Bunny with spinal breakage

Hello to all!

I have a 9 months old neutralized male bunny called Luciano. Unfortunately he had an accident and he cannot walk. I called the vet immediately on Sunday morning and took him there as soon as possible.The vet took some xrays and told us that he has broken a bone in his spine and he cannot move both his back legs. He gave us a treatment with cortisone and told us that if the bunny shows no improvement within the next 48 hours there is nothing he can do, not even a surgery to help him. I live in Greece and unfortunately there are only a few vets that are specialized in bunnies. I uploaded the xrays here and I would really appreciate if anyone of you knows a vet that could give us a second opinion.

http://yfrog.com/iy091213pelvislucianofj
http://yfrog.com/j1091213pelvislucianolatj

Thank you in advance

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunny's tragic accident Those xrays look really bad, it looks like the spinal cord is severed ? Has your bunny lost control of it's bladder ? If it has it will not be able to empty it's bladder & could go into renal failure as you would need to learn how to empty it's bladder regularly& often, also it would need a big operation anyway to stabilise & fixate the badly broken spinal column. It looks & sounds like it will have, I would think there is no option but to have your bunny euthanised. A heartbreaking & devastating choice to make, but you have to think about their quality of lifex

Oh gosh its a nasty fracture
I am affraid I do not know what the protocol is re Vets consulting professional colleagues from other countries :?

But if your Vet agreed then I would suggest he/she emails the Xrays here

http://gwr.ds6049.dedicated.turbodns.co.uk/en/pages/default.aspx

I am so sorry that this has happened to your Bunny

I'm so sorry about your bunny I hope it doesn't come to the worst.

I lost my first rabbit (Widget in my signature) to a spinal fracture. It happened higher up than in your rabbit's case, about between his shoulder blades and because of the position it meant his organs would have become paralysed.

I think the steroid your rabbit has been given should reduce any swelling on the spinal cord as this could be causing the paralysis rather than the nerves actually being severed. That's probably why your vet told you to watch for improvement over the next couple of days. I was going to go in that direction with Widget but after seeing his x-rays the vet thought it very unlikely he'd pull through I still kind of regret not trying it, though...

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunny's tragic accident Those xrays look really bad, it looks like the spinal cord is severed ? Has your bunny lost control of it's bladder ? If it has it will not be able to empty it's bladder & could go into renal failure as you would need to learn how to empty it's bladder regularly& often, also it would need a big operation anyway to stabilise & fixate the badly broken spinal column. It looks & sounds like it will have, I would think there is no option but to have your bunny euthanised. A heartbreaking & devastating choice to make, but you have to think about their quality of lifex

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Thank you very much for your kind reply! The problem is that the vet cannot figure out whether the spinal cord is severe damaged or not. If he was sure that the spinal cord was not damaged, he would perform a surgery to Luciano, in order to fix his bone. As long as he is not sure about that, he doesn't want to put the bunny in this painful procedure.
The good news is that the bunny eats hey and pellets, drinks a lot of water and does pee and pooh normally. Today he is in a very good mood and he started moving his tail.

Oh gosh its a nasty fracture
I am affraid I do not know what the protocol is re Vets consulting professional colleagues from other countries

But if your Vet agreed then I would suggest he/she emails the Xrays here

http://gwr.ds6049.dedicated.turbodns...s/default.aspx

I am so sorry that this has happened to your Bunny

Click to expand...

I will call him and suggest he emails the xrays to the email address you gave me, but I think things are pretty bad

I lost my first rabbit (Widget in my signature) to a spinal fracture. It happened higher up than in your rabbit's case, about between his shoulder blades and because of the position it meant his organs would have become paralysed.

I think the steroid your rabbit has been given should reduce any swelling on the spinal cord as this could be causing the paralysis rather than the nerves actually being severed. That's probably why your vet told you to watch for improvement over the next couple of days. I was going to go in that direction with Widget but after seeing his x-rays the vet thought it very unlikely he'd pull through I still kind of regret not trying it, though...

Click to expand...

I'm so sorry to hear about Widget. I want to try my best for Luciano, but if he shows no improvement in the next 24 hours I don't know what I'm going to do Do you think that there is hope with the cortisone to save the spinal cord?

I really do hope that everything works out for you & Luciano If he's moving his tail that's great news. Sending lots of positive vibes XX

Thank you very much all for your concern. I will keep you informed :wave:

So sorry to hear about your bunny's accident. I think you need to be brave and think about what is best for him if he doesn't show improvement after a few days
There is a little bit of information here: http://www.hrschicago.org/rabbit3fr.html

Sending hugs and vines. Luciano sounds like a well loved bunny, I hope he pulls through

"If the spinal cord is completely severed or seriously bruised, there is no treatment that will return normal neurological function. It is advisable to consider euthanasia for these patients as their quality of life will be very poor. Cases that have only mild to moderate damage to the spinal cord or that still experience some feeling in the toes and maintain bladder or bowel control have a chance of healing. These rabbits should confined to a cage for a period of 6 to 8 weeks to facilitate healing of the fractured bones. It may be necessary to use anti-inflammatory drugs such as corticosteroids for the first few days after the injury. Many of these rabbits will regain at least partial if not total neurological function and live a good quality of life."

That's exactly what the vet told! Thank you very much for the link. I will perform a test to check his reflexes when I go back home from work. If he responds, even a little, the vet suggested that we go through a surgery, which will cost 1200€ (£1100). If he doesn't respond, the vet doesn't want to put him through a painful and dangerous procedure.
I will keep you informed

Thinking of you and Luciano

Have you any news on Luciano?

Unfortunately he doesn't have any reflexes - yesterday he moved his tail, but he didn't move it today. I pinched him softly in the upper part of the leg this morning, he did have a slight reflex.
The vet told us that in order to be able to perform the surgery, Luciano must have reflex in the toes, which he hasn't.
I am not thinking of euthanasia, but of ordering a cart in order to help him move and have a descent life (not right now, right now my priority is to restrict the pain and the inflammation). I saw this:
http://www.myhouserabbit.com/blog/2008/11/20/british-rabbit-gets-wheelchair/
and I don't know if it is a good idea.

Hi there!

Firstly, I'm really sorry to hear your bunny has had such a bad accident. It must be really heartbreaking for you. I can't really offer much advice to you, I've never been in a situation like this and I can't tell anything from the x-rays - they just look like blurs to me! :lol:

I'd say you should give the bunny wheelchair a go though. Providing Luciano isn't in pain of course. If it doesn't work out, at least you would have given it a go... at least if you try, you won't always be wondering if it would have worked or not. That's the worst thing ever - not knowing if there was another option. :?

Good luck with whatever action you end up taking, and I really hope Luciano will pull through.

How is Luciano getting on?

I am really sorry to hear about Luciano. I am sending vibes your way.

I have him in a small cage right now, restricted, with lots of pillows and towels to keep him warm and prevent him from hurting himself.
I would like to know if it is possible when will the inflammation get better, because right now I am afraid of leaving him unattended and I feed him on hand every couple or 3 hours, give him water and clean his pee and poo.
I've already contacted a dogstogo.net in order to ask if they ship carts to Greece - the answer was positive, so I will email them after Xmas Luciano's measurements, so that they can make a cart for him.
Thank you very much once more