OldBunnyMomma
New Kit
I have a 9 year old lop eared doe that has started to exhibit weakness in her back legs.
We had half noticed her back feet looking more clumsy a few months ago but didn't really think much of it as it wasn't causing her any issues. Then one evening she fell while playing in a cardboard tube and we didn't notice for around an hour. She hadn't been able to get back up and had urinated on herself. When we rescued her out of the tube, she seemed totally paralysed in one back leg and couldn't stand or walk, and was scrambling round in circles on her side. We took her for an emergency vet visit, but after 30 mins the car once we got to the vet she seemed totally fine, hopping around with no limp. The vet gave a painkiller injection and sent us home for metacam but thought it might just have been a bit of a dead leg if she'd been laid on it funny for an hour.
She was fine after that, although we noticed a few days later that all her belly and tail fur were wet from urine, so we bathed her and trimmed her fur. Her 'bad' foot also had a small bald spot (didn't look sore but no fur) so we bandaged her foot up and that spot is no longer visible.
She's been fine since then. She's generally a feisty bunny who doesn't like being picked up, but she has mellowed a bit during all of this and so now it's easier than it has been historically to check her over (but she is still giving a fight so it's not a huge personality change, she's just become more accustomed to being handled - I still get an almighty thump and feet flicks when we put her down!). We've now noticed that her ears have a bit of plaque in them (but her cage mates are totally fine), so she's been on ear drops for about a week for suspected ear mites (bought over the counter).
This morning, she was in her litter tray and again unable to stand. It wasn't as bad as last time, as she could stay stood and gingerly hop around once I stood her up, but once she fell she couldn't get back up. She's now eaten and had some water and is no longer falling and is hopping around fine and without any clumsiness.
I have no idea what's wrong, and the vet is struggling to suggest anything as by the time we get her to the vets she seems fine, and these are just episodes of weakness/paralysis in one leg that go away after 15-20 minutes.
We're going to try a course of Panacur and have got some different ear drops (but her ears are already much better after a few days of drops). We're not sure if it's ear mite related, e-cuni related (but no head tilt), arthritis related or something totally different. As she's quite old, I don't really want to put her through a barrage of tests unless necessary - and given she seems totally fine for weeks and then has a 20 minute episode, it feels manageable at the moment.
Does anyone have any other suggestions before we do another vet visit for x-rays, blood tests etc? The vet is sceptical that the tests will show anything given how on and off the symptoms are and so that is feeding into the fact we don't want to pay hundreds and still be no further along!
As a side note, she stopped being litter box trained about a year ago and will just urinate wherever she is (even if it's stood next to the litter box). No idea if this is related.
We had half noticed her back feet looking more clumsy a few months ago but didn't really think much of it as it wasn't causing her any issues. Then one evening she fell while playing in a cardboard tube and we didn't notice for around an hour. She hadn't been able to get back up and had urinated on herself. When we rescued her out of the tube, she seemed totally paralysed in one back leg and couldn't stand or walk, and was scrambling round in circles on her side. We took her for an emergency vet visit, but after 30 mins the car once we got to the vet she seemed totally fine, hopping around with no limp. The vet gave a painkiller injection and sent us home for metacam but thought it might just have been a bit of a dead leg if she'd been laid on it funny for an hour.
She was fine after that, although we noticed a few days later that all her belly and tail fur were wet from urine, so we bathed her and trimmed her fur. Her 'bad' foot also had a small bald spot (didn't look sore but no fur) so we bandaged her foot up and that spot is no longer visible.
She's been fine since then. She's generally a feisty bunny who doesn't like being picked up, but she has mellowed a bit during all of this and so now it's easier than it has been historically to check her over (but she is still giving a fight so it's not a huge personality change, she's just become more accustomed to being handled - I still get an almighty thump and feet flicks when we put her down!). We've now noticed that her ears have a bit of plaque in them (but her cage mates are totally fine), so she's been on ear drops for about a week for suspected ear mites (bought over the counter).
This morning, she was in her litter tray and again unable to stand. It wasn't as bad as last time, as she could stay stood and gingerly hop around once I stood her up, but once she fell she couldn't get back up. She's now eaten and had some water and is no longer falling and is hopping around fine and without any clumsiness.
I have no idea what's wrong, and the vet is struggling to suggest anything as by the time we get her to the vets she seems fine, and these are just episodes of weakness/paralysis in one leg that go away after 15-20 minutes.
We're going to try a course of Panacur and have got some different ear drops (but her ears are already much better after a few days of drops). We're not sure if it's ear mite related, e-cuni related (but no head tilt), arthritis related or something totally different. As she's quite old, I don't really want to put her through a barrage of tests unless necessary - and given she seems totally fine for weeks and then has a 20 minute episode, it feels manageable at the moment.
Does anyone have any other suggestions before we do another vet visit for x-rays, blood tests etc? The vet is sceptical that the tests will show anything given how on and off the symptoms are and so that is feeding into the fact we don't want to pay hundreds and still be no further along!
As a side note, she stopped being litter box trained about a year ago and will just urinate wherever she is (even if it's stood next to the litter box). No idea if this is related.
