Update on Coco....taken a turn for the worse

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niko521mac

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Hello, My gf is at work, I have told her about this problem. She will be home in a few hours. Her room mate discovered her rabbit was not moving. symptoms show that she cant move her back legs, she is trying to move herself with her front legs only.
She peed in her box, which she never does.
I went by this morning to change the litter boxes and feed, she was in the box, and declined craisins, which made me suspicious, but I thought nothing of it. 3 hours later the roomate discovered this.
I Am going back over to check out the situation. Please respond to this post, I will check for an answer in the the 30 min it takes to get to her house.
My GF is stephimarie78 and the rabbitis coco..., so please help.

Thank You
Nick
 
I would suggest you get the rabbit to a vet ASAP.

Susan:(
 
they seem to all be closed because of the storm, that is NOT a storm anymore, at least for us!
Nick
 
If you cannot get Coco to a vet right away, I would advise that you keep her somewhere where she cannot move around a lot, like a carrier. Make sure she still has access to food and water, though.

In my experience, this is very serious and probably means that she has damaged her spine in some manner. I don't know if Steph has any pain meds for her, but if she has Metacam, she should get some to help with the pain I'm sure she's experiencing.

-Kathy
 
Oh man. Tell Steph to call me if anything.
 
thank you all. She broke her back. She is in no pain. There is no feeling at all back there. I'm picking steph up now. Cocoa is getting a nice fruitbowl tonight.
 
I talked to Steph. She will update us when she gets home.
 
keeping all of you in our thoughts and prayers

:pray:
 
Oh no!

Nick, youre an awesome person for trying so hard to help her. Steph is so lucky to have you!

I was going to say when I have seen this it has been due to a spinal injury. Could she have falled in her cage (off a level) or slipped or something?

Id make sure she stays immobile for now. I prefer to put them in a carrier with a towel or blanket around them so they cant move. Make sure she gets lots of water and pain meds.

Let us know if you guys need anything. Sending lots of good vibes your way.

Haley
 
Hi All,

Just a few comments on this situation....I have e-mailed Nick directly in light of the emergency situation offering my assistance. But just to enlighten everyone on this type of injury. The rabbit's skeletal system is quite delicate and comprises only about 7% of body mass...cats and dogs have much stronger skeletal systems. Rabbits also have very powerful muscles. Due to this combination.....a strong kick of the rear legs possibly caused by a leg being stuck in a cage wire.slipping on a smooth surfaceor being picked up incorrectly and kicking the hind legs unopposed....it can cause a luxation (dislocation) of the L7 vertebra which is just below the trans-lumbar region. This results is some degree of paresis in the hind legs. The severity of the damage is directly related to the damage to the spinal cord itself. If the cord is pinched or pressured, if the inflammation can be reduced, the chances of a full recovery are good. If the cord is severed, the paralysis will not resolve. We have traditionally responded to head and/or spinal injuries with steroids....but I am having much more success by using aggressive anti-inflammatories along with partial sedation using something like valium. Something that many times is overlooked....they have no control over their bladder and limited, if any, control over the GI. It is vitally important to manually express the bladder....and bowels if necessary. This is sorta tricky as you must know where the bladder is, how much and where to apply pressure and still maintain stability in the spine. They can become so full that they leak...but unless the bladder is voided, toxins will start to build in the body and we walk into other issues. There is a huge amount of supportive care that is needed to successfully treat a spinal luxation....and time is the only true healer. Our best wishes go out to Coco.

Randy
 
Hi guys, Nick took Coco to see Dr. Dinon at Animal & Bird Medical Center in Palm Harbor. He said there was nothing that they could do for this type of back injury. She is in no pain and can not feel her legs, he said he wished he had better news for us but he we should put her to sleep.

I have no clue how this could have happend. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point. She is home with me now.
 
This is something that you and Nick need to talk about.

Many people do keep partially paralyzed buns but it is a lot of maintenance and care which you may or may not be able to maintain>you may want to keep her with you a few day to see if any function returns in her legs.

you also may want to see another vet for a 2nd opinion .

So soon after an injury itis difficult to assess the permanent severity of it.

I am very sorry that you have to go through this :(
 
I'm so sorry about Coco.

Did he do an xray? If he did, how bad is it? If not, an xray could show how damaged the spine is, and the less damaged the better the chances of recovery.

I'd look over Randy's info and talk to him as he has lots of experience with this.

I really, really hope Coco will recover.:pray:
 
Im so sorry, Steph.

I agree about getting a second opinion and an xray if you havent already. We had something similar happen with a shelter bunny and that bunny is living a very happy life now. She had to be on pain meds for a while and have her bladder expressed but now she scoots around on her front legs. An xray is also useful to determine the severity of the injury. We had a member a while back who had the same thing happen to her bun only to have him recover a week later.

Definitely keeping you and your girl in my prayers

Haley
 
WAIT!!!!! just a thought but I know you might be able to get a wheel chari sorta thing that she can pull herself along in I don't know if it would work but I have heard and seen very sucesful stories of this happening it may limit her mobility a bit but it would be better than nothing
 
We have two disabled rabbits that have hind limb immobility, or impaired mobility. It is not an immediate cause to have a rabbit put down.
A friend who adopted a rabbit surrendered to a shelter, took her newly adopted bun to a vet for check-up b/c of his different walk. The vet determined the rabbit had a broken back; the break has healed since then and the rabbit has a bonded mate.

This is echoing the post that Haley made.

Extra things to consider when you go for a 2nd opinion. There are many humans who lovingly care for rabbits with disabilities. Both our girls get their bladders expressed 3x a day, and live on cushiony rugs. Plus they receive pain meds when their face/s indicate discomfort from activity...

I wish you the best, for you, steph, and Coco... hope some of this will offer encouragement.
 
First of all, I want to make sure I am coming across to you as someone who loves animals, I personally have a cat, Binks, for 9 years now. I would not know how to lose her if the time came.
However, I feel I have to be honest to say that I do not share in the belief that any animal should have to live with the type of treatments necessary just to maintain its life.
Understanding that ALL life is precious, Human, Feline, Bovine, ALL, I have had events in my past that have caused me to always take an impartial look at situations that happen in my life. I CANNOT allow myself to ever Obsess myself over ANYTHING because of these events of my past that I have learned from.
WIth all this information being said, It is with this reason that I do not feel an animal should have to endure the type and amount of procedures needed to keep it alive, including pain meds, forced excretions, and more.

Obviously, every decision has to be taken on a case by case basis.
Would I feel the same way about my Binks? Im not sure. Probably less likely. But wouldn't that in itself be a sign of me thinking more of my feelings than hers?

I am going to post everything that has happened on a separate post. I want to thank everyone for their emails and posts.

PLEASE understand, I was reluctant to even ask for help on here because I did NOT want my opinions or feelings to be confused with Stephanie's. NO ONE should think twice that anything written here under the name NIKO521MAC has any bearing on the way Stephanie feels, they are MY posts and I really hope no one takes them the wrong way.

I hope I have come across in a respectful manner.
It can never be easy to 'play god' over another creatures life.
Nick
 
Hello everyone, this is Nick, Stephanie's BF. I wanted to take the time to tell everyone exactly what has happened, and what is going on.

As everyone can tell already, Coco has damaged herself somehow, and can not move her back legs.
Let me describe in detail all of the problems and visible effects.
There was some dried blood under her chin. The Vet found trauma in her mouth. This is why we feel there was a violent event that happened, not just a simple spinal break, but probably a violent one. There was a cage change the other day, and its possible she felt it was ok to get out of this one, Or tried to jump on her box, and once there, felt .."hmm, the outside is only a few feet away now"!
Coco is not a light girl! She has put on some pounds, and once we realized that, we switched her to a better diet. But This was only one week ago, and she is a little on the plump side. Wether this has any bearing or not, we dont know, but coco cannot pull herself around at all. She moved 6 inches all night. We have not noticed her drinking at all, and in fact, no water is gone from her bottle from yesterday. Other than craisins, she will not eat anything. and after two craisins, shes done with that too. She does not even look like herself according to steph, she has a definite change to her face. When the Vet put her legs up on the table, there was no movement at all. There is no sign of feeling AT ALL in her back area. Whatever happened, did not happen lightly. Including the evidence of trauma in her mouth, we do not feel this is something that is minor.

I am sure I do not need to explain to anyone the financial situation of our economy today.
Its very likely that taking xrays and steroids and such could have an effect down the road. In the meantime, coco is not eating, not drinking water, is showing visible signs of stress, and is just not herself at all.

This is not good for anyone.
Not for Stephanie who is a mess and had to leave work early yesterday, myself who took the whole day off from my business to care for coco, and certainly not for Coco.

We are going to go to one more vet, to get a second opinion.
If this vet feels the same way as the first (someone who has developed a good reputation as being very good with 'other than Dog/cat pets') we are probably going to put her to sleep, as humanly as possible.
I wanted coco to be as comfortable as possible. she was given Lettuce, Carrots, radishes, fresh fruit from Publix, craisins, and yogurt covered Timothy hay. She wanted none of it except a few craisins.
Im hoping she will have a few more yogurt covered Hay pellets for me, Ive really enjoyed feeding her those for the last few months Ive known her.

Something I posted earlier, I want to make sure that NO ONE takes anything I say and reflects it on Stephanie. I am my own person and have my own opinions. I do not/did not take any side in this matter, but let Steph make up her own mind. You dont have to worry that I was trying to force my side or coerce her into taking my side or seeing it my way. I dont work that way. But I want everyone to understand that my feelings and opinions are Mine, and that nothing I post under my name on here reflects in anyway on Stephanie, or the way she feels.
Ive never met anyone more truly loving and caring to animals. I plan to encourage her to rescue a couple more Bunnies in the near future, as she seems to like that idea when it was brought up before.
It was this fear of having someone misinterpret my feelings on the subject, or mistakenly put my words in Stephanies mouth, that I was afraid to post on here to begin with, being her BF and all. But everyone has been great, and I thank everyone.
I know there are all kinds of people out there. There are some who will understadn what we are doing, and there are going to be some who may even think I am a monster. That who am I to decide if a Rabbit is better off living or not. To that I ask, who is ANYONE to make that decision...except the Bunny itself.
Thank You everyone for your posts and emails.
We will update you later today. Its 6am right now EST.
 
So sorry to hear this :( we had a ferret die of the same thing, and personally, wouldnt want ANY animal to go through the same thing and if it happened to any of my other animals then they would probably put down there and then. Is it actually a broken back or a "slipped disc" ?
 

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