incontinence, trouble moving back legs

[bsupertramp]

I have an old female lop rabbit (about 7 or 8 years old I think) who in the last few months started losing mobility in her back legs. She struggles with lifting her legs up and when she walks there's a thud kind of sound as her feet touch the ground. In the the last few weeks it seems to be getting worse, and she has been having accidents as she walks. We've moved everything she needs (food, water, toilet) into one corner of the room so that she doesn't have to move around as much, but she likes to follow our young boy bunny around, especially if he heads towards the kitchen and she thinks he's getting a treat! My previous rabbit had broken his hip and was walking in a similar way to her, which is causing me to think that she had broken something and we hadn't noticed (well actually I've been telling my mum to take her to the vet for ages but she just keeps saying "oh she's just old".)
Do you think she should be taken to a vet? Will they just want to put her down, or is there pain medication she can have to help her with her mobility? She's eating normally but I've also noticed that she isn't able to clean herself as well as she used to and we've been needing to clean clumped poo off her fur.

 

[slavetoabunny]

It sounds as though she may have arthritis. A daily dose of metacam would help her. My 7 1/2 year old developed arthritis and metacam helps her immensely.

 

[slavetoabunny]

Just to add....the vet can do an x-ray to confirm arthritis. Sparky also lost her litterbox habits with her arthritis. I got her a low entry box and things have improved on this front.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat: A vet visit would give you clarification. Our ten year old boy Ted had similar symptoms, but, unfortunately it was a tumor.

 

[bsupertramp]

We have bought them a new toilet which is just like a big flat tray, before we were using the base of a cat carry container and it was hard for to get in and out of. I will keep trying to get my mum to take her to the vet, but is there anything else I could do for her to help her? Other than give her lots of cuddles that is!

 

[pla725]

I would take her to a vet. Did she start with dragging her left leg and then the other along with the incontinence?

 

[pla725]

Update?

 

[bsupertramp]

Oh sorry! I had the thought in the back of my mind to tell you all what happened but never got around to it.
We took her to the vet and he said it's arthritis in her spine, did some tests and saw there wasn't much response in her back legs. We decided not to put her on any meds, instead we've put her on a diet so that she has better mobility and we're making the house easier for her to walk around so she doesn't have any accidents. I've been away for a week but I've been told she is having accidents (peeing in the wrong spots) so if it doesn't improve we might look into meds for her.

 

[pla725]

You may want to consider making her a bunny wheelchair to get around better. I think there are kits available to make your own.

 

[mochi_ball]

i bought some of these Myristol pellets from the bunspace store recently I think it has helped my bunny's arthritis. the myristol pellets are supplements for the joints. prior to this, i noticed she was moving a little slower, having more poopy/pee accidents. metacam is also good too esp for pain.

 

[bsupertramp]

so I'm back from my holiday and I've noticed she's definitely getting worse in the incontinence department. She's almost having accidents every time she moves. She is still going into the toilet and using it though, so I guess she just doesn't even know she's having accidents.

I just read this http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/diapers.html and I think we might look into using nappies for her.

Also, a few months ago, when she was just starting to have trouble walking, a line developed in her fur on her lower back. It's kind of hard to explain, at first we thought it was just her changing into her winter coat, but now that she's having all this trouble, could the line represent where she's lost feeling in her legs? I'll see if I can get a photo to show you what I mean.

 

[bsupertramp]

okay here's a photo of the line on her lower back
http://i55.tinypic.com/2guxlhj.jpg


we bought some nappies for her but they just keep falling off. will bigger nappies solve this problem? my mum brought a small cage inside and put her in that and had our other bunny running around like normal, which I found really cruel. She mostly spends her time sitting down but I think she should be able to move around if she wants to.

 

[pla725]

Sounds like this could be two things: One is arthritis that is progressing quickly. The other isE. Cuniculi. Have you considered having bloodwork done to check her kidney values and also x-rays on her kidneys to check for stones?

You may want to try the metacam to see if it helps.

I tried puppy diapers but that didn't work. They either didn't fit right even after trying a couple different sizes or slid off. I even tried the smallest infant diapers. Same result. Bun baths were the best solution and putting cream on the legs to help lessen the urine scald.

 

[bsupertramp]

I just thought I'd quickly update this to say that we've had to put Jemima down :-(
About a week ago she lost movement in her hind legs and was struggling to stand up and walk around on her own. We took her to our vet a couple of days later when she hadn't improved and he said she must have been in lots of pain and would not recover so he wanted her put down. I'm very upset but I know it's for the best if she's no longer in pain now.