U/D PTS 💔 Advice for 'paralysed' rabbit

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

Hi everyone,

Long time, no see!! But I'm in need of some advice. One of my rabbits who is only 6 years old was diagnosed with arthritis of the hips a few months ago. This was after x-rays were taken when she started being a bit wobbly on her back legs. We were told she would need pain relief for life and to adjust her set up which I've done. Sadly, she's recently gone down hill. She now is really struggling to use her back legs at all, to the point where she's dragging them around. It's absolutely heartbreaking. After some research I decided to treat for EC just in case as the decline seemed very rapid to just be her arthritis. Sadly 3 weeks into the treatment I've not noticed any difference. She's currently on metacam and Calpol twice daily. I've booked her back in to see the vet to get some more advice but I'm at an absolute loss of what to do. Am I fair keeping her alive if she can't use her back legs? She seems bright in herself. Happy to see me and drags herself over for food and treats. I just don't know what to do for the best. I know rabbits are prey animals so I worry in case she's hiding pain... but at the same time she doesn't look to have given up yet. She still has that spark in her eyes.

I suppose she isn't paralysed as such because she can move her back legs and sits up at times, she just chooses not to most of the time.

I'm just heartbroken and need some advice. She's an outdoor bun living in a shed and aviary with three others. Moving inside the house is not an option unfortunately as I do not have the space.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Sounds like she now has some spinal cord compression which might be due to a collapsed vertebrae. More X-rays would be needed to ascertain what’s going on now

Also, with arthritis significant muscle wastage can occur. This can result in hind leg weakness/ inability to use them at all.

Physio, acupuncture and low level laser therapy can be very beneficial

Helping Hands Veterinary Physiotherapy | Rabbits

www.helpinghandsvetphysio.co.uk

Use of acupuncture to treat chronic pain in a giant rabbit

Carole Parsons recalls a successful case that was treated using this therapy.

www.vettimes.co.uk

Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT - Laser Therapy for Animals

Low Level Laser Therapy penetrates the skin, reaching the tissue it is meant to help by reducing pain and inflammation and speeding up wound healing.

www.lasertherapyanimals.co.uk

Having a Rabbit with hind leg weakness/paralysis usually involves a lot of hands on care every day plus a significant change to their accommodation. Most do better housed indoors. Hay as bedding isn’t suitable as it can get tangled around the hind legs. The Rabbit will need daily bum cleaning, ear cleaning and general grooming (disabled Rabbits are high risk re Flystrike). Some may need help emptying their bladder (bladder sludge can become an issue for Rabbits with mobility problems). Some Rabbits cope well with lots of handling every day. For others it is extremely stressful and it’d be a miserable existence. So QOL has to be judged on an individual case basis, it’s not only about whether the Rabbit is in pain.

With regards to analgesia, there are other medications that might be more effective in treating neuropathic pain, eg Gabapentin.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

Thank you. She doesn't particularly enjoy handling but has tolerated it at a lot more now as she enjoys her daily meds. I had to bath her bum the other day as she dragged herself through urine on the shed floor (some of the rabbits don't use the litter trays) but she can sit up and wash herself which is a good sign. I've since put megazorb over the shed lino to soak up any pee to avoid it being soaked up by poor Scarlett.

It sounds like this could be a long road and sadly expensive too. Her last x-rays were £500 and my greedy vet practice charge £37.50 just for a written prescription. They are very rabbit savvy though so I guess I have no other option than to use them.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thank you. She doesn't particularly enjoy handling but has tolerated it at a lot more now as she enjoys her daily meds. I had to bath her bum the other day as she dragged herself through urine on the shed floor (some of the rabbits don't use the litter trays) but she can sit up and wash herself which is a good sign. I've since put megazorb over the shed lino to soak up any pee to avoid it being soaked up by poor Scarlett.

It sounds like this could be a long road and sadly expensive too. Her last x-rays were £500 and my greedy vet practice charge £37.50 just for a written prescription. They are very rabbit savvy though so I guess I have no other option than to use them.

She is likely to need to be housed on flooring with far more traction than megasorb on Lino.If she needs a lot of bum baths then she really can’t be housed outdoors over winter. She’d be at high risk of hypothermia,.

As the condition is progressive the amount of daily nursing care needed will increase. It can become a full time job. So that’s another thing to factor into the QOL decision. Not everyone can put life on hold to devote the amount of time needed to provide the care needed to insure a very disabled Rabbit is not suffering. Also, we have to consider the fact that for a Rabbit QOL has to be about more than just ‘are they eating and pooping’. For me the Rabbit needs to retain some ability to carry out normal Rabbit behaviours. They need to actively show that they have an interest in their surroundings, to interact with their companions. And that any companions do not start to bully the disabled Rabbit. We can’t anthropomorphise and assume that the disabled Rabbits lifelong friend(s) will ‘look after them’. They can act in the opposite way entirely. IME this usually occurs if the disabled Rabbit is part of a larger group rather than just being one of a bonded pair. A disabled Rabbit can also disrupt the dynamics of a group, leading to fighting between group members. This will depend on what position in the hierarchy the disabled Rabbit held when able bodied. So vigilance is needed for this scenario too.

If the Rabbit isn’t insured then it certainly can be extremely costly to provide all the ongoing Vet care, the complimentary therapies previously mentioned are seldom cheap. Few people have a bottomless pit of money and it is a harsh reality that affordability has to be taken into account. There are some Vets who will go out of their way to try to make it possible to provide the disabled Rabbit with sufficient treatment to enable him/her to remain as comfortable as possible within the financial constraints of the human client.

After 26 years of caring for 152 Rabbits one of the many things the Rabbits have taught me is that a peaceful passing is better than being pushed on in a life that can only really be an existence. And also no two Rabbits are the same with regards to how much they can cope with. Inspector Morse was amazing, towards the end he needed so much handling 24/7. The only thing that he couldn’t cope with was car travel. We were very fortunate to have a Vet who always came to see him at home. And on the four occasions he needed admission for diagnostic scans and/or surgery he was provided with sedation and oxygen in transit if needed.

None of my three remaining Rabbits would cope with needing intensive nursing care for life if they were to become disabled. I would let them go rather than force them on having to endure endless stressful handling every day.

The only people in a position to judge how much a disabled/chronically unwell Rabbit can cope with is their main care-giver and hopefully the trusted Vet.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

She is likely to need to be housed on flooring with far more traction than megasorb on Lino.If she needs a lot of bum baths then she really can’t be housed outdoors over winter. She’d be at high risk of hypothermia,.

As the condition is progressive the amount of daily nursing care needed will increase. It can become a full time job. So that’s another thing to factor into the QOL decision. Not everyone can put life on hold to devote the amount of time needed to provide the care needed to insure a very disabled Rabbit is not suffering. Also, we have to consider the fact that for a Rabbit QOL has to be about more than just ‘are they eating and pooping’. For me the Rabbit needs to retain some ability to carry out normal Rabbit behaviours. They need to actively show that they have an interest in their surroundings, to interact with their companions. And that any companions do not start to bully the disabled Rabbit. We can’t anthropomorphise and assume that the disabled Rabbits lifelong friend(s) will ‘look after them’. They can act in the opposite way entirely. IME this usually occurs if the disabled Rabbit is part of a larger group rather than just being one of a bonded pair. A disabled Rabbit can also disrupt the dynamics of a group, leading to fighting between group members. This will depend on what position in the hierarchy the disabled Rabbit held when able bodied. So vigilance is needed for this scenario too.

If the Rabbit isn’t insured then it certainly can be extremely costly to provide all the ongoing Vet care, the complimentary therapies previously mentioned are seldom cheap. Few people have a bottomless pit of money and it is a harsh reality that affordability has to be taken into account. There are some Vets who will go out of their way to try to make it possible to provide the disabled Rabbit with sufficient treatment to enable him/her to remain as comfortable as possible within the financial constraints of the human client.

After 26 years of caring for 152 Rabbits one of the many things the Rabbits have taught me is that a peaceful passing is better than being pushed on in a life that can only really be an existence. And also no two Rabbits are the same with regards to how much they can cope with. Inspector Morse was amazing, towards the end he needed so much handling 24/7. The only thing that he couldn’t cope with was car travel. We were very fortunate to have a Vet who always came to see him at home. And on the four occasions he needed admission for diagnostic scans and/or surgery he was provided with sedation and oxygen in transit if needed.

None of my three remaining Rabbits would cope with needing intensive nursing care for life if they were to become disabled. I would let them go rather than force them on having to endure endless stressful handling every day.

The only people in a position to judge how much a disabled/chronically unwell Rabbit can cope with is their main care-giver and hopefully the trusted Vet.

Thank you Jane. It's an awful lot to consider. I sadly am not in a position to do all those things long term. At the moment, she is still lively and interested in her surroundings and friends. She's not just sitting looking depressed if you know what I mean. The other day she escaped out the aviary door with her buddies to eat all the leaves on the path when I was there sweeping up.

I think it will be a case of monitoring the situation daily. I'll look into alternative flooring for now. What would you advise? I've read vet bed is good? Although I do worry the rabbits will just pee on it.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Thank you Jane. It's an awful lot to consider. I sadly am not in a position to do all those things long term. At the moment, she is still lively and interested in her surroundings and friends. She's not just sitting looking depressed if you know what I mean. The other day she escaped out the aviary door with her buddies to eat all the leaves on the path when I was there sweeping up.

I think it will be a case of monitoring the situation daily. I'll look into alternative flooring for now. What would you advise? I've read vet bed is good? Although I do worry the rabbits will just pee on it.

Heavy duty stable matting would provide good traction and is easy to wash down if you’ll be keeping her outdoors. Vetbed or any other fabric bedding is only suitable if the care giver can regularly supervise the Rabbits kept on it to be sure none are chewing/eating it. And once one Rabbit wees on it they all will. So it’d create an awful lot of daily laundry as it’d need changing a few times a day.

If she is still relatively mobile atm then I would work on trying to minimise the rate of loss of muscle mass/tone. A good physio regime would be very beneficial. But again it’s something that would need to be done a few times a day every day.

 

[Bunny Buddy]

I can't really add anything to the advice that Jane has offered. The £500 for x-rays had me gasping with shock. I know you will have a really good rabbit savvy vet but thought it was worth mentioning that Crab Lane Vets are still very rabbit savvy (Ruth being the rabbit vet) and as an independent practice their fees are much better than a lot of others. If it came to wanting extensive investigations, this might be a consideration for you. I lost Eloise to the same earlier this year and it was heart breaking trying to decide what was best for her, it's much harder when the bun is only half her age.

 

[Orenoko]

No advice from me but I wish you and Scarlet all the best x

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

I can't really add anything to the advice that Jane has offered. The £500 for x-rays had me gasping with shock. I know you will have a really good rabbit savvy vet but thought it was worth mentioning that Crab Lane Vets are still very rabbit savvy (Ruth being the rabbit vet) and as an independent practice their fees are much better than a lot of others. If it came to wanting extensive investigations, this might be a consideration for you. I lost Eloise to the same earlier this year and it was heart breaking trying to decide what was best for her, it's much harder when the bun is only half her age.

Thank you. I may well go there instead. I wasn't sure after Frances left whether they'd be as good. I did use the amazing Trudi at Abbey House but she has recently retired so now using Holly House Exotics in Leeds.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss too.

 

[bunny momma]

Sending lots of vibes for Scarlet. I agree with doing therapy to keep her joints flexible and to slow muscle wastage. It sounds like she is doing well at the moment so keeping her comfortable and clean is the main goal.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

Thank you.

I'm quite fortunate in that I have two rabbit set ups. I moved out of my family home but only across the road! So over here I have my oldies, Primrose and Bertie. My quad stayed at my parents so that they could keep their set up.

On reflection today I'm thinking of swapping the rabbits around. The set up I have over here is much flatter and easier for a disabled bun to navigate around. The outdoor area also stays completely dry unlike the quads set up (despite having a roof!) My oldie Primrose does also have arthritis and in March this year she was in a bad way. However, she's completely turned around and is doing amazing and is much more mobile than Scarlett. I'm sure Primrose could cope with the tiny hop down into the aviary whereas Scarlett struggles with that.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

This is the set up my oldies are in but I'm thinking of moving the quad into here as will be better for Scarlett. I also now use litter trays that are low at one side.

 

[InspectorMorse]

I think the Lino will be a problem for Scarlett. Something like this would be better

Horse Stable EVA Rubber Floor Mats- 24mm - 6ft x 4ft -Green - 4 Pack

Our 24mm thick Horse Stable Floor Mats are expertly designed to provide an exceptional level of comfort and protection for horses in stables. Crafted from high-density EVA foam, these mats offer a cushioned and supportive surface that significantly reduces the strain on your horse's joints and...

www.diy.com

Sore hocks are a common secondary problem for arthritic Rabbits, especially larger breeds. Are her hocks OK at the moment?

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

I think the Lino will be a problem for Scarlett. Something like this would be better

Horse Stable EVA Rubber Floor Mats- 24mm - 6ft x 4ft -Green - 4 Pack

Our 24mm thick Horse Stable Floor Mats are expertly designed to provide an exceptional level of comfort and protection for horses in stables. Crafted from high-density EVA foam, these mats offer a cushioned and supportive surface that significantly reduces the strain on your horse's joints and...

www.diy.com

Sore hocks are a common secondary problem for arthritic Rabbits, especially larger breeds. Are her hocks OK at the moment?

Thanks I'll look at getting some of that ordered. Would chewing not be a risk with this flooring?

At the moment her hocks are okay but I'll check on a daily basis as I'm checking her bum anyway. This morning she was lovely,.clean and dry. She was eager to greet me with her buddies so I'm feeling a bit better than how I did last night about the situation. Her zest for life is still there at the moment.

 

[InspectorMorse]

As long as the edges of the flooring is protected with non chewable fixators chewing shouldn’t be a problem. At least I have never known it to be, but with Rabbits there are never any guarantees !
Glad to hear that she’s coping OK at the moment, hope she will continue to do so for as long as possible. She might struggle more when the much colder weather arrives. I would seriously consider indoor living when she becomes less mobile. But not sure how possible that is for you.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

As long as the edges of the flooring is protected with non chewable fixators chewing shouldn’t be a problem. At least I have never known it to be, but with Rabbits there are never any guarantees !
Glad to hear that she’s coping OK at the moment, hope she will continue to do so for as long as possible. She might struggle more when the much colder weather arrives. I would seriously consider indoor living when she becomes less mobile. But not sure how possible that is for you.

It's just not possible as I don't have a spare room big enough for all 4 rabbits and I also have three cats.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

Scarlett with her buddies this afternoon. She's the one on the far left. Sitting up today, so proud of her.

 

[InspectorMorse]

I’d looking at using very short cut straw as a substrate rather than hay. Hay can get tangled around the hind legs of a Rabbit with hind leg paresis. Straw is also a better insulator and warmer for the winter months if she’s going to have to remain outdoors.You could use hay racks for the feeding hay

 

[Shimmer]

If you are still local to West Yorks, Burnhills at Cleckheaton do various bales of bedding, including a short cut straw. There is a display board near the till with samples of all their substrates so you can see what you are getting - I was checking the out last week as my usual had been of of stock for a while.

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

If you are still local to West Yorks, Burnhills at Cleckheaton do various bales of bedding, including a short cut straw. There is a display board near the till with samples of all their substrates so you can see what you are getting - I was checking the out last week as my usual had been of of stock for a while.

Ah yes I am, I used to get my hay bales from there until I found a local farmer with bigger greener bales for half the price!

I'll definitely take a trip there for straw. Thank you.