Spinal Injury?

[Margarita]

Its been a while since I have been on, I'm sorry

Last Sunday my rabbit jumped off my bed and missed her mat. It sounded like a pretty bad fall she made a noise but got and hopped into her room. On Tuesday at night she was dragging the back of her legs. In the morning she is hopping around using her legs (although they look slightly crooked). Seems to be at night she drags them. I went to the vet and he said it looks like she injured / bruised her spine and may have a bulging disc. He said to keep her in a cage for two weeks and gave me meds twice a day for inflammation. After two weeks if she is the same then we will do xrays.

Her spirits are good, shes eating, drinking, going to the bathroom and hopping around her little space but I am worried she will get depressed since she is a free roam bunny. I am also worried that if i let her out for a little while she will run around and hurt herself even more. Has anyone came across this type of injury before? Is it ok to keep her in a cage for two weeks (maybe more depending on hoe it goes).

If someone has has this injury for their rabbit any info would help greatly

Thank you

 

[missyscove]

Rabbits frequently fracture their spines and are acutely paralyzed so if she's anything less than that, consider yourself lucky. If she's still eating and drinking then it sounds like she's not too painful. I'd definitely confine her but you may need longer than 2 weeks of confinement to see improvement (in dogs, for example, 4-6 weeks strict confinement followed by 4-6 weeks of limited activity (leash walking only) is considered appropriate)

 

[majorv]

She may do okay confined. We had a rabbit with a back injury. We found him lying on his side trying to get up and couldn't. An xray didn't show any breaks so we confined him to a carrier, which was only a little bigger than himself. Over the course of a few weeks he slowly got better and now he's fine.

 

[Margarita]

Thank you so much for responding. After two weeks we will do X-rays and I guess it will be back on cage rest for a while. I'm just not sure if I should let her out once a week to see how she's doing. The vet said I could take her out for a few minutes but I'm not so sure. I'm scared she'll get to excited and do more damage. It's been a stressful week I just pray she gets better.

 

[woahlookitsme]

If you feel she may overdo it which could be very possible just put the thought of her being confined in the back of your head. For my bunny gunner that majorv is talking about he was completely down and would not get off his side. He sometimes even wouldn't lift his head. I had to keep some sort of heating over him to prevent his.gut from slowing due to lack of movement (this to me meant heated towels) and had to flip him over every other day so he wouldnt get bed sores. I wasn't sure if rabbits could get them but felt it would be hard on the body to be only on one side for so long.

It can get worse so I would just keep her confined if it was me. I hope she starts walking again. I told my baby gunner if he would fight then I would fight too. Like she said after a few weeks of me sleeping on the couch with my hand on his carrier to see if he moved and waking up in the middle of the night to feed and heat up his towels he finally got better

 

[Margarita]

Thank you so much I'm so happy your bunny is better. She is using her legs and I am seeing improvement of her balance every day so I will keep her confined for her own benefit. I keep telling myself it's not forever she'll be stuck in the cage and it helps. Her spirits are good and hops over and stands up in the cage when I come over to pet her. As long as she fights I will fight with her. Washable wee wee pads have been a life saver I change them out a few times a day. So if anyone has a bunny in confinement you may want to pick some up. Thank you everyone for your feedback. I'm greatful for this site

 

[Lokin4AReason]

please keep US updated on her condition ...

this is like one of my greatest fear(s) here =0(

 

[Margarita]

Its been two weeks and the vet said to give her another two weeks cage rest with some free time once a day. We have also started to wean her off her meds. I let her out for a while yesterday and she seemed happy to be out, hopping around and laying down all over the room. He thinks that she just hurt her back really bad and it will take some time to get better. She has full use of her legs so he said it doesn't look like a break, probably bulging disc or hip joint. We have not done xrays he suggested we wait, he said there is nothing to do at this point anyway but to let her rest. He is a rabbit savvy vet who has two bunnies of his own so I will trust his judgement. Thank God I found a vet who treats exotics where I live. :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[missyscove]

Glad to hear she's doing well! I wish we had the radiographs if not an MRI just to satisfy my own curiosity, but you're lucky she's helping you save your money by healing up on her own ;-)

 

[Margarita]

yes I would love to know myself if it was a pulled muscle or bulging disc. I may need to do x-rays down the road if this cage rest doesn't work and I see her dragging her legs again. She jumped on top of her hay bin the other day so she must have the feeling back in her hind legs.


I will keep you posted.

 

[Georginasmith34]

Did your bunny make a full recovery? My bunny is in a similar position to where yours was but I have not been advised to give cage rest? I'm definitely going to give it a go though as he is a free roam bunny so it's probably not helping his legs!

 

[Margarita]

My bunny was a free roam and shes been in a cage for almost 4 weeks. Last week the vet said i could let her out for a while at night and i do. She kicks out her legs and is jumping on pillows and moving around very well. She seems to be much much better. My only worry is that when she is no longer on cage rest will the constant motion during the day bring back her injury. I am debating getting a very large cage for her during the day when i am at work so she doesn't injure herself again.

If your bunny still has movement in his legs and is just dragging them like mine was i would suggest cage rest to let the injury heal. I also cut out her letterbox front so she doesn't have to jump in it, she can walk right in and i don't have to worry about her getting her legs caught when she jumps in.

Good luck!