Amputee - update

Hi. First time poster. Im a bit worried i may have made the wrong decision today. BAsically, my rabbit was attacked by a cat last week and today i noticed she was having trouble getting around so i had a close inspection and her left hind leg was extremely swollen and there was something pretruding the skin, i thought it could have bee glass or a bone.

I took her along to the vets and he had a bit of an inspection and shaved her leg. Then he started pulling and jerking the pretrusion, he couldnt tell what i was and told me she would need an x ray and an anasthetic at £100 so i said go for it. He rang me about an hour later and told me that her leg was fractured and i had 3 options:

1. He could try and mend it and see if time would heal it as she had time on her side
2. Amputation although he couldnt reccomend it as rabbits depend on their hind legs to move around.
3. Euthanasia

I opted for choice one and he told me he would ring me back. About an hour later he told me that Lucky was under anasthetic and that there was no chance of saving the leg as it had began to rot at the joint. HE said i was now down to the last 2 options. Noone was around at the time and he said i needed to be quick with my decision as she was already under anasthetic.

I decided to get it amputated and asked the vet if there was any chance of her recovering and living a happy life. He told me 50/50. I told him to go for it anyway and my hope is that she will learn to adapt to the amputation but if she is having trouble after a few weeks i will get her PTS although this isnt what i want. The amputation was an extra £100.

I have since heard from the vet and he told me that Lucky has recovered from the anasthetic and depending how she is tomorrow i can have her back. I have since bought an indoor hutch and im gonna keep her ioors for a while to let her recover.

Im still unsure if i have made the right choice weather or not it was selfish on my part to keep her alive. Like i say if she cant manage and her quality of life doesnt seem too good i will make a return visit to the vet. It broke my heart today when i had to make the decision but i couldnt do it. I have read of peoples rabbits who have had an amputation of a front leg but not of a back one, Is there anyone?[/code]

I have no experience of this whatsoever, but just wanted to say that it must have been soooo hard to make such a decision under such pressure :shock: I guess you reacted instinctively, so hopefully she will be fine, but it's not your fault if she can't handle it

Fingers crossed

Hello and welcome to RU.
So sorry to hear about your poor Bun
Hind limb amputations can be successful.
It is ESSENTIAL that bun is bedded on Vetbed/towels. Hay/straw/wood shavings can easily get into the wound.
Bun will need lots of nursing care. Hopefully your Vet will prescribe antibiotics and pain relief.
Until bun has become accustomed to the loss of her leg she will need help keeping herself clean. She may find eating her soft poops difficult so it is important to ensure they dont get onto the wound.
Adopting the correct position to urinate may be difficult for her at first so making sure she does not get Urine Scald will also be necessary (cleaning urine from fur/skin. Ensuring fur/skin remains as dry as possible. Using a barrier such as Vaseline on any bare skin on her inner thigh/ abdomen to protect it from wee)
With lots of nursing care, the correct pain relief and antibiotics there is a good chance your Bun will learn to cope.
Please keep us posted.
BTW, you were not being selfish requesting the Vet go ahead with an amputation. If your Vet thought it an unrealistic option he/she would not have suggested it
Janex

You made absolutely the right choice

Once she's healed up she'll be racing around so fast you wouldn't even know one was missing

There are plenty of rabbits that have had legs amputated, and they adapt quite easily. Of course it depends on the indivudual rabbit and how much you are planning on working with her to get her better. Good luck and please update us!!

xxx

(psst Tamsin, it's a back leg that's been amputated :wink: )

I have no experience of this but agree with Jane - if there wasn't a realistic chance of your bun regaining a good quality of life, your vet wouldn't have suggested it as an option. Hope your little one recovers well!

Tamsin said:

You made absolutely the right choice Rabbits carry most of their weight on the back legs so she should do really well with one front leg.

Once she's healed up she'll be racing around so fast you wouldn't even know one was missing

Click to expand...

Errrrm, it was a hind leg amputation.......

Janex

Whoops, oh well. They do just as well on those and I even know a few examples in that case :lol:

I meet a lovely lionhead chap the other day, he raced across the floor. My sister was with me and didn't even realise he was on three legs (missing back leg) til I told her afterwards

Jay's Thomas had three legs (back leg amputated): http://ebonyeyes.co.uk/aspbite/gall..../aspbite/categories/index.asp*Q*intCatID=360

Tam

thanks for the comments and spport guys and girls. Its the only rabbit i have evr kept and she was given to us from a friend who was going to abandon it so we just took it in, i have rats and a dog but never kept rabbits before so was a bit unsure. I hope it is a success but my instinct tells me that if it doesnt go to plan i will let her go but only if her quality of life is severely incurred.

Im going to build a run for her too instead of letting her free range the back garden to prevent any pesky cats getting at her again and hopefully i will keep her with me for a couple of weeks, she isnt the tamest of rabbits either so that should be fun. Thanks for the avice on the bedding etc. I will have to change it tomorrow as i have already made the new cage up with sawdust and hay whoops, where do you get this vetbed stuff? I will pester the vet to give me as much information as i can on it and hopefully i can do my best, i will giver her some rest tomorrow if/when she comes home but will get some pics up when i can and be sure to keep you updated...

i didnt even know it was a girl untill the vet told me, and i read that they eat their own poo?? Maybe when i post some pics you can all tell me her breed etc. I dont know if anyone knows it but in Newcastle theres a place called pets corner and my uncle got a rabbit from there the other dayor my nephews and it was massive... i will get pics and again thanks for the supor/advice

I agree with what others have said - what a nightmare to have to make that choice. Keep us posted.

You can get Vetbed online from Ebay or Bunny Bazaar. I've never seen it in shops, but others might have better ideas.

i have just had a call to say that Lucky is fine and i am to go and pick her up and have a chat with the vet at 10:40....

That's good news. I hope she makes a swift recovery!

Hiya, think I know you from MSC. :wave: Good luck with your bunny.

hey yeah! I got her back earlier on,the vet gave me copious amounts of supplied (and added them all to the ever growing bill), showed me her x ray and then i seen her, its horrible at the moment, told the vet about this place and he was thrilled at your suggestions.

Says to wash it twice a day in warm water, cover it in vaseline, gave me some pain relief for her, some food like stuff and some antibiotics to put in her water. I will just keep an eye on her for the day and leave her in her cage till she gets used to it, shes not overly mobile at the moment like but she can get from one side of her cage to the other if needs be


cheers for the advice and help

Heres a quick snap of her recovering...

well she has been home a few hours now and although there isnt too much movement she is moving from one side of the cage to the other to get her food and such like, she hasnt bothered with the stinky stuff the vet gave me but mainly just a bit of lettuce. I dont think she has bothered with her water yet either, since she didnt bother with that stinky stuff i had to give her her pain relief orally, that wasnt nice but she is just lying there chilling now so let her be - again thanks for all the comment etc, my vet was ever so thrilled to learn of this place

Aww, she's a pretty lady If possible put the anti-biotics in food or straight into her mouth, it's hard to get the correct dose in water as it depends how much she drinks

ok thanks for that, like i said i opted for putting the ain relief straight into hermouth as appose to the food as its just stupid but it is a bit tricky doing it orally like but i managed, the vet told me to put 0.8ml of antiobiotics in 100ml of water and like i said im not sure if she has touched it or not so i will do that maybe later on, im gona let her have a bit of na and peace and leave my room for a bit so she can cacth up on her beatuy sleep

Hiya! Glad to hear that the little darling seems to be on the mend! You can buy vetbed online from places like www.vetbed.co.uk you can also buy it from some pet shops or garden centres that have a pet section (e.g. pets at home, wyevales). Argos extra also sell a version - it's not the trademark vetbed but it seems to be fairly good. The particularly good thing about it, and I have absolutely no idea how it works, is that it draws moisture down through it, so when they wee on it, the vetbed stays dry and the urine soaks through. I'd have thought this would be particularly useful for your little one at the moment so would definitely suggest trying to get hold of some if you can!

Good luck, please do keep us posted as to how she is doing

Update

Hi all and thanks for all your help and support it really has been appreciated. Im glad to say that i think Lucky is coming on leaps and bounds (no pun intended). When she first came home she was a bit wary and lethargic but as the day has progressed, she seems to be coming out ofher shell a bit more and im noticing her character a lot more as she wasnt that tame but seems to be getting use to me.

I had her in the dining room for a little bit before and she is moving about all be it with a wobble and a slant but she is mobile which is the main thing, i have had to force feed her some of the **** the vet gave me though and she is eating the lettue as she pleases, i was a bit worried as she wasnt drinking from her bottle but i am pleased to report she has had a few licks of it and i have also syringed her some just to be on the safe side, she is doing quite pleasantly and i must say better than expected. The wound looks disqusting but im sure once the fur grows back she will be fine...again thanks for allthe supprt