What is wrong with my bunny?

[rbf351]

I'm new to this forum, and hoping someone can help me
My bunny is about 6 months old, and after my wife changed the shavings last night out bunny started acting strange.
First it looked as if she couldn't pick up her head, and was only moving around backwards. then about 10 minutes later she went back to normal. this went on for a few hours before we went to bed.
this morning she is basically limp, and randomly kicks her rear legs. She eats if i put food near her mouth, and will drink as well, but otherwise she isn't moving, and just lays there as you can see in the pic i'm posting below(taken a few minutes ago)

 

[whitelop]

I would probably get her to a rabbit savvy very right away.

 

[majorv]

I agree that it doesn't sound very good. Does she have any nasal discharge...making any noises as she breathes? Does she have loose poops...no poops?

 

[JBun]

It's essential that you get your rabbit to a vet immediately! If you don't have a vet that you take her to already, here are some listings for good rabbit vets:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=9
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

 

[Imbrium]

aww, she looks just like Muppet! what a cutie! I agree, a visit to a rabbit-savvy vet is definitely in order.

 

[cerigirl]

Poor bun! Keep us posed.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Could easily be some sort of spinal injury or possibly related to EC (Encephalitozoon Cunciculi). Keep lots of food, hay and water going in as bunnies don't do well if they're not always nibbling on something.



Please get her to a rabbit savvy vet ASAP. Here's the HRS link for finding a rabbit Savvy vet:

http://rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

 

[rbf351]

got her over to my vet, and they said there was nothing they could do for her, and ended up putting her to sleep around 2pm yesterday

 

[HEM]

Oh no, we are so sorry to hear that
What did the vet say it was? What was wrong with her?
Again, so sorry to hear about your bun
Binky free lil girl

 

[whitelop]

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry to hear that!
Binky free little cutie!

 

[Kipcha]

I am so sorry to hear that

What on earth happened? Did the vet say what was wrong with her?

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your sweet bunny. Binky Free lil' girlie :rip:

 

[rbf351]

vet said he thinks it was neurological, but was absolutly not a broken bone or an injury

 

[Imbrium]

:tears2: wow, I really wouldn't have expected that to be a hopeless case! she was such a precious bunny, and so young... it must've been so difficult to say good-bye! at least she had a good, loving home and excellent care during her short life.

binky free, little girl! :rainbow:

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Totally bummed out. So sorry for your loss. My first thought was "what kind of bedding/shavings you were using as some can be very toxic and yet they still sell them in the "pet" section.

 

[rbf351]

Nancy McClelland wrote:

Totally bummed out. So sorry for your loss. My first thought was "what kind of bedding/shavings you were using as some can be very toxic and yet they still sell them in the "pet" section.

the beedding/shavings are pine shavings from a feed/farm type store where we also get our bulk hay that we use for our other rabbit that is over 2 yrs old

 

[Imbrium]

as far as I know, pine shavings don't cause the symptoms she displayed... however, they can cause respiratory problems and liver damage so I'd definitely switch to something else for your other bunny.

a lot of feed/farm stores will have wood pellets, which work great in litter boxes... any paper-based bedding is ok, as are aspen shavings. pine is ONLY ok in pellet form because the processing it goes through removes the phenols that cause all the problems - in shavings form, pine and cedar are HUGE no-nos for bunnies (and a lot of other small animals, even though the bags always have pictures of said animals plastered all over them, the bastards).

[edit... wow, the profanity filter on this site sure is FUBAR, lol. I can say "bastard" but I can't say "pissed"?? lol.]

 

[valaria243]

That picture is the same pose that my bunny Fuzzy is in! The first time this happened was Dec 20. She was out of her cage roaming and was fine. When I saw her later she was dragging her back legs. I called my vet the next morning and we took her in. They were examining her in between appoinments and when they checked her she seemed OK but had some weakness in the rear right leg. They gave us some Metacam to give her as Xrays showed some spinal arthritis (she is 9 years old) and they said they could see nothing else obvious wrong with her (no fractures etc). She spent the night at the vets and when I picked her up the next day she was a little weak with the right leg but was almost back to normal. She improved over the next couple of days and was back to normal hopping all around. Then on the evening of Jan 7, I saw her under the table again dragging the back legs. I gave it a couple of days to see if she would bounce back like before but she didn't. We took her to the vets and they were stumped. They offered to do blood work but due to her age and the randomness of the symptoms we declined (the vet agreed). We are basically just doing supportive care for her. They did give her some antibiotics for her right ear and a higher dose of Metacam. She does do periodic circles in her cage and I take her out to lay with me for a few hours in the evening so I can gently rub her legs. She wasn't really eating too well the first couple of days without me holding her for a while but she has started eating on her own.
The vet did say we should think about putting her down. However, she is with it mentally and tries to get around so I'm still a bit hesitant.

Any one have any ideas? Should I just build a cart for my bunny?

 

[tonyshuman]

Valaria, you might want to start a new thread. I would think your bunny has E cuniculi-related neurological problems, which often show up first as hind leg dragging. Unfortunately all you can do for that is give an antiparasitic, which may or may not work. There usually is not a improvement in symptoms, but instead just a slowing of the disease's progression. Spinal arthritis may also be to blame, since your vet saw that on the x-ray and it is common in bunnies of that age. The user MikeScone had a bunny with arthritis that he gave some joint supplements to, and I think that improved things for a little bit. You could look up those posts. Other than metacam, joint supplements are all you can do for arthritis.

 

[JBun]

That picture is the same pose that my bunny Fuzzy is in! The first time this happened was Dec 20. She was out of her cage roaming and was fine. When I saw her later she was dragging her back legs. I called my vet the next morning and we took her in. They were examining her in between appoinments and when they checked her she seemed OK but had some weakness in the rear right leg. They gave us some Metacam to give her as Xrays showed some spinal arthritis (she is 9 years old) and they said they could see nothing else obvious wrong with her (no fractures etc). She spent the night at the vets and when I picked her up the next day she was a little weak with the right leg but was almost back to normal. She improved over the next couple of days and was back to normal hopping all around. Then on the evening of Jan 7, I saw her under the table again dragging the back legs. I gave it a couple of days to see if she would bounce back like before but she didn't. We took her to the vets and they were stumped. They offered to do blood work but due to her age and the randomness of the symptoms we declined (the vet agreed). We are basically just doing supportive care for her. They did give her some antibiotics for her right ear and a higher dose of Metacam. She does do periodic circles in her cage and I take her out to lay with me for a few hours in the evening so I can gently rub her legs. She wasn't really eating too well the first couple of days without me holding her for a while but she has started eating on her own.
The vet did say we should think about putting her down. However, she is with it mentally and tries to get around so I'm still a bit hesitant.

Any one have any ideas? Should I just build a cart for my bunny?

The circling and hind leg paralysis are symptoms of e. cuniculi. If it is EC, you need to get her back into the vet right away and treat with antiparasitic meds for about a month. The standard one used is panacur(fenbendazole). It is possible to save your rabbit and stop the progression of the disease, but sometimes some of the neurological damaqe can't be undone. That doesn't mean your rabbit can't have a good quality of life though. But you need to get her on the meds right away. My sisters rabbit got this years ago, and she got her rabbit treatment, and now her rabbit is 9 years old and has lived a happy life, but he does have to be retreated every now and then. Here are some articles I've read on treatments people have tried, but it is something you will want to discuss with your vet.

http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/encephalitozoon-cuniculi-rabbits-cure/
http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

I hope your rabbit gets to feeling better soon.