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Spinal degeneration...beloved Belgian Hare having problems...

H

Helen Heard

New Kit
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has advice about helping a Belgian Hare with spinal degeneration?

I thought Ginger Joe had had an accident back in January, about 3 months after I rescued him as a youngster, as he's rather accident-prone. His back legs didn't look right when he lolloped around after his friends. The Vet seemed a bit perplexed after examining him, and said give cage rest.

He didn't improve. He's had 2 cranio-sacral osteopathy sessions (very gentle, no manipulation) He's still getting worse - muscles & weight falling away, especially from his haunches. He was neutered last Friday (so he won't overtire himself chasing neutered friends) & X-rayed. Nothing shows on X-ray, other than spine curving from side to side, which vet says is due to muscle loss.

I contacted a former BH breeder. She said some strains of BH have a degenerative spinal condition, and the first symptom is them losing use of their back legs, as has happened with Joe.

The vet said to see what happens, anti-inflammatories may help, & I'll have to have Joe put to sleep if he ends up incontinent. I feel devastated. He is the most affectionate & gentle bunny I've ever had, all my other rescue bunnies seem to be besotted by him, as are all the children who visit my land and rescue animals. He has been going regularly on visits to a local mental health support unit and a homelessness project, and genuinely enjoys being cuddled and stroked.

A Google search showed a Belgian Hare getting rehab in USA, using an underwater treadmill and a little exercise cart. I've v little funds (unable to work due to a back injury...) but want to help him all I can. Does anyone have any experience of this/ know anyone who has/ have any advice? Thanks,Helen
 
Has your vet considered treating for EC? It's a common parasite in rabbits and causes neurological symptoms such as dragging their back legs or a head tilt / loss of balance. Treatment is 28 days of Panacur (to treat the parasite) and an anti-inflammatory such as Metacam (to reduce the neurological damage done by the parasite). It may be worth a go anyway as it's relatively cheap and easy, especially if you use the 10% liquid panacur rather than the rabbit paste in a syringe version.
 
Shimmer said:
Has your vet considered treating for EC? It's a common parasite in rabbits and causes neurological symptoms such as dragging their back legs or a head tilt / loss of balance. Treatment is 28 days of Panacur (to treat the parasite) and an anti-inflammatory such as Metacam (to reduce the neurological damage done by the parasite). It may be worth a go anyway as it's relatively cheap and easy, especially if you use the 10% liquid panacur rather than the rabbit paste in a syringe version.
Click to expand...

I agree with Shimmer, whilst EC may not be the cause of Joe's hind leg paresis it may be worth treating him just incase. These links may be useful to take a look at :

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Differentials/paresis.htm

http://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-health/e-cuniculi/
 
Helen Heard said:
Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has advice about helping a Belgian Hare with spinal degeneration?

I thought Ginger Joe had had an accident back in January, about 3 months after I rescued him as a youngster, as he's rather accident-prone. His back legs didn't look right when he lolloped around after his friends. The Vet seemed a bit perplexed after examining him, and said give cage rest.

He didn't improve. He's had 2 cranio-sacral osteopathy sessions (very gentle, no manipulation) He's still getting worse - muscles & weight falling away, especially from his haunches. He was neutered last Friday (so he won't overtire himself chasing neutered friends) & X-rayed. Nothing shows on X-ray, other than spine curving from side to side, which vet says is due to muscle loss.

I contacted a former BH breeder. She said some strains of BH have a degenerative spinal condition, and the first symptom is them losing use of their back legs, as has happened with Joe.

The vet said to see what happens, anti-inflammatories may help, & I'll have to have Joe put to sleep if he ends up incontinent. I feel devastated. He is the most affectionate & gentle bunny I've ever had, all my other rescue bunnies seem to be besotted by him, as are all the children who visit my land and rescue animals. He has been going regularly on visits to a local mental health support unit and a homelessness project, and genuinely enjoys being cuddled and stroked.

A Google search showed a Belgian Hare getting rehab in USA, using an underwater treadmill and a little exercise cart. I've v little funds (unable to work due to a back injury...) but want to help him all I can. Does anyone have any experience of this/ know anyone who has/ have any advice? Thanks,Helen
Click to expand...


Hi Helen and welcome to the Forum :wave:

I'm sorry to hear about Ginger Joe.

Weight loss combined with the loss of use of hind legs could point to things other than spinal degeneration. There's some differential diagnoses here:

http://rabbit.org/hind-limb-weakness-in-the-rabbit/

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/paralysis.html

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/paresis.html

For treatment for E.Cuniculi:

Proper and effective treatment for E. cuniculi is controversial because in an illness where the definitive diagnosis is almost always made after death, properly evaluating therapeutic protocols for effectiveness and comparing them against other treatment protocols is almost impossible. Additionally, there are very few science-based data showing a clear correlation between treatment protocols and alleviation of signs. The majority of reports to date are anecdotal, based on clinical signs that could have changed with or without a drug in place. It is fairly well accepted that at this time there is no drug that will clear an animal completely of E. cuniculi once an infection is established, but treatment may stop progression and reduce clinical signs. Further complicating research into treatment, some rabbits may be able to recover spontaneously (without the benefit of treatment) from E. cuniculi infection. This makes it even more difficult to explain clinical improvement by the use of medication. Some cases improve because the rabbit’s immune system effectively cured it. Some of the medications that have had been used to treat infection with E. cuniculi include albendazole, fenbendazole and oxibendazole.
 
Thank you so much for your replies, Shimmer, Jack's-Jane, and Mighty Max. One of my other rescue bunnies, Victoria, was blind in one eye when I got her and the vet said it might be EC, so I treated all 6 of my bunnies with Panacur for the 9 days she mentioned. A month or 2 later on she gave me a page of info about EC and said Victoria should have had 28 days of treatment, which I gave her, though I was concerned about the side effect of reduced immune system given on the sheet of info.

I was looking at the page of EC info the other day, thinking some of the symptoms seemed to match Joe's, and that Joe had spent a lot of time snuggled up with Victoria. And I was thinking I'd flag it up to the vet. But then I spoke to the Belgian Hare breeder, who told me they're prone to spinal degeneration. I took him back to the vet yesterday for his neutering stitches check up, and got anti-inflamatories for him, which he started today. But I'm willing to try the Panacur for EC too, to give him every possible helpful treatment. Of course I'm also concerned about possibly compromising his immune system, especially now he's weaker, but I'd rather make sure a possible brain bug is zapped.

Regarding the cost of Panacur, a retired vet told me to get the syringes of paste from Mole Valley Farmers, as they charge £4-something as opposed to vets' price of about £20 per tube, so that's what I did. And the easy way of giving this and any other meds to my bunnies, I've found, is to mix the medicine into a spoonful of porridge oats, which they all think is a major treat and it saves wrestling a syringe into the mouth of a wriggly bunny!
 
Helen Heard said:
Thank you so much for your replies, Shimmer, Jack's-Jane, and Mighty Max. One of my other rescue bunnies, Victoria, was blind in one eye when I got her and the vet said it might be EC, so I treated all 6 of my bunnies with Panacur for the 9 days she mentioned. A month or 2 later on she gave me a page of info about EC and said Victoria should have had 28 days of treatment, which I gave her, though I was concerned about the side effect of reduced immune system given on the sheet of info.

I was looking at the page of EC info the other day, thinking some of the symptoms seemed to match Joe's, and that Joe had spent a lot of time snuggled up with Victoria. And I was thinking I'd flag it up to the vet. But then I spoke to the Belgian Hare breeder, who told me they're prone to spinal degeneration. I took him back to the vet yesterday for his neutering stitches check up, and got anti-inflamatories for him, which he started today. But I'm willing to try the Panacur for EC too, to give him every possible helpful treatment. Of course I'm also concerned about possibly compromising his immune system, especially now he's weaker, but I'd rather make sure a possible brain bug is zapped.

Regarding the cost of Panacur, a retired vet told me to get the syringes of paste from Mole Valley Farmers, as they charge £4-something as opposed to vets' price of about £20 per tube, so that's what I did. And the easy way of giving this and any other meds to my bunnies, I've found, is to mix the medicine into a spoonful of porridge oats, which they all think is a major treat and it saves wrestling a syringe into the mouth of a wriggly bunny!
Click to expand...


Hi Helen

It sounds like you're doing all the right things, and everything you can to help Joe :)

Many of us here get our Panacur online, but there can be issues buying it if stated it's for a rabbit. The only Panacur actually licensed for rabbits is the paste that you're getting (Fenbendazole).

The cheapest online I've found to be:

https://www.animeddirect.co.uk/panacur-small-animal-oral-suspension-100ml-10.html

It's the 10% Panacur, and you might be able to get a good deal on a bottle of the liquid from your vet? Or maybe a prescription so you can buy online yourself ..
 
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