bantambunnies
Well-known member
Just found that one of my bucks appears to be holding up one of his legs when he hops. He does not seem to be in much pain, if any at all, and is hopping around on three legs. It does look like he's trying to hold the leg up, but possibly isn't moving his foot/toes. This is possibly from -
1) E. cuniculi. This is the same rabbit that went lame in both back legs last summer. He recovered, incidentally after I dosed him with Ivermectin. Not sure he had E. cuniculi, but I see little other possibility. Could this be it coming back? He has had hay on the floor of his cage most of the winter and could easily have ingested E. cuniculi spores.
2) Injury. Unlikely, but possible. I don't feel any obvious break in his leg or foot. I haven't handled him in a while, so if it did get injured, it would have been over a week ago; I don't think this is the case, but he does tend to wiggle quite a bit while I'm holding him so he may have hit the ground hard once.
3) Infection. Unfortunately, there is something wrong with his testicle (the one on the side of the lame leg) which I forgot about. Several months ago it swelled up and seemed to have some kind of hole in it; I treated it then with antibiotic ointment. The hole healed but the swelling never went down. It is still swollen and hard now. Really wish I hadn't forgotten about that. :angry:
4) Lameness. Like I said, it's been a while since he's been out of his cage, due to really yucky weather. And the cage he's in isn't really big enough for him. So he hasn't really been exercising. Is it possible for a leg to go lame due to lack of exercise?
If no one can tell me anything better to do in the next few hours, I'm going to go ahead and give him an oral dose of injectable Ivermectin, just in case it's E. cuniculi.
1) E. cuniculi. This is the same rabbit that went lame in both back legs last summer. He recovered, incidentally after I dosed him with Ivermectin. Not sure he had E. cuniculi, but I see little other possibility. Could this be it coming back? He has had hay on the floor of his cage most of the winter and could easily have ingested E. cuniculi spores.
2) Injury. Unlikely, but possible. I don't feel any obvious break in his leg or foot. I haven't handled him in a while, so if it did get injured, it would have been over a week ago; I don't think this is the case, but he does tend to wiggle quite a bit while I'm holding him so he may have hit the ground hard once.
3) Infection. Unfortunately, there is something wrong with his testicle (the one on the side of the lame leg) which I forgot about. Several months ago it swelled up and seemed to have some kind of hole in it; I treated it then with antibiotic ointment. The hole healed but the swelling never went down. It is still swollen and hard now. Really wish I hadn't forgotten about that. :angry:
4) Lameness. Like I said, it's been a while since he's been out of his cage, due to really yucky weather. And the cage he's in isn't really big enough for him. So he hasn't really been exercising. Is it possible for a leg to go lame due to lack of exercise?
If no one can tell me anything better to do in the next few hours, I'm going to go ahead and give him an oral dose of injectable Ivermectin, just in case it's E. cuniculi.