Paralysed by EC - U/D pg 2

My special bunny Flynn became paralysed with EC late Sat night/early Sun morning. He was fine at 10pm when i gave him his supper, he was chasing his friend Taffy about and then tucked in to supper. We are assuming it is EC, however he had a suspected stroke about 2 years ago, so we wonder if he had another one or managed to twist his spine somehow.

On Sunday we went to get the bunnies out and Flynn had his two back legs to the one side, we thought initialy he was just comfy, then we quickly realised he was paralysed .

My vet does not do out of hours, so i took him to a vet hospital. The service was awful. Firstly the nurse scruffed poor Flynn, though i did protest. This really upset Flynn who did his best to clamber into my arms, so i gave him a snuggle.

Then the vet came down and advised he should be PTS. I refused this option and told her he would be given the chance to fight. She gave him metacam and another anti inflamitory injection. She then told me to put him on a 9 day course of panacur. *I* said is it not 28 days for active EC then she agreed it was. She gave me the wrong advice and it was simply lucky i am experienced with rabbits. Then she said "well if rabbits are your specialist area you probably know more about them than me" :shock: she is meant to be a trained vet!

Anyway, Flynn is on his panacur and metacam. I am giving him physio twice a day too. I have taken him from the shed and am keeping him in the house on fleece. He is getting playdates with Taffy, but i cant keep them together as they annoy each other. To be fair, they never have had the best bond, they tolerate each other more than anything.

He has some movement in his feet and is still very nosey and cheeky. He has a sparkle in his eye and enjoys his food. In my opinion he is settled and happy with his condition.

Does anyone know anything else i can do for him? I am assuming i am doing everything i can, but any different suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you are doing everything you can if it is definately EC , but I think I would want to have x-rays taken if it was me just to rule out any other possible cause such as an injury :? If injury hasn't been ruled out any physio could potentially cause more problems.

Good luck

Has a spinal injury been ruled out - ie were radiographs taken ?

In my experience hind leg paralysis does not present quite so acutely with EC.
I'm not saying its impossible, just that in the Buns I have had the loss of use of their hind limbs was gradual in onset.

If he had damaged his spine then the paralysis would be acute.

Can he empty his bladder?
You may need to get a Vet to show you how to do this (if you dont already know) as if he cant empty himself he will get a bladder infection and a build up of sludge.

Thank you both for the replies.

My husband took him to see my regular vet on Monday (my vet is very good with rabbits) but he said in his experience xrays have never shown any clear results with spinal injury :? so said to do so is not advisable.

He is emtying his bladder fine on his own, very frequently. He seems to pee then it is closely followed by a further two pee's, all three are a decent enough size and he is not struggling.

Not sure I understand the thinking re radiographs :?

http://www.medirabbit.com/Radiography/X_ray/Lumbar_sacral_caudal.pdf

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...w72LDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3

Hi I am having the same problem with little Thumper. exactly same re legs to one side and not able to stand. My vet gave him an anti inflamatory injection last week and said if he doesn't improve then call it a day. I took him to a recommended vet who has xrayed him and given him a good checking our. I am waiting for blood results for ec but they discovered his bladder is huge and full of sludge. I have to give him anti biotics until bottle gone and to give him water and hey only from now on and nothing with vitimim c as this is causing the bladder problem, don't know yet re lameness. Kep you posted. Chrissy

No advice but Vibes.... I have a bun with EC and is very worrying xx

christine knowles said:

Hi I am having the same problem with little Thumper. exactly same re legs to one side and not able to stand. My vet gave him an anti inflamatory injection last week and said if he doesn't improve then call it a day. I took him to a recommended vet who has xrayed him and given him a good checking our. I am waiting for blood results for ec but they discovered his bladder is huge and full of sludge. I have to give him anti biotics until bottle gone and to give him water and hey only from now on and nothing with vitimim c as this is causing the bladder problem, don't know yet re lameness. Kep you posted. Chrissy

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I do sympathise with you, its a horrible thing. I think the not knowing for sure is worst. Quite luckily (or unluckily for my vet) Flynn decided to take a pee on him during examination :lol: and confirm there is nothing wrong down there. I really hope your wee bunny is ok, keep me posted on his progress.


Thanks for the vibes JazzyB, sending vibes to your EC bunny too.

Jack's-Jane said:

Has a spinal injury been ruled out - ie were radiographs taken ?

In my experience hind leg paralysis does not present quite so acutely with EC.
I'm not saying its impossible, just that in the Buns I have had the loss of use of their hind limbs was gradual in onset.

If he had damaged his spine then the paralysis would be acute.

Can he empty his bladder?
You may need to get a Vet to show you how to do this (if you dont already know) as if he cant empty himself he will get a bladder infection and a build up of sludge.

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My bunny had exactly the same symptoms and very quickly lost his back legs (and went blind) over night. It was diagnosed as EC and with 9 days of panacur (I didnt know the info about the 28 days back then and clearly neither did my vet!) and anti inflamatory he made a quick recovery and was almost back to normal. However 2 months later the same happened, and then again 2 months after that the same again. After the 3rd attack he didn't recover and died in my arms a few hours later. Maybe the 28day course would have prevented this! Hope your bunny pulls through! xx

Hi Alison. How terribly sad about your bunny, sounds like he was a fighter right to the end though .

I have a blind bunny who we also think is blind due to EC. She was blind before i adopted her. But again we still dont know if EC was the true cause or not. Its difficult when there is no test to give you a true answer :?.

Flynn is doing ok. He started chewing up his fleece, puppy training pads (we use these when i am at work as i have a friend checking on him and they are easier to remove and throw out rather than fleece), throwing his food dish etc etc. He is a cheeky boy. I keep praying he will pull through.....

I've only just read this. Sorry to hear your bun is poorly.

Sudden paralysis was the first and only symptom with my buns e.c. I have just detailed it on another thread so won't repeat it but here's the link:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=182964

In the case of my girl the trigger was probably stress as she had come from horrible conditions. And after being rescued she was spayed, treated for mites, introduced to new bunnies and lots of new things in a few short weeks. The final triggers were probably a freakishly hot day indoors in February and a myxi vac the day before.

I hope your bun recovers as well as mine did. It's now 16 months on with no relapse

Eta: forgot to say mine was xrayed first to rule out spinal problems

Thank you lilbun i found your post very interesting.

I have no idea what triggered it :?. Nothing had changed it just happened . I am keeping my hopes up that he can recover or cope with his ailment

Sending massive vibes Flynns way.It sounds like you are doing all you can to help your beautiful boy

ShazzaBunny said:

Thank you lilbun i found your post very interesting.

I have no idea what triggered it :?. Nothing had changed it just happened . I am keeping my hopes up that he can recover or cope with his ailment

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I think even a sudden change in temperature can cause enough stress to trigger an episode

We had a rabbit who became paralysed overnight, however she was x-rayed and it was discovered she had spondilytis. She had to be PTS 6 weeks later as she started to drop a lot of weight and behave abnormally. In hindsight, it may have been E.c, and I'm not sure whether the E.c. caused the paralysis or the stress of it all caused the E.c. Our vets weren't all that rabbit savvy then, but the could see something in the x-rays, and to be honest before doing any kind of physio, I would prefer to rule out any spinal problems.

halfpenny said:

We had a rabbit who became paralysed overnight, however she was x-rayed and it was discovered she had spondilytis. She had to be PTS 6 weeks later as she started to drop a lot of weight and behave abnormally. In hindsight, it may have been E.c, and I'm not sure whether the E.c. caused the paralysis or the stress of it all caused the E.c. Our vets weren't all that rabbit savvy then, but the could see something in the x-rays, and to be honest before doing any kind of physio, I would prefer to rule out any spinal problems.

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I agree it's a good idea to xray in these cases. Tippex Porkychicken was xrayed as I was concerned she might have injured her spine but nothing was found on xray xx

Thanks for the advice and replies everyone.

Flynn is doing well. He has regained movement in his entire left hip and foot. His right foot is still quite badly paralysed, but he is learning to move it. He has been dry for a couple of days because he can now hold himself in a "normal" position.

Continueing the panacur and metacam along with physio. Going to get him checked by the vet this week too, he wanted a progress report after 2 weeks and two weeks will have passed tomorrow.

So glad he is making some progress, well done

Loads of vibes for Flynn, and the other suspected EC poorly buns on this thread.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=170661&page=2

there is a lot of threads here on bunnies w/o the use of their leg. I wrote the above in regards to the use of a pillow. Have a look at it, it should be useful to your bun