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Paralysed rabbits

RubyTed

Wise Old Thumper
Does anyone have experience with a rabbit who has his back legs paralysed.

What kind of life could he expect to have? Can they be bonded with a healthy bun?

Please contact me....or suggest people that have similar buns.
 
Liz will have some answers to this, I'm sure.

Personally I've only ever had Rosie and despite her having a damaged spine, she could move. She did bond with Badger and he brought her on in leaps and bounds.

I imagine the care involved would be high, and also that to be bonded they would need to be with the right rabbit.
 
depends on how bad it is if its front end or back end of both i have heard of trolley rabbits that have been fitted with wheels to help them get about
if its the back end it could effect alot of things like toilet problems which may need to be manually done by you every day its all down to quality of life at the end of the day the rabbit may be happy with wheels if it can get about ok do the toilet onits own etc and have a good life but like humans who have all of a sudden been told they are now dependant on other people and can no long do things by themselves and have to have someone help them with the toilet feeding etc they may be very unhappy and find it hard to adapt to their new life
as for bonding again its down to the rabbit it could work
good luck
 
I think that it depends on the individual Rabbit and the amount of care their owner is able to provide.

For example if the owner worked full time then there is no way that the Rabbit could be left alone all day.

If the Rabbit was a real stress-head then IMO it would not be in his/her best interests to have to endure a life of permanent severe disability.

I have a couple of Rabbits here who are very likely to lose the use of their hind legs. If/when it happens they will be PTS as neither would tolerate all the essential hands on care.

Also, I dont think a Rabbit has a good quality of life if all they can do is lay in a cage, eat and sleep. They would require daily trips outdoors or to other stimulating environments. This, combined with all the care needed to keep them clean, empty their bladder for them, feed them their cecotrophs, keep their ears and eyes clean would be a full time job and not everyone could do this due to work/family commitments etc.

I did not know that Eddie has problems :cry:
 
Lou has a giant at the rescue that came in with hind leg paralysis.

Luckily she managed to keep him clean and dry (he wasn't incontinent) whilst he had no use of his legs.

Fortunately, after lots of tlc and time (about 5 months?) he is finally back on his feet and ready to move back outside with his wifey into an enclosure to enjoy being a normal bunny again
 
Eddie did something to his back on the journey to me, and has ultimately paralysed his legs. He's having an x-ray as I type this, and I should be collecting him later with the results (whether there's a fracture :?) It's just his back legs.

He started off being all staggery, and his owner said that he had been hopping around happily before he went in the car. I believe what she says, and don't think there was foul play. Then as the day went on he just stopped using his legs and was dragging himself about. He has full bladder control so there would be no expressing although he was obviously lying in it...having to be cleaned every half an hour :(.

He's bright as a button, eating, drinking and the vet nurse said he's been dragging himself to the bars of his cage for attention.

There is feeling in his back legs and there have been slight movements, but he can't use them at all. He's dragging himself with his front legs.

He's not a "stress-head" and is really calm. Couldn't care less about being picked up to be cleaned, and I think rather enjoys the fuss. He's a real person bun, so human contact doesn't get to him...thank goodness. He's quite happy, but seeing him try to move is heartbreaking from my perspective. He's not getting annoyed with himself yet though.

Also, I dont think a Rabbit has a good quality of life if all they can do is lay in a cage, eat and sleep. They would require daily trips outdoors or to other stimulating environments. This, combined with all the care needed to keep them clean, empty their bladder for them, feed them their cecotrophs, keep their ears and eyes clean would be a full time job and not everyone could do this due to work/family commitments etc.

THIS is what I'm worried about. What kind of life would he have if he's pretty much cagebound? Sure, he enjoys eating and sleeping...but from what I've been told he's a very energetic bun usually. ...would he get depressed if he couldn't move properly?

Are his front legs going to get damaged if he tries to pull 6kg of chunk over the floor? Would it do him more damage to let him move anywhere...get freerange time.:(

BBMummy...this has given me some hope. If there's a chance that he'll get better then it'll make me happier to make decisions for him. He's a giant and I know they have very weak spines...so it's possible that what they did was similar.



I've had such bad luck lately...If only things could go right for once! :cry:
 
I hope he regains use of his back legs.
But either way by the sounds of things I think he (and you) will deal just fine with it. :D
He sounds like such a sweetie. :love:
 
Just got a call.

The x-ray went well. They took one of his spine and pelvis, one side on, and one each of the knee joints.

He said that other than mild hip displasia there's nothing with the bones to have caused the paralysis and the hip thing was far too mild to have caused it.

So it is thought to be soft tissue damage. He's going to have 1ml of oral metacam a day, and hopefully this will reduce any swelling and relieve any pain he might have. Without an MRI they can't see the muscle/nerves so they can't tell me much more than that.

Other than that it's just a waiting game.

I'm collecting him at 6.00 to give him time to get over the sedative.
 
I am so pleased there is a good chance of improvement for him :)

Fingers crossed that it is just soft tissue rather than nerve damage and the metacm helps him :)

You know where we are if you need any help :wave:
 
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