Update: He's gone - Edison having trouble with his hind legs

As I was leaving for work today, I noticed that my bunny, Edison, was just sitting with his head poised over his water dish. That struck me as odd and I noticed that he was sitting with his back legs splayed out a bit, leaning over to one side and constantly correcting himself. I decided to stay home and watch him for the morning

I encouraged him to move a bit and when he walked, his back legs were moving independently of each other, instead of together in a hop like usual. He seems generally lethargic and is refusing to eat everything except a few nibbles of carrot. I did watch him drink a bit of water, but still very concerned.

I left a message with my main vet and if she doesn't call me back in the next hour or so, I'm going to take him to the crappy (but better than nothing) emergency vet.

Any ideas on what this might be or what I should advocate they test for at the emergency vet?

Poor Edison, He sounds quite poorly. He could have EC or he may have had a stroke. You don't say how old he is! He certainly sounds like he needs to see the vet.

Eddison is 8 years old, so he's been around the block! He's half netherland dwarf, half lionhead (and 100% feisty on his good days!) We've come through a lot of things, but I've never seen this in him before.

At the moment, he seems a bit better. He has been acting more alert, drinking fine, and finished up a thumb's worth of carrot that I gave him. His hopping around looks a bit more stable, but he's still rolling over to the side a bit and seemingly "off".

I took him to the emergency vet about 6 months ago when he took a heroic leap off of our 2nd floor balcony during a power outage and hit the hardwood floor 4 meters below. He was limping on one of his back legs and they x-rayed the wrong leg and speculated that cancer might be the cause of his leg pain. (I had to remind her that he fell a long ways and then the vet seemed to feel pretty foolish...) He turned out to be fine when I took him to my usual vet the next day; hearty little thing!

I mention all that because I'm wondering if it's better to wait for my awesome rabbit-savvy vet when she opens her office tomorrow if Eddison is still eating and drinking normally and seems stable. Is it imperative that I take him in today or do you think I could wait half a day and have him seen in the morning to avoid stressing him out too much?

Only you know your bunny. You need to do what you feel is best for him. Can you ring your rabbit savvy vet again? They really should ring you back asap. Is Eddison warm enough tonight? As long as you can make him comfortable and safe. My Ginny had a stroke about 4 years ago. She's 10 now. She was treated for EC, just in case, but she's been left with a dragging back leg but is so happy with her husbun, Widget aged 4. I really hope Eddison improves overnight. Lots of love and healing vibes xxx

Oh poor fella, what a shame, he's such a cutie in his picture (though all bunnies are cute!). Could he have hurt his back/spine do you think? It sounds like he may have, especially as he took such a fall before and hurt his leg. I have no desire to alarm you but my friend's rabbit jumped out of his cage, which was only on the floor, and broke his back. He's all mended and is fine, but it's how they land, not how far they fall, which is the problem (as with humans).

If you think he is in pain then it's up to you whether you want to try and ring your rabbit savvy vet again to see if she advises pain relief, if you have any at home. It's a shame she can't see him tonight though but I understand you not wanting to take him to the other vet. It's a tough call and I sympathise with you, I really do.

Good luck.

Angie B said:

Oh poor fella, what a shame, he's such a cutie in his picture (though all bunnies are cute!). Could he have hurt his back/spine do you think? It sounds like he may have, especially as he took such a fall before and hurt his leg. I have no desire to alarm you but my friend's rabbit jumped out of his cage, which was only on the floor, and broke his back. He's all mended and is fine, but it's how they land, not how far they fall, which is the problem (as with humans).

If you think he is in pain then it's up to you whether you want to try and ring your rabbit savvy vet again to see if she advises pain relief, if you have any at home. It's a shame she can't see him tonight though but I understand you not wanting to take him to the other vet. It's a tough call and I sympathise with you, I really do.

Good luck.

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His fall was back in October and they got good x-rays of both his legs and his spine. My rabbit savvy vet said everything looked fine and he was moving along pretty good when he saw her a couple days after the incident. So I think it's probably unrelated to the fall; he was lucky!

I do have some Metacam at home and I've been debating whether or not I should give it to him. It was dosed out for just daily maintenance; I just worry if it will make his very light appetite even worse.

I feel like my buns have only ever had bad things happen to them with the good vets are out of the office. :roll:

I think we all have our favourite vets and worry about seeing others. Eddison is so pretty. A small dose of metacam may help overnight. Is he comfortable? Have you got him well padded so he doesn't roll over and hurt himself? You could give him a few drops of water in a syringe.

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Fluffybunny54 said:

I think we all have our favourite vets and worry about seeing others. Eddison is so pretty. A small dose of metacam may help overnight. Is he comfortable? Have you got him well padded so he doesn't roll over and hurt himself? You could give him a few drops of water in a syringe.

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He seems comfortable enough; I washed all his favorite blankets and he still hasn't totally bowled over. He's up on the second floor where it's toasty warm and still drinking water from time to time. I'll keep offering him carrots and keep a watch on him every hour. If he deteriorates, I'll take him to the emergency vet; otherwise, I think I'll try and wait until tomorrow as long as he seems content.

Thank you so much for your advice. I'm wondering now if it was a stroke, as I was only thinking about EC beforehand. Glad to hear that your bun Ginny has come through a stroke; it gives me a lot of hope that everything will turn out ok. <3

We've got a vet appointment with a different rabbit savvy vet in an hour. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Sending vibes for your little guy (((((Eddison))))))) I hope the vet will be able to find out what is causing his troubles. xxxxx

Just got back from the vets and the poor guy has been through the ringer. =(

The theory at the moment is that he either has arthritis or EC that is limiting his hind leg mobility. This is causing him pain and therefore he's not eating. So they've got him on pain meds and metaclop. In addition, because his legs are limited, his ears have gotten yucky, so I need to clean them out on a regular basis and possibly get drops later. Also, he has a gunky eye, which they've given him eye drops for. He hasn't eaten since we got home from the vet, despite pain meds, so it's looking like he's going to be eating some Critical Care mush soon. =(

They tried to draw blood on him, but he's so small and was so stressed that he turned blue while they were trying to take it from him. After a few more failed attempts, we just agreed to do the blood panel at another time in the near future along with an x-ray. Poor guy is a wreck. =(

Poor Eddison Sending him some eating and relaxing vibes. He's had a time of it.
Does he do well with syringe feeding? I have three bunnies and one of them takes Critical Care fairly well, but the other two are a hassle. They have a hard time understanding that we are trying to help them. I don't think any of my rabbits enjoy ear cleanings, and for some reason they all have dirty ears despite being able to reach them. :roll:

I have a mini lop who has had early onset arthritis since he was three years old. He's been on daily metacam ever since to help his mobility, but four years ago he developed head tilt also. It was hard getting him through it, but he soldiered on. He is now a crooked little bun but at 9 years old, it's quite a miracle that he's gotten this far.

Hopefully Eddison's meds will help and that you can get those blood panels done without too much trouble next time.

I can imagine there's a bit of stinkeye and bunny butt being given this evening. I hope Eddison recovers from his checkup well...what kinds of treats does he like?

MimzMum said:

Poor Eddison Sending him some eating and relaxing vibes. He's had a time of it.
Does he do well with syringe feeding? I have three bunnies and one of them takes Critical Care fairly well, but the other two are a hassle. They have a hard time understanding that we are trying to help them. I don't think any of my rabbits enjoy ear cleanings, and for some reason they all have dirty ears despite being able to reach them. :roll:

I have a mini lop who has had early onset arthritis since he was three years old. He's been on daily metacam ever since to help his mobility, but four years ago he developed head tilt also. It was hard getting him through it, but he soldiered on. He is now a crooked little bun but at 9 years old, it's quite a miracle that he's gotten this far.

Hopefully Eddison's meds will help and that you can get those blood panels done without too much trouble next time.

I can imagine there's a bit of stinkeye and bunny butt being given this evening. I hope Eddison recovers from his checkup well...what kinds of treats does he like?

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He is being a total brat at the moment. He might be the world's worst syringe feeder. I watched about 4 videos on the subject after an epic failure, and he'll just sit there with the sludge in his mouth and refuse to chew or swallow. If you put anymore in there, it just dribbles out. I tried waiting several minutes, holding him in a bunny burrito, and he STILL spit it out. AGH. :x:x

He loves bananas, but the vet said that it was not a great choice because of all the sugar. Same with carrots, although I just tried that too and got the cold bunny shutdown. I hate going to bed knowing he got such little food in his system. =(

Not sure what to do at this point but hope that he will be brighter in the morning, since it's 1am here and I'm at my wits end. But at least he's still his feisty self, flicking his back feet at me as he hops away. :roll:

Feisty is good I can relate to the dribbling bunny mouf. :roll: Are you using the CC with the anise flavour or the apple banana one? I find mine don't really like the anise (it smells like licorice) but they'll gobble up the apple banana willingly...as such it must be popular with more than just mine, it can be hard to find.
Does he like any greens in particular? Herbs and stuff? If just making sure he eats is the thing, then I find greens will work when nothing else tempts. Mimzy lived on almost solely a vegetable diet during his head tilt. He really couldn't manage much else.

I hope you're able to get some rest and start afresh later. Hopefully Eddison will be in a better temper too! Sometimes they just need a little time to themselves and a pile of food nearby and they'll get on with it on their own. xxxx

Poor Eddison. He must be so upset. You may find that whatever he spills down his front, he may wash off himself. Bunnies don't like sticky feet. The painkiller needs a little time to kick in. You could whizz up some of his favourite veg in a blender and give him that.

Mine always go for brambles when they are feeling under the weather. Perhaps you could try those if you have any growing near by?

Edison is doing very poorly this morning. I've had terrible luck syringe feeding him, and now he's slinking around the edge of walls really low on his stomach. He has had a burst of running, but he's super uncoordinated.

I just gave him his pain meds; how long do they take to kick in? He just seems so uncomfortable.

I know that he needs to eat, so the hubby is running to the store to get his favorite lettuce which I'm going to try to blend and syringe feed in a few minutes.

He looks so awful; I'm really afraid of what to do next. I feel like if I put him in the car to go to the vet, it might be stressful enough to do a lot more harm than good. Any advice you guys have is very welcome.

Thanks for all the vibes and love. Eddison just passed away in my arms and I am absolutely gutted. I loved that little guy so much.

I might post in the Rainbow Bridge later, but right now I need to figure out what to do.

I'm so very sorry Eddison has gone. Poor little chap. He obviously was a very poorly bunny. It happens like that sometimes. Binky free little lad. xxx

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Sidereus7, I was just typing out a reply when I saw your update. I am so very sorry for your loss.
Sending you comforting vibes and thoughts at this very sad time.

Binky free Eddison xxxxx