Any advice welcome, thank you

Heya, I was wondering if anyone had any ideas to help my friends rabbit.

He has always had trouble with his back legs and the use of them. This is from when he was born so I assume may be hereditary. He is now having difficulty using his back legs at all, they are just dragging behind him. He also seems to be dragging them in circles intermittently too. He's no longer using his water bottle but is dragging himself to a water bowl.

They have been treating him for ear infections (drops and antibiotics). I suggested it could be e cuniculi so he is on his third week of panacur (28 day course).

Nothing is helping him. He's eating fine and is as cuddly as ever but you can imagine how distressing it is to see him like this and his owner has recently had a bleed on the brain too so I'd really like to try and take some stress off her.

The next step as far as the vets are concerned is x rays and a possible operation. They think it could be a tumour on the spine but I don't see how this could be when he's always had leg trouble. If anyone has any ideas then me and her would be very very grateful, thank you xx

Side note, he is a house bunny who manages to steal bits of food but he is very well taken care of and is back at the vets every few days I just think the vets are flummoxed xx

bumping! (i'm the girl on fb who's been responding to you chick)

stargrrlclaire said:

bumping! (i'm the girl on fb who's been responding to you chick)

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Aha! It's you! :lol: :wave:

Another bump for this, bunny is such a cutie pie, hopefully someone else will have some ideas :thumb:

Bump!

I would think Xrays are the most sensible course of action. You dont mention whether the Rabbit is receiving a non steroidal anti-inflammatory as well as the other medication ?

Hey thank you for the bumps and replies!

All the vet is prescribing is ear drops, antibiotics and panacur (panacur on my advice) x

Hi. I had a perfectly health bunny until a couple of years or so ago when Oxo developed ecuniculi and was also dragging his back legs. He had Pancure the full 28 days and Metacam to help with any pain. He recoverd well and was left with only a slight limp. Then approx 18 months later the same thing happened, this time he did not respond to the Panacur so now I am left with a bunny who drags himself around. He can still use his litter tray. He lives in a playhouse with his mummy bunny, they have fleece on the floor and carpet which I put out on the playhouse veranda. I only put him out to free range on the grass when the grass is dry for obvious reason.

A few months ago I took him to the vets and we tried him on steroids but without much improvement. He does seem fine within himself but it is sad to see him dragging himself around in this way although he can certainly move at speed when he wants to!

The bun may prefer to use a water dish rather than a bottle because he may find it difficult to support himself to balance or reach it.

My vet also offered me a x-ray but we both decided it would probably not show anything up as we were 99% sure it was caused through ecuniculi.

If he was born like this and you suspect it to be a hereditary problem then it could well be a congenital deformity which sadly do deteriorate quite rapidly. I would also suggest x-rays to see if there are actual changes to his bones/ joints/ spine. If these are clear then I too would think EC, but if there are congenital deformities then the out look isn't great as these will continue to deteriorate further and cause a lot of pain.

Ozzy'sMummy said:

Hey thank you for the bumps and replies!

All the vet is prescribing is ear drops, antibiotics and panacur (panacur on my advice) x

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I think Xrays would be advisable and it beggars belief that a Rabbit with an ear infection has not been prescribed a NSAID On that basis I would probably seek the opinion of another Vet. I would not be able to trust a Vet who did not consider pain relief to be an important part of treatment.

Thank you again for your replies.

I've spoken to a friend who has seen the rabbit before his current problems and now and from what she says I am really thinking Ecuniculi. He falls over as well as the back leg problems so my head is screaming EC.

I am also concerned, as you are Jane, that a NSAID (using your abbreviation ) hasn't been prescribed. Being on forums like this and also facebook with friends who own bunnies you pick up on these things and so you know things that should really be being prescribed as standard.

I am passing all messages on to her and advising seeing another vet. I believe a friend of hers works at the current vets she uses though so I don't think she wants to rock the boat. I'm different in that if I think a second opinion is needed then there is no hesitation and will ask people for help as vets don't always know everything.

She isn't on here so any replies I will get to her, I hope that's ok, please let me know if it's not. If i put all ideas together maybe she can present it to her vet and say here, investigate.

I shall update when I can, I think he's back at the vets in a couple of days xx

Hi quick update. Shortie is now on steroid drops, I'm not up on steroids so not sure how good/effective they are. If no improvement then he's going to have x-rays. Hopefully they show something up xx