That’s not a euphemism 🙂

Our rabbit suddenly developed a paralysed front leg a few days ago – took him to the vet who checked for breaks and dislocations and couldn’t find anything, and we now have him on a course of Metacalm. Vet doesn’t know if it’s neurological or anything else. He doesn’t seem particularly distressed – still got an appetite – but can’t move much.

I’ve looked around but not sure what information is accurate – does anyone have any experience of this? We are kind-of of the feeling that if he’s not going to get any better and if his quality of life isn’t going to be brilliant, better to say goodbye to him now rather than watch him suffer. Tough decision, though, especially as our 2-year-old likes him too.

your two year old would like a paralysed rabbit? no, thats horrible, kill it.

Make him a wheel attachment?

If its nervous system it could get worse, in which case it’s an obvious choice, however I wouldn’t get rid of ours if that’s all it was.

Indoor or outdoor rabbit? ours is inside now he’s an old bugger and gets a lot more attention because of it. I think it’s made him a hell of a lot more active and happier.

As you say he is not distressed by it.Give it some time,nerves can regrow but is a slow process,might manage long term on 3 legs as long as not getting sores on the paralyser one.

Remember him always for providing you with a tasty stew. It’s what he’d want.

Who said rabbit’s feet were lucky?

He’s an indoor rabbit, about 7 years old. He’s fine sitting still, but gets a bit upset if he falls over and can’t get up again.

but gets a bit upset if he falls over and can’t get up again.

Happens to all of us sometimes.

It’s a tough one.

Got to be worth giving it a week and seeing if there’s some improvement.

Maybe ring the PDSA/RSPCA for advice?
Worth trying one of the pet forums?
Someone must have been through this before.

Thanks, yes, this all happened last Thursday, so going to see what he’s like at the end of this week. It seems to be one of those things that could be neurological, muscular, skeletal or viral…

I did hear once that nerves regrow/repair at about 1mm a day in humans, I don’t know if little furry friends will be the same but it means it could be a month or more to start seeing results.

IF this is what the problem is?

Edited for conscience..

Going to do some more research if I can find the rabbit equivalent of STW – most rabbit forums I’ve found so far are far too twee and cutesy for my liking.

And, unfortunately, that is another issue – if it does get expensive we don’t have bottomless pockets.

Oh, if that’s how this thread is going:

😉

We have discussed/argued in the past about how much we would spend to get our rabbit fixed if he malfunctioned. I’m a big softy so was shocked when Mrs S said she would ‘write it off’ if the vet bill came to more than £75! Seemed harsh to me.

Metacam is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDS), ideal for muscle ‘strain’ type things. If this is a neurological type problem then it’s unlikely to help. However, NSAIDS and steroids – which would possibly help a neurological type thing DON’T go together.
My first query would be: when has the vet asked you to go back? I would expect a small improvement by now if the Metacam was going to help. If there has been no improvement at all since seeing the vet, I would be tempted to go back asap and see what the vet says.
Also, sounds like the wee one is getting a bit distressed with this problem – being a ‘prey’ animal they can cope with an awful lot. If you are seeing a small amount of stress, it’s more than likely a lot more stressful than you actually think.
Hope this helps a little, all the best. Can’t be easy for you and your family.

Try
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bunnyloversunite/
Used to be good for advice.

Just remember it’s a rabbit and at 7 years it’s halfway through it’s life for one of the more stable breeds. Ours won’t get replaced either once they’ve gone. Short lived pets only.

And if we are doing pictures.

Throw the roll by tomlevell, on Flickr

Pepper Portrait by tomlevell, on Flickr

Utility cupboard by tomlevell, on Flickr

The vet said 5-7 days – yes, wasn’t expecting Metacalm to do anything for a neurological problem. The vet said if it was neurological then there wasn’t really anything to do – it wouldn’t get better.

Yes, I’ve seen him poorly before, and I don’t think he’s really distressed – he’s a pretty calm rabbit, seems okay just staying in one place in his cage, there have just been a few times when he’s fallen over and not been able to get up so there’s been some kicking.

Similar happened to our young cat many years ago. She came in with a bump on the side of her head and was dragging her front leg which we assumed she’d broken. Vet found no breaks and diagnosed paralysis, advising amputation if it became a problem to her. After a month or two we noticed her lifting the injured paw when watching flies on the window sill and gradually over a period of time full movement returned. She lived to the ripe old age of 18.

Our rabbit suddenly developed a paralysed front leg a few days ago

That rabbit that doesnt run on Duracell on the tv adverts suffers the same thing, just replace with Duracell and jobs a good un.

Thanks mamadirt, that’s encouraging – will see what he’s like tomorrow and talk to the vet again. Also making his cage less slippy might help. I can’t see any reason he couldn’t adapt to one front leg in theory, I suppose it depends on whether he can get his head around not trying to lean on it.

This is the STW equivalent for rabbits http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/

Actually it is more like mumsnet

On a slightly different tack we had a paralysed Guinea Pig.

My sister thought our big buck rabbit was lonely and insisted we got a guinea pig to keep it company.

Given the rabbit spent its day trying to shag anything it could get its paws on including its food bowl and once the neighbours cat it was never going to end well.

We got used to the guinea pigs squeals and my dad said it would do no harm as they were both male but one day the guinea failed to move following a session and it turned out it had had a stroke.

Rabbits are ace. Here’s our two enjoying their Christmas dinner 😀

Hope your rabbit gets well soon op.

Be more decisive when giving him cheese and bread based treats. Mixing his toasties is v dangerous for for rabbits.

Ban him now

That’s one way to stuff the meat before cooking it, I suppose 😉

on a tangent… if you have a house rabbit, can you toilet train it?

can’t be doing with the responsibility of a dog, nor do i want a cat scratching the f*** out of my furniture.

what are rabbits like as house pets?

Yep, easy to toilet train (ours got the hang of it in about a week).

But they will chew every single exposed cable in your house (turntable, ‘phone and TV lead in my case) and try to strip all your wallpaper from the walls. 😀
It can get expensive.

I was upset when ours died – it used to follow me round like a puppy and sit on my lap/head/shoulders whilst I was reading or watching TV.
I might have another at some point, but IME cats actually cause less damage and are a bit friendlier.

Nothing funnier than a rabbit getting stuck into a bag of spinach though.
Worth trying, they can be very rewarding.
Wouldn’t keep one outside though – imagine how lonely they’d be?

The only big downer is that I’m no longer comfortable shooting rabbits. I just can’t bring myself to do it anymore.

Alpin, not all cats scratch furniture – ours don’t.

Spinach? You haven’t lived until you’ve tried feeding a rabbit a long bit of dandelion on a shiny floor 🙂

Anyhow, his back leg was acting a bit oddly earlier too – not sure if it was just that he’d been lying on it funny or what. We’ll see tomorrow.

Can’t believe this hasn’t been posted yet.

How’s he doing?

Was quite a bit worse this morning, paralysis had spread to a back leg and he’d spent all night on his side in his own wee. So sadly decided that the game was up and took him to the vet…

Sorry to hear that, but I’m sure you know you have done the right thing.

Our 2 year old girl loves rabbits and maybe in a few years time, will see about getting her a real one.

What a shame I saw this so late.

Did the rabbit have routine worming [4 times a year]? Sounds like it might have been infected with E.Cuniculi

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/ecuniculi.htm

[NB this is slightly out of date – Panacur is now licenced and widely available £6 a tube, every 3 month: a dose daily for 9 days]

Or, maybe it was just old or had a spinal injury.

Better luck next time, and don’t forget there are a huge number of bunnies needing a new home – most people have no idea what they’re getting when they buy a bun, many end-up abandoned and need rehoming.

rabbitrehome.org is ace

Regards

I have a paralysed/disabled rabbit. Was born with a dodgy vertebrae and about 4 days after we got him he damaged it and hasn’t walked since. Been like that for 6 months ish. He’s pretty good at commando crawling, gets around his cage on his way over developed front legs and eats everything in sight. Has about an hour a day in the buggy/wheels I made when I’m out with the dog (he came after he rabbit and isn’t interested in it).

They do cope without all 4 legs, unless they’ve died of course.

For future reference, there’s a vet in Harrogate called Harcourt-Browns who know their stuff on rabbits.

Chris