Physical therapy for a bunny?

[gentle giants]

I posted about this in my bunny blog too, but I thought I would add it here because I think more people check this.

Buster has spent his whole life up to this point, three years, in a cage that was two and half feet in length and one and half feet wide. It was also very dirty most of the time. But now that he is in a much bigger cage, he still hardly moves at all. And when he does, it's very slowly and sort of carefully, as though he were an elderly, arthritic bunny instead of not even middle-aged. I know he has little to no muscle tone from not being able to move, but could this have done skeletal damage as well? Especially combined with very poor nutrition.

This is kinda the same issue, but the poor guy hasn't a clue what to do with toys. There was one hanging toy in his cage when they gave him to me, but it looked brand new and I think they just got it to make it look like they were taking care of him better. They cleaned his cage out, too, and it was obvious that he had been sitting in filth for a while. So how can I help him learn to play? Especially when I am afraid to let him play outside the cage for fear he will hurt himself. I remember seeing a thread here quite a while back about someone rescuing a rabbit in a similar situation, and when she let him out to play he got to running around and badly injured a leg because of his lack of muscle/poor nutrtion, etc.

 

[Leaf]

Here is my vets e-mail address: [email protected]

and a toll free phone number: Toll Free: (866) 836-3900

I'm very confident that she could give you pointers.

 

[gentle giants]

Thanks, Leaf, I sent them an email detailing the situation and asking for advice.

 

[Leaf]

Have you heard back from her yet?

 

[gentle giants]

Yes, I did. She suggested giving him ten minutes of play time out of his cage three times a day, to slowly adjust him to moving around. So we'll see how he does.

 

[Leaf]

I really hope that'll help him out some. Keep us updated, ok?

 

[gentle giants]

I'm actually going even slower than what she suggested. I don't know, I just have a feeling that there is something deeper wrong here. He has lost a little bit of weight since I got him, and he still just has no energy whatsoever. I don't know whether to think that he has some internal damage from his lifetime of crappy feed/care, or if he has some type of cancer or something. He barely eats, no matter what I give him he will eat just a little, and then he stops. I have been being really picky about what I give him, he isn't getting any treats for fear it would mess him up.

Today he got a small amount of the grass that I cut for all the rabbits, so I will be keeping a close eye on him to make sure the runs don't come back because of it.

 

[BSAR]

As you may know, I had a rabbit, Artie, who was blind and he was paralyzed in his back legs. He was born like that. Well when I had him I did a whole bunch of research to try and find some physical therapy ways that would get him to be able to use his legs more or at least better. I contacted this one lady, who I don't even know the name anymore and she said that it is good to let them come out and play a few times a day for a while. She also said that massaging his back and legs would be good. Artie didn't really like that though. You are also supposed to brush them each day if they can't groom themselves. Artie couldn't groom himself, I was bad about not brushing him every day. But soon I started brushing him really good a couple times a week. He has a new home now just down the road and I have tried contacting the owner via email to see if I can know how he is doing but they never replied. So I hope he is well and maybe they are doing some kind of therapy for him.

Amanda

 

[naturestee]

I've had similar situations with my own adopted buns and some of the buns at the shelter where I volunteer. First off, how are his eyes? Does he notice movement, etc.? What have you given him for toys? And when you bring him out for play time, do you give him boxes to hide in? Or a hidey box in his cage? I've seen rabbits so used to tiny cages that if they're not in one they get scared, like agoraphobia. Boxes help a lot.

Good starter toys are anything with food in it, like toilet paper rolls with hay, shredding stuff to lay on like newspaper orgrass mats, or jingle bell balls. Usually they kick the ball by accident and get curious about the sound. Being near other rabbits that play with toys helps a lot- Fey and Sprite never thought of actually throwing their jingle bell ball until they saw Mocha and Loki do it. Before that they just nudged it around. Throwing stuff quickly became a favorite pastime for them.

Maybe he'd like a plush toy to cuddle with?

There is physical therapy of a sort but it might be hard to find in your area. Massage is good, maybe there's a cat/dog masseuse in your area who would be willing to learn? Some vets also offer chiropractic and acupuncture services but that's more of a big-city thing.

Also, has he been dewormed just in case? The lack of appetite does worry me although it might just be because of all the changes. I'd be tempted to put just a tiny amount of sunflower seeds or rolled oats in his pellets to see if it makes him more interested.

 

[gentle giants]

naturestee wrote:

I've had similar situations with my own adopted buns and some of the buns at the shelter where I volunteer. First off, how are his eyes? Does he notice movement, etc.?

I don't know, I hadn't really even thought about that. He seems to be able tofocus on me when I get down on his level, and makes eye contact. That's when I'm pretty close to him, though.

What have you given him for toys? I have given him a maize mat and a ball to roll around. I tried a toilet paper tube a day or two after I got him and he didn't care for it, butI could try it again now that he is more settled.

And when you bring him out for play time, do you give him boxes to hide in? Or a hidey box in his cage? I've seen rabbits so used to tiny cages that if they're not in one they get scared, like agoraphobia. Boxes help a lot. I hadn't thought of that, either, I'll try it.

Being near other rabbits that play with toys helps a lot- Fey and Sprite never thought of actually throwing their jingle bell ball until they saw Mocha and Loki do it. I have kept him a little way away from the others for the most part so far, in case he had anything contagious.


Also, has he been dewormed just in case? The lack of appetite does worry me although it might just be because of all the changes. I'd be tempted to put just a tiny amount of sunflower seeds or rolled oats in his pellets to see if it makes him more interested. He hasn't been, no. I just don't like to doextra meds, especially on an already stressed bunny, unless I see evidence they are needed.That might be indicated if he loses any more weight, though.

Edit to add: Just thought of something. Wouldn't having worms make his appetite better? Or is that jsut a certain kind of worm? I can't remember.