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Splay legs?

heleni

Warren Scout
Crunchie is suffering from splayed front legs - she doesn't seem able to keep them where they should be, and I'm not sure what to do. I've read that glucosamine may help, so I'm off to Holland and Barratt at lunchtime to get some. She doesn't seem to be in pain (so I'm wary about using Metacam too often) and eats just as enthusiatically as ever, but she just looks very ungainly, particularly when she runs (usually on the diagonal now). It looks like you can brace baby rabbits legs if they are splayed, but she is about 6 so I don't know if that would help. It's been getting worse and worse over the last year or so. I keep her on newspaper and carpet, though there is a small area of lino, but she can't support herself on any of those surfaces now. She seems better on grass as it is rougher, and she does have a run on the grass attached to the shed. She seems to be keeping herself clean down below still, though it is harder for her than it was, and she can't reach certain parts of her lower back any longer so I have to brush them out for her. Any advice from anyone?
 
has she been xrayed?

Classic 'splay leg' is congenital and always develops in the first few weeks of the rabbits life . .

this is obviously a 'splayed legs' symptom but must be from something other than congenital to have developed so late.

I would suspect your vet would want to xray?
 
No she's not been x-rayed, though every time I've taken her to the vet since this started (when she was spayed, although that might be coincidence) I've asked the vet to check - the vet has had a good feel and not found anything of concern / noticed any painful spots. It doesn't seem to be the result of an injury is the view of the vet.
 
No she's not been x-rayed, though every time I've taken her to the vet since this started (when she was spayed, although that might be coincidence) I've asked the vet to check - the vet has had a good feel and not found anything of concern / noticed any painful spots. It doesn't seem to be the result of an injury is the view of the vet.

but if it deteriorates it will cause a lot of problems - and it is essential to know what is causing it - tbh although she may be hiding it I suspect it will be setting up aches and pains in the spine etc. and she will also need some medication.

Possibly ask the vet how they feel about a referrall to a specialist rabbit place?
 
I'll make an appointment for her this week then. I think my vets are pretty rabbit savvy (according to their website, a couple of the vets have particular interests in "small furries" and one specifically mentions rabbits), but how would I find a different specialist?

Edit: she now has an appointment for Friday afternoon, and a tub of glucosamine tablets
 
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I took Crunchie to the vet, who had a good look and feel. He couldn't find any swelling or breaks so thought it wasn't damage, and he thought she was probably too young for arthritis. He thought it might be neurological, so has given me Panacur for both Crunchie and Button for 28 days (plus a week of Metacam for Crunch) in case it's EC - which might tie in with a few other things like weeing everywhere and also white spots in Button's eyes (though he already had cataracts from a possible case of EC when he was little). I'm giving them the medicine in bread, and it's going down very easily!
 
I'm not sure what they used - do you think it could be a side effect of that?

I don't know. However, I do (and have seen) that injectable GA, such as ketamine, can cause hind leg weakness 'Sometimes inexperienced vets hit a nerve in the hind leg when using injectable anesthesia (like ketamine) and cause the bunny to be paralyzed in that leg' http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/spay.html I saw a bunny go from being 100% healthy and normal to having little control over her back end and a lot of muscle weakness. She couldn't jump, ran in a staggery way, etc. Was very sad.

They use the hind leg because they inject into the muscle. I have absolutely no idea whether or not that can be done in the front leg, although I know they do sometimes use veins in the front leg for access, but obviously that's different from muscle.

I'm relatively sure it's unrelated, but because it occured to me I felt it might be worth a mention.
 
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