(RIP) Back legs paralysed

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pinksalamander

pinksalamander

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Hey guys, my Mum just rang me saying there is a problem with Archie. I'm at uni at the moment so not actually there but have asked her to post/add any info.

Basically he was fine and happy and completely normal this afternoon, my Mum put him back in his room. When she came back he was lying down not moving at all and feeling a bit cold. He has blood on one foot and his back legs are completely paralysed, he cannot hold himself up but is not appearing in pain and his still perky, drinking and eating, but obviously only with help.

She will take him to the vets tomorrow morning but there aren't any places we can take them near us.

Not sure what to do or what to say. I'm on the phone now and she is holding him and trying to rub his legs to see if there is any feeling...

OK she says there is no feeling at all when she moves his legs.
 
there is the possibility of an infection that is affecting his motor skills..He could have a muscle injury that is putting pressure on his nerves back there causing the paralysis.

im so sorryy to hear this.
 
This is what I am wondering, its just odd he has blood on his foot. There doesn't seem to be any cut apparently. He is still cleaning himself completely normally. She is going to put him on the bed with her tonight and wake up every now and again to give him water. Not sure what else can be done until morning.
 
Its Fran's mum. Archie is lying on the bed with me as I need to go to sleep. I called the vet and she said the important thing was to keep him warm so hopefully he will be warm with me. He's had some water from his bottle and is happy eating his pellets from my hand, but he can't do it himself unless I put the food right near his nose. Fingers crossed xx
 
I'm extremely hesitant to put this here....but I want infirmary mods to see what I'm saying even though I'm probably completely off base.

A year or so ago we started having some rabbits become paralyzed in their hind legs. After reading about several things we came across something called "flopsy"...and decided to treat with vitamin E drops.

We lost the first few rabbits because we didn't catch it in time - one gal started perking up but she was too far gone I think and she gave up the will to live (she was so young too - just done w/ weaning).

Bandita was our last one to come down with it - and we gave her vitamin E every few hours. I want to say we bought vitamin E capsules and tried to get 1 cc in her every hour for the first 8 hours or so...

She pulled through. She relapsed later - then pulled through again once we put her on the Vitamin E.

Now she hops around normally - to see her - you'd never know that for a few hours she dragged her rear end and couldn't sit up at all.

I shared about this in the rabbitry and folks were kinda like "no way"...but then a couple folks from the UK pm'd me and privately said that they'd heard of this or their rabbits had this (or someone they'd known had a rabbit that had this..)....and that was what pulled them out.

The point of this very lengthy post? If you have some vitamin E capsules that you can get the liquid out of - OR - some wheat germ (we get that here in the cereal aisle)....that might help at least for the night.

Once again - I'm NOT an infirmary mod - just speaking from my limited experience with one batch of rabbits that came down with something.
 
Thanks peg, I'll text my Mum now and tell her, not sure we have any though and I can't think of a 24hour pharmacy anywhere near home where we could get them from.

In the meantime here is a video my Mum emailed me from her phone (while she was on the phone to me, you can hear me on loudspeaker). You can see how perky he is.

 
This isn't "flopsy".....and I don't think that is an actual condition to be honest. What you have is a spinal injury. The posturing in the picture tells it all. The most likely location of a spinal luxationis L7 in the translumbar region. This type of injury can happen when the rear legs kick violently without support or their leg gets caught in something that causes a kick. The degree of recovery is directly related to damage to the spinal cord itself. We have had situations in which there was swelling from this type of injury that did not damage the cord, only pressured. If the cord is severely damaged, the paralysis will not resolve.

I have dealt with spinals many times. I have actually had a baby wildcottontail come in totally paralyzed and she fully recovered and was released. Get to the vet as soon as possible. In the meantime, keep him as confined as possible. Less movement means less chance of additional injury. Keep him warm....supplemental heat as shock is a very real possibility. Keep him hydrated. Offer him any bunny safe food that he will take. The vet will most likely do a physical and an x-ray. Unless the clinic has digital radiology, it might be difficult to see a partial luxation....a full vertebra luxation is usually large enough to feel by your fingers. The vertebra are also very prone to splinter and that might not be seen on some older rad machines. I usually treat medically by offering sub-q fluids to help with hydration. Pain meds, particularly an anti-inflammatory, is in order. We usually mildly sedate the patient with either valium or a high end dosing of Tramadol....which will also help with discomfort. Old school vets will tend to use steroids. That is not considered to be clinically correct these days....plus steroids suppress the immune system and that isn't something that is usually desirable in a rabbit. And if it's a L7 luxation, you will have to manually express the bladder.

If the cord is pressured, time is the best treatment. If the cord is damaged or severed, you will need to make a "quality of life" decision. It is possible to give a paralyzed rabbit a high quality of life....we have done it here numerous times....but it is a challenge and very time consuming. Good luck.

Randy
 
:( So sorry to hear this. I hope that this is something that Archie can recover from. I will have Archie in my thoughts... hope you get him some help soon.
 
I agree, it sounds like a spinal injury that needs immediate attention. Until then, keep him warm and as immobile as possible.
 
Hi everyone. My Mum just rang from the vets. The vet thinks it is most likely that he has broken his pelvis from kicking out at something and that she doesn't think its something he will ever be able to recover from, so we had to make the desiccation to put him down. Thank you all for your help. I just wish I was there.
 
Our vet was very kind. She said that Archie had probably kicked out very hard against the wall and broken his pelvis or his spine. He had chewed his feet, even eating away one of his claws, probably confused as to why his legs wouldn't work - although she said he wouldn't have been able to even feel this as he would have been numb.

He had a very calm night on my bed with me by his side. I woke up every two hours to give him some pellets and water and he ate some lovely fresh "Taste the Difference" runner-beans and a bit of dried mango.

I wish Fran could have been here with him, but she has some lovely pictures to remember him by.

RIP little Archie x
 
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