Bunny sitting on her heels- is this normal?

[Djakarta]

My new foster bunny, Cookie, has had a hard time of it. She was dumped at a shelter on 9/20 with her upper incisors fractured off at the gum line and a torn lower lip. ( Her incisors have already begun to grow in and look fine. She can eat veggies, hay and pellets without any trouble). She also had an abscessed tooth ( I don't know which one) that has been extracted. When she came in, she had sun burned fur and fleas. She was treated for fleas at the shelter. Then, on 9/29, she had 6 babies. On 9/30 she came to me for fostering.

She is very thin. She lounges comfortably and eats well. Her poops are well formed.

I have noticed that when she is standing at her food bowl, her back legs seem to be very far forward, as though she is centering her hocks directly beneath her abdomen. Is this posture normal? I've also noticed she drinks a lot of water ( and has a high volume of urine output). Could these be signs of a kidney problem?

Do you think a vet visit is in order? She has had so much upheaval the last few days, I was hoping to give her a chance to settle in. I'm thinking a vet visit would be stressful. but I don't want to ignore symptoms if it could be an emergency.



Lounging- she looks relaxed, and not in pain.

Standing- see how her hind legs are forward?

 

[NZminilops]

Oh yeah, it does look like she is sitting with her feet very far forward.

First things I would check would be her nails and toes - are her nails a good length? Sitting like that makes me think she is doing it to relieve pressure on the toe area or somewhere around the front of the feet.

Check to see if all her toes feel strong, if any feel loose (I'm talking very loose, you'd know the difference in you felt it), as they could be dislocated. My bridge bunny Lucky had a dislocated toe once and on the foot it was on, she scooted it forward when she sat just like Cookie is doing there.

Otherwise, I'm not really sure what it could be, might just be an odd habit? Could she have a fungal infection between her toes at all?

 

[Jenson]

Aww bless her, sounds like she's had a really hard time! I love her little white nose, she's really pretty.

I had a Rex doe who had a bad hip and would sit exactly like that. She soon went back to normal as it healed though. It could be discomfort from any part of her legs really, definitly worth a check up!

Hope she's okay.

 

[naturestee]

Darn it girl, you have THE most beautiful foster buns! :heartbeat:

Can we get pics of the babies as they grow up?

I don't have any new ideas, I just wanted to second NZminilops and Jenson.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Could she have hurt herself having the babies? I don't know much about this kind of thing.

however- If I could have another one - I'd find you and take her! She's so cute! There are some bunnies that just steal my heart when I first see them..... she's one of them!

 

[Djakarta]

I don't think there is a problem with her feet. She can sit up and periscope without any problem.

She was seen by Dr Cecil, one of the best ( if not the best) exotic vets in the area.

I was hoping to give her a few days to settle in before pushing the issue of handling her. Do you think I dare wait ?

I was wondering if does have the same sort of "creaky pelvis" issues postpartum that humans sometimes do.

I've tried to be minimally intrusive, but I did take a picture of the babies as I was transfering them into the nestbox. This was taken Sunday when they were a day old.

I just received an email from another foster mom who suggested that Cookie may have alot of sensitivity because her milk is causing her to be engorged. She thinks Cookie is trying to elevate her bellyoff the ground, to minimize contact with the sensitive area.

Has anyone seen a postpartum doe do this?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Could you call Dr. Cecil? Ask him what he thinks?

 

[Djakarta]

That's a good idea. I need to find out who the shelter contact was for him. He'd be more likely to field a question from a known source.

I'm just a little freaked that this mom is in such bad shape and has 6 lives depending on her.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I completely understand! I was thinking about her earlier and wondered if maybe she's cramping or something and that's why she's sitting like that. She was flopped tho so I'm not sure.

My daughter and I have picked the baby who is half black (rear end side) and the other one with black in front of it - with the white ear (or light colored ear)..... They are SOO cute!

 

[Jenson]

I think the 'milk' causing her to be sensitive idea is unlikely to be causing her to sit like that. I would suspect that if she was sitting that way because of that there is something wrong there to be causing her that much pain. Although I forgot to say, the drinking a lot of water is normal for a nursing bun. I had one that would go through a whole bottle a day.

I still think her legs are most likely to be causing her to sit like this. Also she could have damaged her pelvis during the birth, especially if she's an older bun.

When my Rex hurt her hip, she limped for a day or so, then she would move normally, even a few cautious binkies, but she continued to sit like that until it was totally healed. The vet didn't feel anything wrong with her foot or leg, but there was some swelling around her hip. It was very hard to see there was anything wrong at all once she stopped limping.

I'm sure it's not an emergency, but I would definitly get her checked.

 

[Djakarta]

Ok, that's what I needed to know.

Of course, I was hoping the response was going to be " Oh, that's normal- don't worry about it".

But I was worried that this wasn't normal. I've emailed everyone I can think of in the chain of command. ( The HRS makes arrangements for shelter bunnies to receive treatment. )

So far the response has echoed yours- Monitor carefully, if problem persists, will need exam. Currently the situation isn't considered an emergency, currrent priority is to allow new mom time with babies with minimum stress.

So, my next question is - what sorts of symptoms should I be on the look out for? What would indicate the situation is worsening and becoming an emergency?

Her appetite is good, she moves around well, her fecal and urinary output are normal, there is no tooth grinding, she appears relaxed and comfortable at rest. Basically, the only symptom is that she stands oddly. Are there other subtle things I should be watching for?

 

[Bo B Bunny]

If she starts to grind her teeth, wimper/scream that is serious pain, pottying on herself because she doesn't want to or cannot move. I know those are a few things to watch for in any illness/injury.

 

[Jenson]

At the moment it doesn't sound too worrying. Eating and going to toilet normally are the most important things to watch, as you know. Her symptoms do sound very similar to my doe. She also didn't show any signs of pain, the only symptom was the initial limping and then sitting like that until she was better.

I'd just keep an eye on her movements, watch especially for her becoming stiff on her hind legs, this is what I was told to watch for with my doe. This can be a sign of swelling around a joint or the pain worsening.

You might need to keep an extra close eye on her hocks, as my doe started to get bald hocks (although of course Rex are prone to it) from putting pressure on them sitting like that. I think my doe continued to sit like that for about 2 weeks, then she went back to normal and had no problems after that.

She sounds like she's okay, she's probably just a bit sore somewhere.

 

[Ivory]

I'd check to make sure her little teats are normal, no ciscoloration or anything of that nature.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Oh yeah, she could have an infection or somethng.

I think now that it's been a couple of days, if you can gently reach in (attempt that) or let her come out and take your time in checking her as gently as possible - you'd be ok. She looks so absolutely precious.

Everytime I see that flopped pic, I melt!

 

[Djakarta]

Well, Cookie gave me a good opportunity to check out her feet today-

- they looked pretty good to me.

I don't know what sort of surface she was housed on, before, but she is really into exploring the textures of her flooring options here. Today, she was trying out the tile floor.

Cookie says" Thank you for all your advice and input!"

 

[Bo B Bunny]

YOU ARE KILLING ME! OMG look at that sweet girl! :heartbeat:Her helicopter ears are terrific!

btw - I was watching Heidi last night and she pulled her legs up under her like that when she was getting ready to jump. Could she be a bit nervous? She sure doesn't look like it LOL!