Elderly Bunny can't walk

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celineki

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Hi,
My bunny who is 9.5 years old recently battled with snuffles and has tried most anti-biotics with no results. She was sneezing alot with white mucus and i had to clean her nose and eyes twice to thrice daily. We did a test for pathogen for her weight loss, a blood test and x-ray too, all this done with several visits to the vet in a month. Her vet prescribed her with injection of antibiotics and nebulizer finally as all oral meds have been exhausted. She is also diagnosed with furmites. As i'm not able to do the injection, i put her up with a medical boarding who can help me with this for two weeks. However, just 1 week later, i had an urgent call from the boarding and they requested me to bring her home saying that her condition is quite critical. they suggested to stop all meds and just make sure she is comfortable.

I was prepared for the worst. Brought her home and feed her.. but right after she reach home, her condition improves and she no longer have laboured breathing and was eating alot of vegetables even though she is not on any meds. 2 weeks later, which is yesterday night, she suddenly can't walk. We did noticed her getting weaker, but was still able to hop around normally. But yesterday night, she is just dragging her hind legs and are unable to sit up at all. She is just peeing and pooping in the same position. But she still tries to reach for food and will eat when we feed her.

My family are against bringing her to the vet again as there's no results everytime we brought her there, and her condition seems worsen whenever she was there, but was back to her happy self at home. They kind of just want to let her go peacefully at home. I'm in a dilemma because I'm afraid that she is in pain, also i'm scared the vet might want to euthanize her, but i also don't want to traumatize and stress her too much with the visit (the whole journey usually takes 2 to 4 hrs depending on waiting times and she is always exhausted by then).

Am I being a bad owner by letting her stay at home instead of going to the vet? We have bought all her favourite treats and are prepared to pamper her. I will also be cleaning her up everyday and making sure she is as comfortable as possible.. but i feel a certain guilt in me if i didnt bring her to a vet, though we are unsure what more can be done for her..
 
Your rabbit may have spondylosis or spinal degeneration that is now affecting her mobility. She's at an age where it's not uncommon for it to occur. I had a 9 year old rabbit that developed it. She started having difficulty with hopping and was unsteady, and eventually she could not longer hop and didn't have much function in her hind legs. For a while she could scoot around pretty well, but eventually she could only scoot around in a circle. Even though she lost her mobility, she still seemed happy to eat, get head rubs, and interact with her bunny friend. She was old and slept quite a bit, but her quality of life was still good for an old bun. After she lost use of her hind legs, she lived for another 6 months, so if your bun still seems happy otherwise, as long as you can make some adjustments and there isn't some other underlying health problem going on, she could still have some time yet to her life.

I did have to make some adjustments. Because she just peed wherever she was laying, I had disposable puppy pads on her floor, that I changed out as needed. In the main area where she laid, I had to have a more absorbent layer, so there was a towel over the puppy pad, and a faux shearling fleece layer(vet bed) over that. The vet bed fleece helped keep the urine drained away from her body and provided a soft layer for her. I had to change those out a couple times a day so I could wash the soiled towels and vet bed fleece. In the last 4 months because she could get herself stuck, I had to check on her regularly to make sure she could get to her food and water. I checked on her at least every 4 hours, including during the night. You'll have to ensure your bun can eat enough on her own, and if not help supplement her feedings with syringe feeds(make sure you know how to do it properly if you've never done it).

If your bun was in a lot of pain, that would affect her eating, as buns in severe pain usually won't eat. So as long as she is continuing to eat and drink well with help, she won't be in severe pain, though she may have some discomfort. One thing that really helped my bun with the arthritis pain, was the anti inflammatory/pain reliever meloxicam/metacam. It was an oral suspension. I gave her 0.3mg/kg twice a day, and it did have a noticeable effect on reducing her discomfort. As long as your bun doesn't have kidney issues, this might be something to consider.

So here are some links that might be helpful to you.
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/
http://www.disabledrabbits.com/paralysis.html
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Spinal_abnormalities_rabbits.htm
http://vgr1.com/metacam/
 
Last edited:
this happened to one of my young rabbits and she ended up going fully paralyzed....
 

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