sore leg...advice needed

Hi all, was wondering if anyone could help...
At the end of December my rabbit started holding her leg funny, kinda out to the side a bit and stretched out (sort of like when they are cleaning their foot ? If you get what I mean) I obviously took her to the vets and they started her on metacam, this didn't help any . So back we went, this time they added in tramadol, still nothing. We took xrays but nothing was seen on them & gabapentin was added in . She started to improve and we started dropping out meds, first the tramadol, then metacam & finally gabapentin. Anyway she's been off all her meds for about a month, I came in from work last week and she was doing it again but this time it was worse she didn't seem to be putting any weight on it , she was hopping on 3 legs & even when she was sitting she is holding it off the.ground . She was put straight back on gabapentin but it doesn't seem to be doing anything I spoke to our usual bunny vet on friday (as she's also havin an issue with her ear atm) we decided to add a few things in. Currently she's on gabapentin, metacam, penicillin inj (for her ear) 28 day course of panacur & fibreplex to help her guts cope I assume ? Nothing seems to be doing anything she currently in her cage grinding her teeth, my poor little soldier, any advice would be greatly appreciated

Sorry about the long post..

I assume it is a hind leg and it is on the same side as the ear that has infection in it ?

Sorry, yup it is a hind leg
But its on the opposite side of her ear, she had surgery on her ear in 2012 due to an abscess it just seems to be getting a little more pusy recently

I was going to suggest a course of panacur, so glad she has that already. Has she only just started the course?

When they took the xrays, did they take them just of her leg, or of her back too?

Does she have feeling in her leg and toes?

I currently have a bun with a trapped nerve in his leg. He holds it right out from himself and doesn't put much weight on it. At first he knuckled over on his toes when he hopped because he had no feeling in them, which is how we knew it was nerve related and not a fracture.

I think they just took them of her leg...
& she seems to still have feeling in her toes she tries to get away when I pinch them .? We did think it was nerve damage the last time...she doesn't appear to knuckle over she just refuses to put any weight on it.

binkybunnyox said:

I think they just took them of her leg...
& she seems to still have feeling in her toes she tries to get away when I pinch them .? We did think it was nerve damage the last time...she doesn't appear to knuckle over she just refuses to put any weight on it.

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Hm. I don't have any suggestions tbh. It seems like the vets are giving her all the right things. Possibly it's connected to her ear, or maybe she has hurt herself causing soft tissue damage.

Sending healing vibes. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thanks
I hope your little man feels better soon, its so awful when they're poorly

Boris started doing this last year, I started a thread on it which has a video ;

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...E-Neither-a-neurological-degenerative-disease

He has good days a bad days with it, sometimes stumbling when moving/coming to a stop (mainly the latter, his movement seems OK 99% of the time).

He's currently on Metacam and I'm doing a 6 week course of Panacur to see if it makes any difference at all (so far - 2 weeks in- no signs it does). It may or may not be EC related, either permanent damage already done, or an active attack.

Glad to hear your rabbit is on Panacur. I hope she gets better soon. It's horrible to watch Boris sometimes with his condition.

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear about Boris poor little man. He's such a handsome boy

Your video of him is exactly how pepper holds her leg, although she's not having issues with urine scale etc as your boy seems to . I hope he improves for you

She seems to have issues getting up but has no problem standing on her hind legs when she is anticipating a fenugreek crunchie !


Have you tried gabapentin ? It did seem to make some improvement the 1st time with pepper ?

Boris does have the occasional issue with getting up too, yesterday he was sat with a hind leg stretched out and when i approached was struggling to heave himself up. I had to intervene and pick him up and put him down again.

I will ask my vet about gabapentin on my next visit (I may email them and make enquiries in the meantime). I'll give anything a go that may improve his quality of life.

His urine control alas seems almost non existent now. He dribbles a lot and if you pick him up you have to watch out for a "stream" or end up with wet trousers. He rarely ends up wet though, and this weekend just gone was the first time in weeks where he'd had an "accident" and soiled himself.

The good news is he's fine otherwise and has no issues moving about and getting into mischief!! :lol:

Do let me know if you find out the cause of Peppers issue, it may shine a light onto Boris' plight. :wave:

Oh dear poor man.

Does your vet think the dribbling is related to his leg issue ?
Pepper just seems to poop everywhere she used to go back to her tray (been a house rabbit she is litter trained)

Of course I will let you know if I find out anything.
Will be going to see our rabbit vet on Wednesday so hopefully will get a bit further forward .

She seems a bit better this mornin (chasing her partner etc) although she is still kinda shuffling.

binkybunnyox said:

Oh dear poor man.

Does your vet think the dribbling is related to his leg issue ?
Pepper just seems to poop everywhere she used to go back to her tray (been a house rabbit she is litter trained)

Of course I will let you know if I find out anything.
Will be going to see our rabbit vet on Wednesday so hopefully will get a bit further forward .

She seems a bit better this mornin (chasing her partner etc) although she is still kinda shuffling.

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Glad to hear Pepper's a bit better.

Boris poops everywhere too. Only a few weeks ago I was complaining in a forum post how he's not litter tray trained, but now I think he cannot help it. He just goes wherever he is at the time it "pops out".

The vet thinks his dribbling/bladder control issues are because the nerves to his back end are damaged by something (EC or something else). The vet thinks his condition is likely to get worse over time and I'm inclined to agree given what I've seen. Alas I am only now beginning to piece together the things I began to see last year, but back then I just thought it was because I'd had him castrated, was picking him up more (to get him used to being handled for when he does get stasis) and was allowing him much greater freedom since the house move (as the garden is now enclosed and safe whereas at the previous place it wasn't).

He's still full of mischief though, knocking things over, exploring everything in the garden, crawling under and behind everything and he can manage to stand up on two legs when his treats come out :lol:

Haha :lol: glad to hear he's still up to his usual tricks .
Sorry its not something that can be fixed for him

Pepper has decided that since I have made an appointment with our usual rabbit vet that her leg is ok !:lol: my vet must think I'm a crazy paranoid rabbit lady ! (she is still holding it to the side though ? Although she now seems to be using it more and is not holding it stretched out ) so confused ! Bunnies are strange little creatures :roll: