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Jack has lost the use of his back legs - advice?

animus

Mama Doe
One of my sisters buns, Jack, a lionhead has lost the use of his back legs. Last week he started getting wobbly but this morning she found him in his bedroom with a wet bottom so he'd been there for a while. He tries to pull himself along but the weight of his legs are too much for him. The vet said it's old age but he's only 5 but has given him some anti-biotics incase it an infection.
She has moved him indoors so he can be warm and comfortable.

Does anyone have any ideas? Will he get better?
 
Sounds like it might be EC. Has the vet said to give him a course of Panacur?

Also, whatever the cause, I'd say anti-inflammatory/pain relief is a good idea.
 
Has a spinal injury/disc prolapse been ruled out ? Did the Vet assess his neurological responses ?
Has he had any anti-inflammatories-probably a one off steroid shot in the first instance. A NSAID for more longterm use.
Covering for possible EC would be a good idea, so a course of Fenbendazole (Panacur/Lapizole)

If he has lost bladder control he may need it expressing manually, has the Vet addressed this issue ?
 
This happened to my bun too, I took her to the vet with her wobbly self and he told me it could be either e. cuninculi (a parasite) or a prolapsed disk in her back. He put her on anti-inflammatories for the disk, and antibiotics and panacur for the e. cuninculi. One of them did the trick and she cleared up after a while.
I'm afraid it sounds as if you vet isn't very rabbit-savvy, lots of vets are more cat and dog oriented. Ask if there's a vet with a special interest in rabbits or you could take along information found here and mention it carefully, without sounding like you're trying to upstage the vet.
No-one here can guarantee he will get better, he could really do with seeing a specialist rabbit vet, plus some of the medication I've mentioned is prescription only.
In the meantime you can do what you can to make him comfortable, bringing him inside is a great start. Make sure he isn't sitting in his own pee and keep that area as clean as possible, I bathed my rabbit and used a tea tree cream (babies sudocrem does the job) to stop acid burn from hurting her legs. Nappies also work well if you can get them to stay on, Vinnie became a master at pulling them off unnfortunately! I also used incontinence pads for puppies on the floor of her cage so at least she wasn't sitting in her own mess.
Sorry for the essay but I've had a few bunnies with similar problems and it took a while to find a decent vet. Hope some of this helps.
 
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