sudden onset paralysis?

[Deltron]

Hello, rabbits online. First post. My girl has 3 rabbits of the Flemish giant breed. Recently the father of the group suddenly can't walk. His back left leg appears to hurt to the touch, and he has to drag/push himself around. This happened suddenly. She went to an emergency vet, who admitted he knew nothing about rabbits, then prescribed TMP/SMZ 240mg and Panacur Suspension 10%, saying he might be suffering from an infection caused by eating mouse feces. We're in day 3 of the meds now and there's no visible change to his struggles.

Any suggestions on what to do next? We're near Springfield, Ma if anyone knows a rabbit vet.

 

[squidpop]

Theres a fairly common protozoal infection called e. cuniculi that can cause sudden paralysis if any of the protozoa are affecting the spinal column panacur is used to treat that. Its believed that as many as 80% of rabbits carry E. cuniculi but only around 10% ever show symptoms of it. So it good your rabbit is being treated with the Panacur.

TMP/SMZ seems to be an antibiotic and I imagine is being given to cover more bases incase there is an infection.

With sudden problems like splay legs in rabbits it could be e. cuniculi but it could also be trauma to the spine, you may need xrays.


My advice would be to start looking for a really rabbit savvy vet in your area since your vet admittedly doesn't treat many rabbits. Really, you should try to find a rabbit specialist for the sake of all your rabbits incase you ever have illnesses, a dog/cat vet just is not good enough.

And, I am in no way a vet but this is my advice.
I would try to get a rabbit safe pain relief drug that is anti-inflammatory like metacam. Reducing inflammation might help a lot if there is trauma to the spine and there's always a fear with rabbits that if they are in pain they may stop eating, so pain meds would help. Metacam is supposed to be safe in rabbits.

Also, since you are giving an antibiotic I would try to get some bene-bac probiotic from the pet shop to keep your rabbits gut flora healthy.

 

[JBun]

I'll just add that if your bun is actually exhibiting pain in the leg and not just showing signs of weakness/paresis, I would suspect an injury to either the leg or the spine. An xray could confirm this. If your bun is dragging the leg and not showing signs of pain from it, it's possible it is due to the e. cuniculi protozoa, in which case the panacur is the appropriate treatment. It needs to be given at the dosage of 20mg/kg once a day for at least 28 days, so you'll want to double check the dosage is correct. The antibiotic will help cover any possible secondary infection. Keep an eye that the buns poops stay normal, as antibiotics can sometimes disrupt a rabbits gut microflora.
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html

I agree that you also will need metacam to help bring down any inflammation contributing to the problem, as well as help with any pain. You can probably ring the vet and ask if you could pick up a rx.

You can take a look at these vet lists to see if there is a rabbit vet near you.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/