Bunny Paralysis

[Béatrice04]

Hello everyone,
My rabbit Luna recently suffered a flystrike in our garden. I found him paralysed and his behind area was infected due to the maggots so we had to treat it. Now regarding the paralysis, he used to have Floppy Rabbit Syndrome, where he would go into shock (due to eating an entire bamboo plant for example), and go completely soft. I would usually nurse him back to health by hand feeding and physical therapy. So this time I also thought he was in shock due to the flystrike. But he has not been able to move his front legs at all. They both stand at 90 degrees to his left side and he does not have enough strength in his back legs to stand. So despite his infection getting considerably better, he is unable to stand on his front legs or lift his head. It is hard to feed him as he has lost his appetite. The vets where I live are not rabbit savvy at all... They have never seen something like this before and did not know what to do, but yesterday the vet prescribed a month of treatment for E.cuniculi, and told us to wait and see if his paralysis resolves. To be honest I do not even trust those vets but I was willing to try. I am very discouraged and I feel so bad for Luna, he is already 6 years old this year and he was malnourished as a baby so I did not expect him to live a long long life... I was thinking of putting him down because I think he is in pain, but he still wants to drink water and enjoys his veggies so I am willing to fight for him. However, I was wondering if I should consider putting him down instead of making him go through this misery... Keep in mind he is unable to walk or hop in any way. His front legs are completely to the left side and his head goes to the right side. Please help

 

[FuzzyBunny ph]

Based from what you explained, it does sound like E.Cuniculi. What treatment was prescribed? was it Fenbendazole/Panacur? I'd say continue the treatment

If he's underweight, you can mix some alfalfa hay with his usual hay Is he neutered?

 

[JBun]

He could have sepsis. Did the vet put your rabbit on antibiotics and pain medication? And did the vet verify all larvae was removed from the wound? Is your rabbit still wanting to eat veggies on his own, and have you started supplemental syringe feeding since he isn't eating his other food?

Whether or not to euthanize will depend on the severity of your rabbits condition, if pain can be managed with medication, and if there is a chance of recovery to the point that your rabbit can still be happy and have a decent quality of life, whether or not there continues to be a residual disability.

 

[Béatrice04]

Based from what you explained, it does sound like E.Cuniculi. What treatment was prescribed? was it Fenbendazole/Panacur? I'd say continue the treatment

If he's underweight, you can mix some alfalfa hay with his usual hay Is he neutered?

Yes i got prescribed febendazole. Unfortunately where I live there is no rabbit hay available so I feed him horse hay and nobody can tell me what the hay’s named so I have no idea what it is or where it comes from. I have only recently started feeding him hay because it wasn’t available before. Very few people actually know how to care for rabbits where I am… they all think rabbits should eat rabbit feed (cereal pellets).

 

[Béatrice04]

He could have sepsis. Did the vet put your rabbit on antibiotics and pain medication? And did the vet verify all larvae was removed from the wound? Is your rabbit still wanting to eat veggies on his own, and have you started supplemental syringe feeding since he isn't eating his other food?

Whether or not to euthanize will depend on the severity of your rabbits condition, if pain can be managed with medication, and if there is a chance of recovery to the point that your rabbit can still be happy and have a decent quality of life, whether or not there continues to be a residual disability.

He was on antibiotics and pain killers for the flystrike yes! All larvae were removed too. He still loves his veggies yes and i syringe feed him mixed pellets, baby food, probiotics (plus he eats his hay and veggies). He is unable to drink out of a water bowl so I have to provide that too.
Today I let him walk around on the carpet and turns out he can only spin on himself in one direction because he cannot push himself up with his hind legs AND his front legs both go to one side… I will try to post a video when I can.
The vets here are very un experienced they don’t know much about rabbits so its hard to treat him, to be honest I feel like the vet just gave me a treatment for e.cuniculi because he didn’t know anything else. I hope im not putting him through more pain with this 30-day treatment.

 

[JBun]

I suspect his paralysis has to do with the toxins caused by the larvae and the tissue necrosis. There is some info about it in this link on flystrike.

(WARNING: link contains graphic medical related photos)
Medirabbit: flystrike

I can't say if your rabbit will start to regain some function of the limbs or not. It could take some time and be gradual, or the disability could be permanent. So the choice to euthanize will depend on how you feel he is coping now, how he'll cope if he is permanently disabled, and if you are able to provide the extra care required with a disabled rabbit.

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/paralysis.html
One thing you may want to try before making that choice, is if your rabbit isn't currently on the anti inflammatory meloxicam/metacam, I would ask your vet about trying that(provided there are no kidney problems). It will help with any mild to moderate pain he might be feeling, and will help reduce tissue inflammation. I don't know if it will help him regain his mobility or not, but as a last ditch effort, I figure it can't hurt too much to try at this point. You'll just want to make sure it's dosed appropriately, as rabbits need higher dosing than other animals(twice a day, 0.3-0.6mg/kg), and vets inexperienced with rabbits usually give too low of a dose.

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/