~ILoveMyBunny~
Alpha Buck
Has anyone been through this - good or bad experience?
We've had an absolutely horrific week. Last thursday I found our dear little Mishka (8yrs old) with her back end collapsed and dragging her back legs around. I had seen her jump from the second tier of her pen a few hours before and land a little awkwardly. I remember thinking at the time her back end looked like it was sitting low but brushed it off as she seemed fine and was attacking food. About 4hrs later I found her as above.
I rushed her to the local overnight vet (okay with rabbits but not exotics specialists, we go there for minor things or emergencies) and they thought it might have been soft tissue and gave a metacam injection. They didn't want to x-ray 'due to sedation risk in rabbits'. Oddly she wasn't really displaying any pain.
I took her up the next day to our exotics specialist and she did an x-ray which showed something on one vertebrae in the thorax area, very possibly a fracture she said.
At the time Mishka was still able to get around by pulling herself on her front legs and either dragging the back or having a very low hop (intermittent between the two).
She was allowed home on cage rest and a lot of painkillers in the hope it might heal.
Unfortunately since then she appears to have become paralysed at the back. She can feel her paws, tail etc and recoils her paws a little when touched but can't seem to move. She's no longer trying to get around by pulling herself either, though can shuffle a little on her front paws with her back remaining in place.
She saw the vet again yesterday, I'm afraid I can't fully remember what she said as I had been up all night and in all honesty in tears because I thought this was it and there would be no options. But she said something about the paralysis being the brain/neurological?
She said we could stop there as she would require intense nursing but I wanted to give her a chance if there was any hope. She suggested we give her a couple of weeks and if there's no improvement we'd have to let her go. She's got additional meds inc steroids which we agreed to try.
We had a truly horrific night last night and I very nearly took her up the emergency vet again to let her go as she was in stasis and was not passing anything. As I was cleaning her up a little at the back I noticed a tiny dropping popped out and I very, very gently massaged (probably to strong a word, more a light touch than anything - basically the same motion as when I was cleaning her up) the area and very gently massaged her abdomen and gradually bit by bit some horrifically small, dehydrated, jagged and nasty looking droppings came out. After repeating several times she finally started producing better droppings and was able to go without help. We've had at a guess a good 150 reasonably normal droppings since and she's urinating again and looking more comfortable, but my goodness it was utterly terrifying. Her abdomen was starting to feel bloated and distended which was where I so nearly made the call to rush her up and let her go.
She's back to eating well again and looks better in herself, enjoying fuss etc.
But I'm left hoping that I'm doing the right thing by giving her a chance and that I'm not being cruel? The only real pain I've seen from her has been from the stasis (most likely the vet trip, she's terrified of travel), but she's currently entirely immobile and relying on me to keep her clean, feed cecotropes etc. All of which is fine if she can get through this but would be no way to live in the long term, which I imagine is why the vet said what she did and I agreed with that.
Am I doing the right thing for her? She still seems to have fight in her (and a little bit of sass back today as I syringed meds) but it's hard to know where the line is between fighting for them and giving them every chance and being cruel. It's a line I don't want to cross selfishly. But she still seems to have a will to live?
I just don't know.
Has anyone been through this? If it's not too upsetting, what was the outcome? Does she still have a chance?
I wondered if she can't regain function in her back legs but was able to move on her front legs still if a wheelchair could be a possiblility later as I've seen some rabbits with them who seem to have a good quality of life, but I don't know if her situation will suit it. I could see her adapting to one well with her determined personality, but I don't know if this sort of thing is possible.
She's being rechecked next Tuesday assuming nothing worse happens before.
The weirdest and most difficult part of this is that the only thing that could have caused it would have been the jump from her second tier in her pen (she was too enthusiastic and didn't bother with the step). Granted she landed a little awkwardly, but it's only a 14" drop. How on earth could this have happened from such a height? I feel so responsible, I put the second floor in about 2 months ago to give her more room and give her something more to do and she was absolutely loving it. If I hadn't this wouldn't have happened.
We've had an absolutely horrific week. Last thursday I found our dear little Mishka (8yrs old) with her back end collapsed and dragging her back legs around. I had seen her jump from the second tier of her pen a few hours before and land a little awkwardly. I remember thinking at the time her back end looked like it was sitting low but brushed it off as she seemed fine and was attacking food. About 4hrs later I found her as above.
I rushed her to the local overnight vet (okay with rabbits but not exotics specialists, we go there for minor things or emergencies) and they thought it might have been soft tissue and gave a metacam injection. They didn't want to x-ray 'due to sedation risk in rabbits'. Oddly she wasn't really displaying any pain.
I took her up the next day to our exotics specialist and she did an x-ray which showed something on one vertebrae in the thorax area, very possibly a fracture she said.
At the time Mishka was still able to get around by pulling herself on her front legs and either dragging the back or having a very low hop (intermittent between the two).
She was allowed home on cage rest and a lot of painkillers in the hope it might heal.
Unfortunately since then she appears to have become paralysed at the back. She can feel her paws, tail etc and recoils her paws a little when touched but can't seem to move. She's no longer trying to get around by pulling herself either, though can shuffle a little on her front paws with her back remaining in place.
She saw the vet again yesterday, I'm afraid I can't fully remember what she said as I had been up all night and in all honesty in tears because I thought this was it and there would be no options. But she said something about the paralysis being the brain/neurological?
She said we could stop there as she would require intense nursing but I wanted to give her a chance if there was any hope. She suggested we give her a couple of weeks and if there's no improvement we'd have to let her go. She's got additional meds inc steroids which we agreed to try.
We had a truly horrific night last night and I very nearly took her up the emergency vet again to let her go as she was in stasis and was not passing anything. As I was cleaning her up a little at the back I noticed a tiny dropping popped out and I very, very gently massaged (probably to strong a word, more a light touch than anything - basically the same motion as when I was cleaning her up) the area and very gently massaged her abdomen and gradually bit by bit some horrifically small, dehydrated, jagged and nasty looking droppings came out. After repeating several times she finally started producing better droppings and was able to go without help. We've had at a guess a good 150 reasonably normal droppings since and she's urinating again and looking more comfortable, but my goodness it was utterly terrifying. Her abdomen was starting to feel bloated and distended which was where I so nearly made the call to rush her up and let her go.
She's back to eating well again and looks better in herself, enjoying fuss etc.
But I'm left hoping that I'm doing the right thing by giving her a chance and that I'm not being cruel? The only real pain I've seen from her has been from the stasis (most likely the vet trip, she's terrified of travel), but she's currently entirely immobile and relying on me to keep her clean, feed cecotropes etc. All of which is fine if she can get through this but would be no way to live in the long term, which I imagine is why the vet said what she did and I agreed with that.
Am I doing the right thing for her? She still seems to have fight in her (and a little bit of sass back today as I syringed meds) but it's hard to know where the line is between fighting for them and giving them every chance and being cruel. It's a line I don't want to cross selfishly. But she still seems to have a will to live?
I just don't know.
Has anyone been through this? If it's not too upsetting, what was the outcome? Does she still have a chance?
I wondered if she can't regain function in her back legs but was able to move on her front legs still if a wheelchair could be a possiblility later as I've seen some rabbits with them who seem to have a good quality of life, but I don't know if her situation will suit it. I could see her adapting to one well with her determined personality, but I don't know if this sort of thing is possible.
She's being rechecked next Tuesday assuming nothing worse happens before.
The weirdest and most difficult part of this is that the only thing that could have caused it would have been the jump from her second tier in her pen (she was too enthusiastic and didn't bother with the step). Granted she landed a little awkwardly, but it's only a 14" drop. How on earth could this have happened from such a height? I feel so responsible, I put the second floor in about 2 months ago to give her more room and give her something more to do and she was absolutely loving it. If I hadn't this wouldn't have happened.
❤
