Julie video. Warning it maybe hard for some to watch as she is an elderly bun

with bad arthritis in her hips. She may have lost most of the function in her back legs/hips and the vet says that it will just get worse but she doesn't let it stop her. Bless my sweet girl. She went down hill fast after a dental gone wrong. She will be nine years old in a couple weeks. The pain seems to to be under control at the moment and she is finally feeling much better after a bad tooth abscess/infection and stasis. This is from last night. Just click on the pic but you may want to turn the sound down as the TV was on in the back ground. Sorry.

Your poor girl. She certainly doesn't let her disability stop her though. Such a determined little bun

I wonder if one of those pet mobility carts would help her?

Jbun said:

Your poor girl. She certainly doesn't let her disability stop her though. Such a determined little bun

I wonder if one of those pet mobility carts would help her?

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The Oh and I were just talking about one of those carts but as she is still using the muscles and getting around we are thinking that it is best if she keeps using the muscles to keep from loosing muscle strength even faster.

What a little darling!

She is so sweet and determined isn't she

My Inca's back legs were pretty bad for a while and she managed to cope so well. Is Julie on Metacam?

Also, would she maybe get about better if she was on a rug rather than the slippy tiles?

Bless her heart. She is such a sweetheart though, still nosing around at everything! And gorgeous as ever

Kermit said:

Also, would she maybe get about better if she was on a rug rather than the slippy tiles?

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I wondered this too, but her grip looked to be about the same when she got to the stripy rug instead of the tiles. I did think she got through the tunnel quite well though, do you find the the woven texture helps bunnytoes?

bless her, she certainly doesn't seem fazed by it

Coineanach said:

Bless her heart. She is such a sweetheart though, still nosing around at everything! And gorgeous as ever



I wondered this too, but her grip looked to be about the same when she got to the stripy rug instead of the tiles. I did think she got through the tunnel quite well though, do you find the the woven texture helps bunnytoes?

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I have the yoga mats going in a semi circle which have a waffle texture grip and they grip to the floor so she can not move them. In her favorite area to hang out in are towels and throw rugs which work about the same as the yoga mats, except that she can move them then lies on the tile. They have to have furniture on them or she will take them and just pile them up in a heap and lie on the floor. She absolutely loves to be on the tile. I can't totally keep her off it. I just try to keep her things on the yoga mats/towels/rugs as must as possible.
She doesn't really hop better on rugs or the yoga mats (things with grip) but she can get up from a lying down position much much easier. She can't get up from the tile. She just slips and slides and I have to help or she has to slides herself to a mat or rug/towel. She can go across the tile from point A to point B just about the same as on a rug but when she gets tired she slides out flat on the rug or tile. The only real difference is that she can manage to get up from the mats/rugs.

Aww she's such a lovely girl I love how you've got all the mats for her :thumb:

Oh bless her little heart, Julie is one of my fave RU bunnies but shhhh don't tell the others!
She looks like she is coping really well she's so cute with the ball!

This is her favorite area to hang out in during the day where her cave storeage box is.

Another view.

The yoga mat run way.



Which leads to her favorite area.

Coineanach said:

Bless her heart. She is such a sweetheart though, still nosing around at everything! And gorgeous as ever



I wondered this too, but her grip looked to be about the same when she got to the stripy rug instead of the tiles. I did think she got through the tunnel quite well though, do you find the the woven texture helps bunnytoes?

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Flora, who's 10, has bad arthritis in her spine and has limited mobility in the rear end. She most definitely finds slippery floors more difficult so her whole shed and run is covered in a combination of (a) carpet tiles; (b) aubiose/hay and (c) fake grass. If she gets on a plain slab or tile, she falls over. I would stick to grippy flooring material if it were me but then she's your bunny and you know her better than everyone else so if you feel she likes to be on the tiles then go for it. She looks very happy .

Mackers said:

Flora, who's 10, has bad arthritis in her spine and has limited mobility in the rear end. She most definitely finds slippery floors more difficult so her whole shed and run is covered in a combination of (a) carpet tiles; (b) aubiose/hay and (c) fake grass. If she gets on a plain slab or tile, she falls over. I would stick to grippy flooring material if it were me but then she's your bunny and you know her better than everyone else so if you feel she likes to be on the tiles then go for it. She looks very happy .

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I agree that grippy floors are best for Julie. I love Julie more than anyting and want to make her life as wonderful as possible. Julie is the center of my life and my husbands. I keep adding more and more stuff onto the floor. The problem is that Julie is a free range house rabbit and she does not agree with us about no tile therefore I can not totally keep her off the tile even though I try. Julie really has strong opions and is a very determined rabbit.She will always work at the things that she wants until she achieves her goal.

Bless her

She does seem happy. All the pictures are from today. This one is from about an hour ago. Note the Julie size bare tile. She was lying there after she moved the towels. I have frozen water bottles covered in the socks in hopes that she will lie against that and not on the tile. She does use the bottles but only after she is sick of re fixing the towels after me. She will sometimes wait for me to leave the room to move the towels but not always. :lol:.
Just took a video of her and it shows a short hop across the tile even though she did not have to take that short cut across the tile.. She earlier bolted across the tile to get to me. She actually goes much faster on the tile as she has figured out a swimming type sliding action with her back feet. Again, I know that it isn't probably the best thing for her to do but short of carpeting the kitchen and whole house there isn't much I can really do as she is a free range house rabbit. She wouldn't want to live in a shed as she is too people social nor is it even possible as it is way too hot here..
The video isn't loading. It is too long. I will keep trying and post it if it ever loads.

Aww bless her, what a lovely bun, she is obviously so well cared for by yourself. It's so hard having a bun with extra needs, even just having a dental bun was hard for me.

She's a very clean girl too, I would have expected her to be a bit mucky with the mobility issues, does she manage to keep herself clean? Just out of interest really because my old girl struggled without the issues Julie has.

Aw, sweet Julie...she looks so determined to get where she's going.
I don't think you should completely count out a cart...they can be adjusted so bunny still has to paddle with the feet a bit and get some traction/muscle resistance. Plus you might be able to do physical therapy with her to keep her muscles working (I did this with Mimzy during his head tilt, I would gently paddle his feet in a circular/running motion when I was done administering meds to be sure he kept some strength in them for when he began actively walking again.)

I also just got an idea which may or may not be feasible...can you get tub stickies strips and put them on your tile? Maybe she can use those to get a purchase but it won't interfere with the coolness she loves? It might make your floor look like a race track but she could use all the traction she can get! (Plus it'll keep any humans from slipping on it as well!)
At the very least, maybe you can use them to help 'tack down' her yoga mats?

Janey said:

Aww bless her, what a lovely bun, she is obviously so well cared for by yourself. It's so hard having a bun with extra needs, even just having a dental bun was hard for me.

She's a very clean girl too, I would have expected her to be a bit mucky with the mobility issues, does she manage to keep herself clean? Just out of interest really because my old girl struggled without the issues Julie has.

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Julie does the best that she can to clean herself but she does get some pee on her in places that she can't reach because of her low touching the ground stance especially if she has a pee accident outside her litter box. Julie loves loves to be petted and will spend hours licking/grooming me and seems just as happy for me to groom her back. She hates to be picked up so I just have a wet cloth handy during our petting/groom sections and just wipe any spots. She seems to enjoy me doing it that way. She also can't reach her back foot to her ear so when she has an itch her back foot is scratching the air. Her foot keeps going so I will just rub her ear for her and she is fine with any assistance as long as I don't pick her up to do it.. Of course I do have to pick up her to put on the table while hubby gives her antibiotic injection. That stresses her so I pick up up as little as possible.

Someone asked if she was on Metacam and I forgot to answer. She is on Metacam at the max dose and a low dose of Tramadol as the Metacam wasn't cutting it anymore. She also takes glucosamine, ground flax seed and turmeric for her arthritis. The alternative stuff seem to work before she went into stasis but now I can't tell if they are doing anything.

I've never heard of turmeric being good for arthritis but it's supposed to be indicated for cancer maintenance. I have a bottle here but am too scared to try it.
You once asked about the myristol pellets...did you decide to try those? I found that Mimzy would eat them after a few failed first tries, but he didn't continue them long enough to see an effect as he got head tilt soon afterward and would only eat greens for many months.
The myristol is supposed to be wonderful for horse joint issues and since rabbits are quite like wee horses the thinking is that it will help them too. I don't know of anyone else who's used them though.
(((((((((((Vibes))))))))))))) always being sent for darling Julie. xxxx

MimzMum said:

Aw, sweet Julie...she looks so determined to get where she's going.
I don't think you should completely count out a cart...they can be adjusted so bunny still has to paddle with the feet a bit and get some traction/muscle resistance. Plus you might be able to do physical therapy with her to keep her muscles working (I did this with Mimzy during his head tilt, I would gently paddle his feet in a circular/running motion when I was done administering meds to be sure he kept some strength in them for when he began actively walking again.)

I also just got an idea which may or may not be feasible...can you get tub stickies strips and put them on your tile? Maybe she can use those to get a purchase but it won't interfere with the coolness she loves? It might make your floor look like a race track but she could use all the traction she can get! (Plus it'll keep any humans from slipping on it as well!)
At the very least, maybe you can use them to help 'tack down' her yoga mats?

Click to expand...

Hmm the bunny wheel chair that I saw was at the local rabbit rescue for a rabbit with only 2 feet. i just google rabbit wheel chairs and found some for rabbits with 4 legs and they were able to move their back feet as much as they could. i am going to show hubby to night and see if he thinks that he can make something for Julie that will allow her o use her back feet. I do message her back feet and she is fine with it. I have tried to fix her feet the way they should be while she was sitting but she didn't like that. I can try to gently moving them during a message.

I never thought of the tub stickies. That is a great idea especially where she likes to lay so she can use them to get back up. I will have too look for some strip like kind. I have just seem the flower shape ones. Another great idea from you. Thanks.