Paralyzed? or....

[rabbitgirl]

I thought I would mention a curious incident from yesterday. Fenwick (Holland lop, 5 yrs.) would not come out to eat and, when set on the ground, couldn't seem to stand up. He kept falling over--hind legs weren't working. He also had made quite a mess of himself, as it appeared he hadn't moved all night. I set him down in the run and observed that within 15 min. he was clean and running as usual. Bizarre!

The upshot of it was--as far as I can gather--that his legs were asleep. I remember a similar incident with his sister last year, when she came stumbling out of the box in the morningand fell over, flopping around the cage for about 5 min., after which she was bouncing as usual.

Today, by the way,Fenwick was his normal self. I've never seen that in any other breed, and wonder if others have noticed this?

Rose

 

[AmberNBuns]

I had 2 Holland Lops but have never seen that happen before. Lord knows I would have freaked out if it did!

It sure sounds like you are right about the legs falling asleep. I have slept on my arm the whole night and woke up to find that my arm was completely dead for a while. I am sure if you cut off the circulation to any part of a living creature it would paralyze it for awhile.

Does he have much room in his cage?

 

[Bassetluv]

That does sound strange, rabbitgirl. As I was reading your post the first thing that came to mind was something I'd read many many years ago about horses...they can suffer from a condition that's referred to in layman's terms as 'Monday Morning Disease'. It was called this because horses used for work all week on farms were generally given a day of rest on Sunday, and fed their full rations, then on Monday morning the farmer would find the horse in his stall, unable to move his back legs.

I decided to do a search on 'Monday Morning Disease' on the web to see if it would give any ideas as to whether or not the same type of thing could happen to rabbits, and during my search came across another disease in horses, one called Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy(EPSM), which is a muscle disease in draft horses. Here is an exerpt from an article I found:

"In drafts EPSM has been identified as a cause of severe muscle wasting and weakness in both young and older horses, of "tying up" (Monday Morning Disease) in older horses, as a cause of poor performance,"shivers," and other abnormal hind limb gaits. Affected horses may easily be misdiagnosed as having foaling complications, colic, or other diseases. Most devastating of all, this disease has been identified as causing recumbency ("down horses") due to weakness during work,associated with foaling, at rest, or following general anesthesia."

Now, I know this has to do with horses and not rabbits, but it got me wondering if rabbits can also be afflicted with something similar,because the article goes on to talk about treatment for this particular disease with diet:

"Diet Therapy
An important part of the studies began at Cornell, and continued at Oregon State University study has been the evaluation of diet change as a treatment. Horses with EPSM seem not to be able to derive adequate muscle energy from carbohydrates, the main source of energy in grains,sweet feeds, and pelleted horse feeds. The diet change involves decreasing the amount of dietary carbohydrates and replacing them with fat as an energy source."

So...I wonder if rabbits can suffer from some sort of (hereditary)degenerative muscular disease (esp. since you mentioned that Fenwick's sister did the same thing last year); and if so, can diet affect it -either adversely or negatively, depending upon what is fed? Just a theory....

Have you contacted your vet to ask what it might be?

 

[edwinf8936]

What he probably has is a pinched nerve. It could be from calcium deposits, slight injury or whatever. If he is in the right position it would pinch the nerve and he would loose the feeling for awhile or until he moved into a different position.

Keep an eye on him and see if it is a reoccurring thing, if so you probably want to see what it could be.

Ed

 

[chubbers422]

That sounds really weird... I'm glad that didn't happen to my Chubbys!! I probably would of called 911.. LOL! Well I will pray for your baby,



Rachel & Chubbs :bunnydance:

 

[rabbitgirl]

These ideas are totally fascinating. Thank you all! Especially that Monday morning thing...wow, is that ever weird!!!!

Don't worry, me paranoid will keep an eye on the little squirts for any more problems!

Rose

 

[RaspberrySwirl]

rabbitgirl wrote:

I remember a similar incident with his sister last year, when she came stumbling out of the box in the morningand fell over, flopping around the cage for about 5 min., after which she was bouncing as usual.

Rose, A Bunny Guru who is far brighter than myself has suggested that you consider doing some research on genetic factors that might be involved here. Also, look into a bacterial possibility. I'm rather lost when it comes to that kind of thing, but we mustn't let anything happen to Fenwick if itcan be helped...

Raspberry

 

[rabbitgirl]

Genetic issues are why I stopped breeding the line in the first place. :?The poor little squirts have got some problems, which I didn't know until they matured. Unfortunately it's going to be near-impossible to trace problems as the breeder who sold me their mum got out of the business.

So far, we've dealt with asthma, allergies, deafness, blindness, lack of sexual development, kidney stones, stasis, tendency to diarrhea,obsessive hair-pulling,and this latest oddity--just with them and their mum. Fenwick, as a baby, had trouble learning to walk long after the others were running, but he caught up. So anyway, given the list of problems, I've started to get a feel for when it's deadly. sigh

I'm not too worried about this latest manifestation, yet. But I'm looking at different things and keeping a close eye on them.

These two are definitely special-needs, and I am thankful for each day.:?They seem healthy and happy today.

Rose