldn't they would have suggested that I get him tested for it? Since having him he has definitely improved. He still struggles with balance and can't hop as high as other rabbits but he still gets around wonderfully and quickly. He still has a nystagmus and some head tremors but no head tilt or anything like that. I am curious as to what anyone thinks of George, leave any comments or questions you would like. Thank you.
