(At first I want to apologize any mistakes in my writing, I'm not a native English speaker.)
Nearly three weeks ago my four-year-old rabbit slipped with his mouth full of hay and he instantly started gagging. That didn't last long, but I noticed that his breathing was whining. Next day we visited a vet who thought that it was just a respiratory infection that had just randomly popped up (weird, I know) and we got antibiotics. After the weekend the situation hadn't changed and we visited another vet who looked to his mouth and pharynx with anaesthetics. The vet found a nearly an inch long piece of hay barely visible (the most of it had intruded in the mucosa) and got it out. I thought that the case was closed but little I knew... The breathing problems were gone but the rabbit was and still is very tired and melancholic. He eats and poops normally but rests much more than normally. The weirdest symptom is his clumsy moving. It seems that he doesn't have full strenght in his front legs and specially turning around looks very troublesome sometimes. The movements of his neck are also limited; he can't groom his back for example.
The other symptoms were there already before the second vet visit, but the clumsiness is a new thing. I have thought that it might have something to do with the dramatic waking-up from the anaesthetics... The rabbit slept very long and didn't seem to wake up so the vet gave him some medicine to fasten things up, and that resulted the rabbit having hallucinations and moving himself violently and uncontrollably.
I called the vet before the Christmas because of the moodiness of the rabbit and he extended our antibiotics period. We probably need to go back there this week.
Do you have any ideas? I have been thinking of a cervical vertebrae injury, hopefully not. The rabbit can jump around and he has fallen down only once and that was caused by an obstacle (I don't think he would have fallen down in normal conditions though). The weakness is recognizable mainly in situations that he runs when his front body seams to be constantly lower than normally (not touching the floor) and when he jumps out of his cage which led nearly his chin touching the floor (and which I don't let him do anymore).
Nearly three weeks ago my four-year-old rabbit slipped with his mouth full of hay and he instantly started gagging. That didn't last long, but I noticed that his breathing was whining. Next day we visited a vet who thought that it was just a respiratory infection that had just randomly popped up (weird, I know) and we got antibiotics. After the weekend the situation hadn't changed and we visited another vet who looked to his mouth and pharynx with anaesthetics. The vet found a nearly an inch long piece of hay barely visible (the most of it had intruded in the mucosa) and got it out. I thought that the case was closed but little I knew... The breathing problems were gone but the rabbit was and still is very tired and melancholic. He eats and poops normally but rests much more than normally. The weirdest symptom is his clumsy moving. It seems that he doesn't have full strenght in his front legs and specially turning around looks very troublesome sometimes. The movements of his neck are also limited; he can't groom his back for example.
The other symptoms were there already before the second vet visit, but the clumsiness is a new thing. I have thought that it might have something to do with the dramatic waking-up from the anaesthetics... The rabbit slept very long and didn't seem to wake up so the vet gave him some medicine to fasten things up, and that resulted the rabbit having hallucinations and moving himself violently and uncontrollably.
I called the vet before the Christmas because of the moodiness of the rabbit and he extended our antibiotics period. We probably need to go back there this week.
Do you have any ideas? I have been thinking of a cervical vertebrae injury, hopefully not. The rabbit can jump around and he has fallen down only once and that was caused by an obstacle (I don't think he would have fallen down in normal conditions though). The weakness is recognizable mainly in situations that he runs when his front body seams to be constantly lower than normally (not touching the floor) and when he jumps out of his cage which led nearly his chin touching the floor (and which I don't let him do anymore).
