Postop foot drop! Please help!

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pepperbun

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My rabbit Pepper is a 7month old holland lop. I took him to be neutered 5 days ago. He was discharged from the vet's office on the day of surgery after a period of observation. He didn't move around very much after his surgery, but the following day, I noticed that he was moving his left rear paw oddly. He kept trying to scratch himself with it, but couldn't flex his toes.

As he started moving around more, I noticed that he seems to have a foot drop. He'll try to jump out of his litter box and can't flex his left foot up to clear the jump (so he ends up hitting the top of that foot:(. When he is hopping around, the foot scrapes on the carpet, and when he lands, the toes are bent under. When my boyfriend and I checked his neuter incision (which looks fine), we found that the muscles on his left leg are weaker than those on his right.

As soon as I noticed the problem, I brought him to an animal hospital and they felt this was *probably* a neurological issue. I asked about XRays, but they did not seem to think it was necessary. They were very non-commital and essentially told us to follow up with the vet that did the surgery (which I intend to do as soon as possible).

This is heartbreaking as he was completely healthy before the surgery. I want to cry (and have) every time I hear the foot scraping on the ground or see him land with his toes curled under.

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this before (or have any ideas about what is going on)??? Is there any way to know if he'll ever recover function?
 
can it possibly be that he is just extra sore on one side (where he was neutered) and he doesnt want to move that foot too much because it could hurt his ouchie?

i wish you the best hope everything is ok xoxo
 
You mention that there is less muscle tone on the side that has the weakness? If so, it would have taken longer for the muscles to atrophy than it has been post-neuter.

I would take him to the vet that did the neuter for an exam. It is possible that there was some inadvertent nerve damage. If that is the case, the vet may have noticed a nerve not in the right place when they did the neuter, or noticed that they might have strapped him to the operation table a bit wrong, or something of the sort. If that is the case, it probably cannot be treated. If it's some simple bruising of the nerve, he may regain function if he has a good course of metacam (meloxicam), which helps reduce inflammation and is pretty much the only treatment for nerve damage appropriate for rabbits. Steroids are not ok to use. He may not regain function, and may need to be a tripod bunny if the leg becomes totally useless. It would be best to remove it if he can't use it because it could get dirty and infected from being dragged along.

Another possibility is that he has Encephalitozoon cuniculi (EC). This is a parasite that is present in most rabbits from day one of life, and it often hides in the system without clinical signs. A stressful event or old age can lead to an active EC infection with clinical signs. One of the first signs of EC is a weakness in the left hind leg, kinda like they drag it. You should also check for urinary issues, another early sign of EC. The vet can do a titer for EC antibodies in the blood, which should give you an idea of how active the parasite is. The stress of the surgery on his body may have activated the latent infection.

The current standard of treatment for EC is a drug called ponazuril (Marquis) that was developed for a similar disease in horses. It is more expensive and less commonly used than the older treatment, which was a bendazole drug, like fenbendazole or albendazole. Those drugs are not recommended anymore because they do not penetrate the brain as well as ponazuril. With quick treatment, he can be fine; but with substandard treatment, or too slow, it can be a really devastating disease. EC is a progressive disease that causes immune system problems and neurological problems, leading eventually to paralysis and often infections. The infections are usually what causes death.

Best of luck,
 
I agree that this is very likely related to the neuter surgery and may be due to nervedamage related to the surgery. I would most certainly consult with the vet who did the surgery.
 
The link that Pam posted seems like it would be a good explanation to your rabbit's problem.

I can say from personal experience, that most vets at animal shelters do not do a proper and thorough job when it comes to spays/neuters. When we obtained our cat, Ginger, we had her spayed at the shelter.A few days after surgerywe noticedher entire hind end was wobbling severely when she walked. We took her to our normal vet who concluded that when she had been spayed at the shelter, the vet there had actually managed tocrack her pelvis, most likely while she was laying on the operating table.

It sickens me to know that we pay high prices andentrust the lives of our animals to our vets, only to discover that they did a sloppy job with a normally routine surgery.

I do hope your rabbit gets better soon, and hopefully it's nothing serious!
 
Thank you so much to everyone who's replied to this post! This is so stressful and upsetting, so I really appreciate the support. It's also great to get some ideas as to what is causing this problem. I think this is likely either an injection that either hit the sciatic nerve or a branch OR maybe he kicked out his back feet while falling asleep/waking up and broke his back (impinging some nerves). It's definitely possible that this is result of poor positioning during surgery.

What's really upsetting is when I called up his regular vet today, she seemed dismissive. She kept saying "oh, that's really weird, I've never heard of that before". And "you need to worry a little less(!)". We had great interactions with her prior to this, but now instead of taking responsibility or even being sympathetic, she's just dismissively optimistic. She's sure it will be "fine" (even though she hasn't examined him and admits that she's never seen this before).

When I pushed the issue, she admitted that some of the techs do give injections in the hindquarters, so that may in fact be what caused the nerve injury.

I'll bring Pepper in to see her, so I'll post updates here. Thanks again!!!
 
pepperbun wrote:
Thank you so much to everyone who's replied to this post! This is so stressful and upsetting, so I really appreciate the support. It's also great to get some ideas as to what is causing this problem. I think this is likely either an injection that either hit the sciatic nerve or a branch OR maybe he kicked out his back feet while falling asleep/waking up and broke his back (impinging some nerves). It's definitely possible that this is result of poor positioning during surgery.

What's really upsetting is when I called up his regular vet today, she seemed dismissive. She kept saying "oh, that's really weird, I've never heard of that before". And "you need to worry a little less(!)". We had great interactions with her prior to this, but now instead of taking responsibility or even being sympathetic, she's just dismissively optimistic. She's sure it will be "fine" (even though she hasn't examined him and admits that she's never seen this before).

When I pushed the issue, she admitted that some of the techs do give injections in the hindquarters, so that may in fact be what caused the nerve injury.

I'll bring Pepper in to see her, so I'll post updates here. Thanks again!!!
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Wow that's very upsetting that your vet is being so dismissive! Don't let her push you around, make sure you keep pushing until she steps up and helps you out with your bun.


 
I had something similar happen. I had visited a Flemmie at a local shelter on a Thursday when she was fine and hopping around. She was spayed on that Friday, and I was told she did fine; up and hopping soon after surgery.

I went to the shelter to the following Friday to check in on her when the man who cares for most of the bunnies told me that her left rear foot was limp. We took her to the meet n' greet room, and it was apparent that she didn't hop around like she did before the surgery.

I managed to take her in as a rescue so I could take her to my vet. He is suspecting that the leg was tied too tightly with a cord instead of a strap by the areas she has feeling and where she doesn't have feeling. He thinks the feeling/reflex/control of the leg will return, but it will take a long time.

Now I have to watch her because she has already groomed the foot to the point of taking hair off and licking the skin so much that the skin cracks. I'm always in a panic when she does this, but the vet just says that she is going to over-groom it at times, but that I should just let her be a bunny. It breaks my heart because she was normal and hopping before the surgery.... It's not fair to her that she can't scratch her left ear. Because she is a big bunny, it is so easy to see the frustration on her face when she lifts her leg to scratch, but nothing happens. I know there are much worse things that could have happened to her, and she really is lucky, but still.....

Good luck with your little guy.The worst part about nerve damage is that there are no clear-cut answers about recovery because you may never know the true extent of the damage. So sorry this happened to Pepper because I know it's not fair to you or him.
 
Good luck with your little guy. The worst part about nerve damage is that there are no clear-cut answers about recovery because you may never know the true extent of the damage. So sorry this happened to Pepper because I know it's not fair to you or him.
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Thanks for the well wishes. It's true - when Pepper has an itchy ear and tries to lift his leg to scratch and can't, or when he tries to jump out of his litter box and his foot won't clear, it's awful. Especially because he was perfectly healthy before. Other than those moments, though, Pepper is eating and playing just like he did before surgery. I hope your Flemmie is acclimating too.

I would like to help Pepper get back as much function as he can. Any ideas for how to do physical therapy with him?
 
Sorry to say, but my vet didn't go over any sort of therapy moves to help her get feeling back. I think it may be because of not knowing the extent of the damage. If it is just bruised muscle constricting the nerves, then it might be best to let it rest and heal. If the nerve is cut all of the way through, then there is nothing to do. I think that might be something to ask your vet about.

I just let my foster-girl be herself and hop around. We think she may have some real deep tissue feeling/tingling/numbness that causes her to over-groom. Sometimes, I think she is just mad that I am late with her salad if I have to work later than ususal. ;)
 
I would just try to move the leg through the full range of motion for therapy, unless it seems painful, maybe for 10 min a day? An anti-inflammatory like metacam (meloxicam) would absolutely be helpful as well.
 
gosh im so sorry u and ur bun are goin thru this....
i lost a bun on the operating table during her spay...he said it turned out to be a birth defect....but u always wonder what happened.that day,on the operating table,,,,with ur baby..
ive had another issue with a spay on a cat ..not the same occurence but i had to really push this vet to "fix" the prob...my cat still went into heat after her spay ..full blown heat,moaning,butt up,peeing on my boyfriends clothes,,,annoying ya know..and i dont get rid of animals once i have them but cat pee is badddd...finally after 6 months of convo with the vet about this.(she had the gall to ask me ..are you SURE shes in heat ? maybe shes just really friendlier now)...WHAT??? YOU KNOW WHEN A CAT IS IN HEat.!!!!!!.its absolutely positively obvious....they ended up opening her back up and the vet had left some of her girl parts still in her so she kept goin into cycle heats...so it was removed and they never charged me which was a concern cuz the vet said if i dont see a prob inside her i will charge u for exploritory surgery..which was 5 times more then the initial spay was....anyways im just saying dont let this vet brush you and ur bun under the rug...vets need to be held accountable for their screw ups ..just like we are at our jobs.

ive also had a prob with a laparoscopy surgery done and when i woke up my pinky was pretty much useless and swollen..i couldnt move it at alll..i was like how in the heck did they damage my pinky during a surgery that was on my abdomen..?..turns out when i was under somebody was walking by me and i guess my pinky was sticking out from the bed just enough to get caught and yanked sideways ...at least they stepped up and apologized and my pinky has since healed but goes to show u that ANYTHING can happen when their doin surgery...makes u wanna have witnesses around doesnt it...or maybe a camera...

i wish nothing but the best for you and ur bunny.i hate when the innocent are hurt.give ur bun a big ol hug from me.
 
Disabled girl Karla and myself were shown physical therapy motions for her legs by the Univ. of WI Veterinary School physical therapist, and by Karla's vet. I can PM you with the gentle stretches and motions. I hope Pepper's leg will gradually improve with your loving affection.

adding: tonyshuman describes above the motions I'd likely suggest too. Gentle motions.
 
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