Rabbit won't weight bear in front right paw

[Danni_is_living]

Hi everyone, new and haven't used a pet forum in years. Sorry it's a long one for my first post, I'm just seeking some advice/help?

Basically I noticed late Monday night my 11 year old (estimated age, she was found on the streets in 2014) female rabbit was being quiet distant/and that she wasn't putting weight on her front right paw. There's nothing I can think of that she could of hurt herself on as I hadn't changed anything in the room, she did have a deep sided litter tray, maybe jumped in it and landed funny? she's old, arthritis? Anyway:

I took her to the vets at half 11 yesterday morning (not a rabbit/exotic vet as I just wanted her seen to quickly incase she was in pain and I had to get out of work for it which wasn't easy). Vet said he couldn't feel any obvious break/fracture and when he gently moved the paw/shoulder she wasn't reacting - wasn't reacting in pain or really at all.

The vet did bring up xrays (which I'm willing to do if it's needed, I'm just worried bc of her age and the anesthesia)

She's still alert and eating, drinking, weeing and pooing fine, she had a pain relief injection at the vets and been prescribed rheumocam 0.7ml once every 24 hours for the next 6 days, she was weighed at the vets and weighs 2.1kg, I'm just wondering if this is an adequate/effective dosage? It's been a long time since I've had to give medicine to a poorly pet so just after some reassurance/guidance?

And if anyone has any tips - I've already caged her in a small area to limit movement abit (she did have a bedroom to herself) and everything is accessible to her, low base litter tray, memory foam bath mats for comfort, washable pee pads just incase, cosy rugs, hiding place, water bowl next to tray. Thank you so much if anyone can help/advise.

 

[Orenoko]

I've not heard of rheumocam but it could be arthritic, I'd say if there's no improvement after a period of time on meds you could ask for an x ray with as minimal sedation as possible if they can. Hope she feels better soon!

 

[Cuthbert&Dillon]

How is she doing now? hope the medication has helped

 

[Danni_is_living]

Well, I took her to a different, slightly more knowledgeable vets yesterday for another consultation. The vet there is concerned her paw may be dislocated or fractured due to the way it can be moved sideways, unfortunately, probably due to it being a Saturday, it was only the one vet and one vet nurse at the clinic and the vet expressed concerns about doing an xray without a full team to help/monitor her, and also about her age. She also had a full diary/busy day so in the end and I wasn't quite comfortable with the xray being done there. I did ask the vet about the pain med dosage and whether it was the right amount/okay to only give once a day and she had said we can up the pain meds to 0.8ml and do it once in the morning and once in the evening, she prescribed a new bottle of pain meds. And she reccomended a more exotic-rabbit savvy vets abit further away that I could look into for an xray who would hopefully be able to use a reversible sedation/anaesthetic in case of complications.

So I rang that vets on the way home, tried to get her an appointment for an xray booked ASAP, unfortunately they can't do it on Monday due to short staff (receptionist said they only had the one vet in on Monday) and Tuesday they're too full/busy so her appointment is Wednesday morning at 9am. So anxiously stressfully waiting for that.

Little Scruffs (Rabbit) is okay though, she's still active (as in playing/chewing things, moving to/from the tray and water bowl and to me for strokes) and alert, shes still enthusiastic about her food, hay and any treats. Drinking enough, weeing and pooing fine.
She hates taking her meds tho, or more, she hates having the syringe put anywhere in/near her mouth, once she tastes it she's fine. It's abit of a battle to get her to take the meds

 

[Mia]

Hi, I just wondered how your bunny is doing? Mine is 12 and he has very similar issues, front right paw too.

Did you go to the exotic vet in the end? I'm even considering a set of front enabled wheelchair so he can have some mobility back.

 

[Danni_is_living]

Hi, I just wondered how your bunny is doing? Mine is 12 and he has very similar issues, front right paw too.

Did you go to the exotic vet in the end? I'm even considering a set of front enabled wheelchair so he can have some mobility back.

Hi I'm sorry to hear your bunny is having issues. Have you been to a vets about it?

Yeah I did, I took her to a more rabbit savvy vets where they did an xray and found that her paw was fractured, that vets said we could either put her to sleep bc she was in pain with the leg, amputate the leg (which they didn't think she'd cope with bc of age) or they could contact another rabbit savvy vets with a bone specialist to see about correcting the fracture - which would've meant a big surgery, pins etc and no garuntee of success. I had them contact that vets for the correction of the fracture eitherway because I felt my bunny wasn't at the point where she needed to be put to sleep.

The other more specialist vets looked at her xray and basically they said bc of the way her muscles had formed/healed around the fracture they couldn't operate to fix the leg but said she would be fine bc the muscles would support the fractured bone. She was sent home with pain meds and was potentially gonna be on them for life. However at her next vet appointment which took place around 3 weeks after the initial xray one the vet spoke about slowly weaning her off the meds and so that's what we did..

She's as happy as ever, runs circles around me when it's feeding time in the morning, she uses the leg now too. Obviously things are still adjusted I.e no high sides on trays or boxes, she doesn't jump on things but she's doing really really well.

 

[bunny momma]

Dani, that is wonderful news.

Mia, My older bunny was favoring her leg and her joint was inflamed. Vet did X-ray and diagnosed bone cancer and a fracture. We did palliative care as long as her pain was controlled and she enjoyed life.