11 day old babies hurt legs and open sore

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djluster

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Mar 23, 2011
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Location
Snohmish County, Washington, USA
I was looking at my 11 day old Flemish giant bunnies today and one has a major problem so I need to know if there is anything I can do for it or what I should do if there is nothing I can do for it. This is my first litter.
It has a open sore on the back legs and both back legs dont move. the other 2 are very healthy

hurt2.jpg


hurt1.jpg

 
I was told on another board that is was Spina bifada. does it look like that to anyone else, what do you think it is and what should I do. i dont want to put iy down if it might get better
 
I have never seen that before either, but would recommend putting the baby down. If it has not corrected itself by this age, it is not likely that it is a defect that can be corrected in the longer term. :(
 
When I use to volunteer at the animal rescue, I saw alitter of kittens with a similar issue. Out of a litter of seven, all ofbut one (the onlyone without the paralyzed hind legs)passed away before four weeks of age. The one that survived now suffers from severe neurological damage.

The vets never did figure out what sort of condition caused this.


My best advice would be to put them out of their missery right now. A rabbit without the use of it's hind legs will not lead a very happy nor healthylife. And at this age, it's dangerous as they will not be able to hop out of momma rabbit's way when she gets in the nest box, thus they may accidentaly get smothered.

I'm very sorry this happened to your beautiful kits :(
 
The wound could be a pressure sore - it looks to be just where the babies naturally rests in pic 2? Or it could be an injury which causes the paralysis - at that size everything is so close together even if the initial wound wasn't too bad and infection wouldn't have far to go to hit important parts.

I think I would get a vet exam but with the expectation they will probably recommend PTS. If it's an injury you could try treating but you may find you get to 6 weeks and then still have to PTS. If you do have him PTS getting a PM should be able to tell you if it's an injury or abnormality that's the issue - which would be important if you plan on breeding again.
 
Agree w/ tasmin! Good luck and keep us posted. Poor little thing and poor you. I know she only had three. :(
 
It looks like spina bifida to me (former NICU RN), but that's coming from a human point of view.

Can you give us an update?
 
Your poor bunny looks like he's in a lot of discomfort. The open sore needs to be cleaned often so it doesn't develop an abscess. I just use a warm saline solution in a syringe to wash over the wound. If he gets an infection at this age, it is likely to become very serious right away. His little body won't have much stamina.

Please take the little one to a vet to have them make the ultimate decision a to what to do with his future. But if you do choose to give him a chance, some rabbits can live without the mobility of their hind legs. It is very time consuming as you have to help them with everything, and so you may have to decide whether you want to make the commitment. Again, this is only if your vet believes your rabbit will survive. In my experience with rabbits, it is unlikely he will regain use of his legs, but this depends on the severity of his injuries or deformity. Please please please, consult a vet.

Is this something you noticed just at the 11th day? Or had he always had mobility issues? Kits are normally able to crawl for some time before this, did he have troubles stabilizing? It is good to know if this is something he was born with versus something aggressive that started afterwards. (I can assume because of the wound he was born with this, but it is hard to tell)

I have been fortunate to not have to make the decision of whether or not to put one of my animals to sleep, mostly because rabbits turn from curably sick to fatally ill so quickly that there is not time, but I recognize that in some cases it is the most humane thing to do. I know it would not be an easy choice. I can only hope that consulting your vet will give you the understanding you will need to make an educated decision.

Please let us know how things turn out for you and your little bunny. I'm thinking about your little one, and you through this time.
 
I looked it over again the other day and the sore was starting to look better but no movement in hind end so called the vet and after we talked about it we decided to put it down. It was about half the size of the other two so I didn't want it to suffer anymore.
 
I can feel for you on this, the Lionhead litter I have been trying to completely save, out of 3 I saved 2. I tried everything to get the third ones eyes to heal, it finally went blind in one then we realized it hadn't gained any weight in the 2 weeks since it had been weaned, turns out it had an intestinal problem where it wasn't absorbing nutrients.It did not become apparent until weaning because the mother's milk is highly digestible. My vet seems to think that this is the cause for most "faders".

Best of luck on the rest of your litter, hope they are just as adorable as that one.
 
I am so sorry you lost this little one. I think you made the right call here in considering the best course of action for the poor baby.

Best of luck to you with the rest of your litter.
 

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