4 week old bunny dragging rear legs, but fine yesterday

Rabbit Talk  Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jimmywalt

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2014
Messages
520
Reaction score
0
Location
Michigan
We have four 4 week old bunnies. All have been growing and acting fine. But today one of them is dragging himself around with it's front two legs. It's not using it's back legs at all.

It's a blue eye white mini rex. The 4 babies are still in the same cage with their mother.

We don't know what to do, and wonder why this would happen.

Most important can it be fixed, or will whatever is causing this heal or go away? :(
 
If you pinch it's back toes, can it feel anything? If not it may have broke it's back. That I would think would be a terminal diagnosis. Can it regulate it's peeing and pooping? If not....

If it can, you may want to wait and see if it heals up being a pinched nerve or something. I hope all goes okay for you and the four weeker.
 
EnglishSpot":3vsx1gx4 said:
If you pinch it's back toes, can it feel anything? If not it may have broke it's back. That I would think would be a terminal diagnosis. Can it regulate it's peeing and pooping? If not....

If it can, you may want to wait and see if it heals up being a pinched nerve or something. I hope all goes okay for you and the four weeker.

Not sure we know what you are asking about regulating it's peeing and pooping????

And how could it just break it's back out of the blue? It's not acting like it's in pain, it just drags itself around with it's front 2 legs.

Should we bring it in the house and put it in a cage by itself so we can see if it's peeing and pooing? But then it wouldn't get the doe's milk if she's still feeding them.
 
Regulate-- does it have bladder and bowel control?
Accidents can happen, and if it is paralyzed there wouldn't be any pain.
You could turn the doe over and give it a feeding while you keep an eye on it for a period.
 
Unfortunately, rabbit injuries of this sort happen all too often. It's possible it was stepped on by momma, but more likely it dashed itself against the wall of the cage, either in a bout of high spirits or because something startled it.

For pain and inflammation that often accompany injuries, you can give it Willow twigs with the bark on. Willow is a good pain-killer for rabbits and they will self-medicate if given the chance. The substance in willow is much like aspirin.

If the back is just injured, not broken, it may recover either fully or partially. Do the pinch test that English Spot suggested and also watch to see if it can control its bowels and bladder, as she said. If it has no feeling and no control, then the back is likely broken.

I suggest you confine the rabbit to a small area, such as a carrier, and bank it with hay or straw to support it. Put food and water within easy reach. The intent here is to make the rabbit rest to give it its best chance at healing. It could go either way, but if you reach the point where you are pretty sure the back is broken, then you should euthanize the poor lil guy.

Regarding feeding, it will be very difficult for this kit to compete for milk, but at four weeks it should be able to be weaned successfully. You can give it the regular foods you give the doe and also some large-flake kitchen oatmeal, either dry or moistened with a bit of warm water. Make sure to change it often enough to keep it from going mouldy.

Good luck with the bun. I hope he makes it.
 
The bunny is still in the same condition this morning.

I got some willow branches with leaves and gave it to him last night. He ate them right down.

Last night - When I slightly pinch one foot he pulls it away, but the other one he doesn't do anything.

He poo'd overnight in many different spots in the cage we put him in. It's about 12" x 24" with a plastic bottom that we lined with an old towel.

He seems to be eating and drinking fine..................... it's just those back two feet/legs aren't working.

What do we do? How much longer might it take to heal?

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
 
It sounds like he did not break his back, since he has feeling in at least one foot. I don't have personal experience of this kind of injury, but I do know they can take days or even weeks to improve. Rest is very important.
 
Sadly, it isn't likely to recover. In fact, it's likely to get worse as sores develop from dragging itself around. You can consider paralysis in two ways. One is severe; the back is broken and it is permanent. Second is mild; I think of it as a "stinger" like athletes get every now and then. It is almost always short term and signs of improvement show up quickly. If this was a correctable injury, you probably should have seen some improvement. Sorry, but like Maggie said, these things happen quite a bit.
 
Hello jimmywalt,
it is sad but in cases like the one you describe the most humane
thing to do: Is put the Rabbit out of it's misery.
I am sorry, but things like this do happen when working with/breeding Rabbits.
Best of luck with whatever choice you make.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
With some regular doses of willow, I'd think you should be able to see small signs of improvement in a few days, if he's going to improve. At most, a week. I have no experience with this injury, though.

I think the reaction in the one foot, along with the fact that he still has elimination control, is encouraging, but only time will tell.
 
I've had rodents recover from what seemed like permanent full paralysis of the hind legs. I believe it was swelling over the spine. Keep the kit on solid flooring if you can to minimize rubbing on the legs, an anti-inflammatory like you would get from willow would be a potential help or you can give baby aspirin but you'd have to look up the dose and it's harder to administer, and you should be fine to feed it pellets or oatmeal(better choice if it starts to show digestive upset) and hay. Just soak the pellets or oatmeal in any formula or milk besides cow if you have any problems getting it to eat only solid food. It might benefit from company of one of the other kits. I would give it 5-7 days provided it does not get worse. If it gets worse at any point I'd put it down and if it hasn't improved by about 5 days it probably won't. I have had gerbils go from no reaction in the legs to perfectly normal within 2 weeks after a fall before. I did lose a guinea pig to a fall but it could not expel feces or urine and had pelvic swelling with it's probable spinal injury. It never got worse but after a week it became clear we would have had to help it eliminate for the rest of it's life while it walked around crippled and that's not a life.
 
Thank you everyone. We will give it more time and pray for the best.

It doesn't have a problem peeing/pooing when it needs to. You can see that it moves around the cage to do it, so it has control of those functions.

We will continue to give it willow as well.

It hurts to see a bunny in this condition. I wonder if it's the breed, or just was an accident?
 
Neurological disorders are associated with BEW rabbits (as well as digestive disorders and sensitivity to certain drugs) but most cases I've read about have symptoms of shaking/seizures and head tilts :shrug:
 
We have four 4 week old bunnies. All have been growing and acting fine. But today one of them is dragging himself around with it's front two legs. It's not using it's back legs at all.

It's a blue eye white mini rex. The 4 babies are still in the same cage with their mother.

We don't know what to do, and wonder why this would happen.

Most important can it be fixed, or will whatever is causing this heal or go away? :(
What was the outcome of this? I’m having exact same situation
 
Back
Top