Doe: sudden hind qtr paralysis

[Dragongreg]

My awesome NZ doe that consistently has 10-12 baby's gave birth to 10 last Tue. Yesterday afternoon I notice that she was sitting awkward and check her to find that she is now paralyzed in her back legs. She was fine in the morning and boom she wasn't. She does not seem to be in pain and if pinch her toes " hard" with out reaction. She's eating and drinking be she has to drag herself with her front legs. We fostered the baby's to two other does that delivered on the same day without any problems. She's they same this morning. Not sure what could have happened but any ideas or suggestions are welcome. She's been a great doe; kind if testy to handle, but great litters and a great mom. A little help please if you can. Thanks, Greg

 

[MaggieJ]

Sounds like an injury of the spinal cord to me. Some people have been able to treat rabbits like this by propping them in a carrier with straw to keep them immobile and placing food and water within reach. If she still has bladder and bowel control, she may recover, but I would be hesitant to breed her again for fear of complications. If she were mine, I would probably euthanize her, but since she is not in pain you can afford to wait a bit and see if anyone else has more helpful advice.

 

[grumpy]

This malady isn't that uncommon. For lack of a better word, she torqued her spinal column and paralyzed herself. Once in a blue moon, they'll recover....a little.

I've had a handful of these in the 39 years I've raised rabbits. I've personally never been able to rejuvenate one to complete bodily function. It's more humane to dispatch them than to keep them in that condition for more than a day or so.

Truly sorry for your loss. It's these unexplained accidents that makes you wonder if there's anything you could have done differently. Rest assured, there's not.

grumpy.

 

[Fire-Man]

I had my best/favorite doe do the same thing with 1 1/2 week kits. I think something scared her and she flipped quickly into the nesting box and landed across the front of the box and "broke" her back. I have seen her flip off the top of the nesting box before. She did not seem to be in any pain and kept eating and fed the babies(they were coming to her) after weaning them and moving them to another cage I was having to wash her back end daily and she was not getting any better. It was getting colder so when I washed her I was having to dry her----I made a decission to put her down.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I'm so sorry you have to go through this, its a horrible thing to have happen. I've had two do this. One was mild and was an injury from being frightened and she paniced. She recovered.
The other was more serious, but not completely paralysed but it did effect her bowels and bladder. I worked for the vet then and took her to work. The end result, she was euthanized. She just couldn't be helped. You could see the damage on the x-ray.
With your rabbit being completely paralysed and no reaction to pinching the toes if she were mine, I'd put her down. So sorry

 

[ottersatin]

Greg,
it is not often but sometimes a Rabbit will zig
when it should have zagged.
It does not take much to bread a Rabbits bones,
since there was no reaction I would euthanize the Rabbit.
The proper thing to do, is put her out of her misery.
Though they do not show it they are suffering.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Eclampsia can cause a seeming paralysis (paresis) of the hindquarters in animals with high milk yields. It is usually treated with injectable calcium. I would try giving her several Tums or put some calcium drench in her water bottle. If no improvement is noted within a day or so, I would cull her.

Milk fever. This is seen in highly producing dairy cows and results in paresis. They have low calcium and phosphate. Magnesium is often normal. Eclampsia can also be seen in dogs, cats, ewes, sows, mares and goats and produces tetany in these breeds. Inability of calcium homeostatic mechanisms to compensate for loss of calcium in milk is thought to be the cause of lactation-associated hypocalcemia in dogs. The condition is seen most commonly in small breed dogs two to three weeks after whelping. Hypocalcemia associated with lactation in horses is called lactation tetany and is less common than in cows.

http://ahdc.vet.cornell.edu/clinpath/mo ... pocalc.htm

Sorry to hear that you and your doe are going through this. I hope she gets better. :clover:

 

[Dragongreg]

Everybody,

Thanks for the notes! We are trying the Tums trick and will give her a little more time. We had a great, but cold winter with almost 200 little ones basically incident free. Something was bound to happen. The baby's are doing well with the foster moms and possibly her last gift to us was 4 new harliquen beauty's. Thanks again, Greg

 

[trinityoaks]

The rabbit in my avatar injured his back once. Someone suggested to me something like what Maggie describes above. We brought him inside and put him in a plastic bin just big enough for him, packing him in with hay (with a layer of absorbent material at the bottom. We put a mixture of milk and water (half and half, IIRC), with a little bit of brandy.

I was told that the rabbit would show signs of recovery within three days if recovery was possible. If there was no movement after three days, then I should put the rabbit down.

Smokey did recover, thankfully. It took about a month for him to recover fully, but he was already trying to move around before the three days were up. In fact, the last night I had to put his bin inside his cage to make sure that if he did hop out, he wouldn't be wandering all over the house.

 

[AnnClaire]

Oh, Greg, so sorry to hear this ... how did the tums do?