Hind End Weakness / Pivoting / Dragging Leg **VIDEO**

[TBpony414]

Hi All –

 It’s been far too long since I’ve been on the forums and a lot has happened since then in my life and in all of yours. Right before the holidays my computer flatlined, then the week before Christmas my horse put her leg thru a fence causing major damage to her left hind leg. It’s been going on and on so we got back from an equine orthopedic surgeon visit last week at the horse hospital and thankfully all her tendons and bones are perfect, the problems are elsewhere in the leg but should settle in 3-6 months. Perfect timing for my rabbit Willy to come up with a problem.

Willy has been getting Adequan shots for about a year now for his arthritis. It really helps him but I skipped a few doses because I was out of town and then got off track. He went without it for probably 5 weeks when he had been getting it 1-2x/wk. He gets meloxicam/metacam 1x/d Mon-Fri. I noticed about 4 months ago he didn’t want to stand up on his hind legs anymore so I’ve been using treats to bribe him into doing bunny yoga stretches. It worked for a while and significantly improved his hind end strength but as of 3 weeks ago he decided he wants none of it. Very strange since he would go bonkers standing up on anything in sight when I’d get the treats out before!

He’s always hopped a little bit sideways but it is more pronounced now. You can see in videos of him doing agility from December and January on my youtube channel and he’s jumping great, having fun, no problems. Now he won’t jump anything at all. Eating ok, etc, all that. He has Megacolon syndrome so I’m way on the ball with all that stuff. In the video link below you can see how he’s dragging his LH leg and pivoting instead of turning. The last minute really shows this. When he grooms himself he often falls over or takes a tumble.

Under anesthesia 6 weeks ago for his teeth we did a full range of motion check on his hind legs and everything was perfect. Have not done x-rays or MRIs or anything like that. Willy doesn’t seem to be in obvious pain but he seems confused and sort of distressed sometimes (see 2nd banana scene). It doesn’t make sense why such a sudden decline in a short period of time would occur. I cannot think of anything catastrophic that happened besides his daily crazy kung fu flips off the 2nd level of his condo which he has been doing for 5 years.

 If you get a chance to watch the 3 minute video all the way through please let me know your thoughts. I will go to the ends of the earth to save any of my animals and give them the best care ever (my heart bunny had a severe case of E. Cuniculi and I nursed him for a little over 2 years before he made the decision to go to The Bridge) and I am already looking into building a bunny wheelchair if need be. I will be calling my exotic vet of 12 years in the morning but I believe he won’t be in until Thursday. I leave Saturday for a ski trip but Willy and my 2 dogs are coming with. Many thanks, especially if you read through all of this back story!

 LINK: http://youtu.be/Y37zrz2eKg8

[manic_muncher]

You mentioned he went without the Adequan for 5 weeks, when was this? I am wondering if it was somewhat recently and he hasn’t had enough time to build up to the same level of pain resistance as he had before. I’ve no experience in arthritis in buns, but I have tons with dogs and cats. I know if I went too long without my dog’s meds, it took a few weeks or so for her to bounce back to her medicated “normal”.

I will have to agree with you as he doesn’t seem to be in obvious pain, and not feeling any issues while under anesthesia is good, but too bad xrays weren’t done then!

How old is he? I’m wondering if it all isn’t neurological.

[TBpony414]

Posting from my phone, hopefully this doesn’t get all crazy on me haha.

Manic, thank you for your reply. I have a senior dog (seen in one of the videos) who gets Adequan shots as well but she acts like a little puppy all the time so this behavioural stuff is a little new to me. Little Willy just turned 6 in January. The Adequan shots were stopped right around xmas when my horse had her first LH leg injury and I was consumed with going out to care for her 2x/d. So, it was maybe more like 6 or 7 weeks between his shots (he’s already been restarted on the loading doses) but could that really cause him to go downhill this fast? The timelines match up but it’s scary that he was a little wobbly last week and sliding around now. Besides the Megacolon syndrome Willy also has terrible teeth so has them done every 7-8 weeks. I would rather take x-rays the next time he is under but will get them done sooner if this persists.

He has had trouble flopping over for about 6 months now and yes my very well known and competent exotic vet is aware of every little thing that happens to Willy. When doing the “life’s great!” dive roll, he will sometimes goes too far & gets stuck on his back, causing him to momentarily freeze (this is when I rush over) or occasionally kick wildly. His weight is a struggle (again, thanks to the bunny IBS) to maintain in that he is chronically always a little skinny. I give him special ordered Oat hay from Sierra Valley in CA as well as Empower rice bran pellets as supplements to his Oxbow Natural Selection pellets, orchard/alf hay mix and an entire head of green leaf lettuce each day to keep him hydrated and functional. Rabbits are like mini horses and I happen to have a senior OTTB difficult keeper who is prone to hind gut ulcers so I am used to staying on top of all this complicated dietary stuff! 

[manic_muncher]

Poor Willy, he’s so young to be going through so much. It’s good that you have such a great vet and that you are able to invest so much time and resources to give your babies the best. Of course we can never know exactly how they are feeling and only go by body language, which rabbits are so great at hiding problems they don’t make it any easier. I don’t know if just missing those doses is why he now appears to be that much worse. Perhaps his normal range of motions during playtime, like his rolling over, was just a bit too much for right now, and/or he is hurting in another way on top of his arthritis. Maybe something happened at that “3 week ago” mark that made him stop wanting to do his yoga stretches. It’s so hard to know! It would be so much simpler if they could just talk to us.

If he’s pulled a muscle, like when trying to right himself when getting stuck on his back, you’d want to let him rest. But arthritis needs motion. If it were me, and trust me, I’m no expert… I would continue with the meds until he’s been back on them for 6 weeks continually. At that point, it should be back at full effectiveness and you should know more. Until then, I’d continue with any exercise he is willing to do, but at the first sign of being even a little tired, let him rest. Shorter sessions, maybe a couple more times a day. Anything to keep him moving, without exhausting him.

I’m hoping someone else here with more experience will have some more info to offer!

[Sarita]

It looks almost like the muscle has atrophied to me. I’ve had that happen with a rabbit I had who was also arthritic. I wonder if more of the bunny yoga will help that – I tried to do stretches with my girl Maxine very gently – I don’t know if it helped but it made me feel like I was trying something.

I would maybe do the metacam again – it’s not going to help with the atrophy but it may help with the pain – I think as MM said rabbits just don’t show discomfort but you have to know there is some discomfort there.

I’m not familiar with Adequin but I’ve tried various supplements as well with arthritic rabbits in the past and didn’t have much success but have heard of others having success – maybe some rabbits just metabolize it better – but I would continue with that as well.

[TBpony414]

Thanks Sarita & Manic. I am giving him meloxicam daily and have increased to twice daily with vet’s approval to help for the next week. My vet was able to see the video & recommended starting laser therapy for his hind end. This is what they said: 

“We run the laser over the areas that he has issues in: Hind legs, hips, spine. 

The laser causes red blood cells to congregate to the area which then helps
to decrease inflammation.  We have had a lot of great success with it for
bunnies with arthritis in the hind end… some that were totally down in the
hind end that can now hop again.”

Willy had his first treatment today and it did not go great. I’m not sure if it was because I wasn’t able to be in the room with him (he gets upset very easily) or if maybe it was uncomfortable bringing circulation to areas that have been weak or what. He was furious when they brought him back out and his cranky attitude continued all night. Then he had an upset tummy.

I’ve had laser treatments on myself before and it didn’t hurt at all and my horse has had laser treatments on her hock and she loved the warmth and it did speed healing almost immediately. Because of these other 2 positive experiences with laser therapy I’m convinced it’s not just a bunch of hooey haha. I scheduled Willy for another laser treatment Thursday but if he’s still feeling bad in the morning I may push it off to Friday. I’d like to get him on the road to feeling better before we leave on our 8 day trip this weekend (he’s coming along too and loves to travel, thankfully!)

Keep sending good vibes our way please We need all the jingles we can get!

[Sarita]

I’ve done laser treatments with a few rabbits – totally forgot about that! Yes, it can work. Keep us updated on how it works for Willy.

[LittlePuffyTail]

((((Sending some healing vibes for Willy))))

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I just want to send some {{{Vibes}}} and say that he looks very happy and clean-it’s hard to keep them clean when their not moving normal so you are doing a wonderful job!!

[TBpony414]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and good vibes. I really appreciate it as there aren’t a lot of people who understand just how much bunnies wiggle their ways into our hearts. Willy has had 3 laser treatments and so far is not improving. In fact he seems to be dragging his leg even more. I was able to watch the second laser treatment and when they did the second 5 minutes on his Right side he freaked out a bit. I think he’s been over-compensating for his Left Hind leg not working well and there is some discomfort now. After I return from my trip I’ll take him in for more treatments.

I’m trying to remain positive and just let him do whatever he wants. Normally I’ll open his condo up when I’m home and he’ll hop all over following my every step. Tonight he didn’t even leave my bedroom and after an hour I came up to see what was going on and he was hunched over under my bed. There were a ton of very tiny poops nearby so I grabbed him and made up a bunch of critical care. He refused to eat his banana piece tonight which was never happened before. Sigh…

Can rabbits get degenerative myelopathy? German shepherds are prone to developing it later on it life. It can come on sort of quickly and that reminds me of how suddenly this appeared with Willy. I feel like something is wrong to be causing this but I don’t know what.

[RabbitPam]

Hi, I can’t really help with Willy’s diagnosis at all, but I just want to say that I went through something kind of similar with Spockie when he was 7 years old. He just lost the use of one of his back legs, gradually, and the other wasn’t great after using it to push himself around. I called it scooting. He was able to pull and push fairly fast, and didn’t seem in pain, but he eventually couldn’t lift himself in or out of his litter box, so I bought some special rugs by Palace Pet Beds for his cage so he wouldn’t have to worry. (Washable), I had a daily med regimen that I put into a tiny apple piece and syringed his metacam in the morning. It all helped in that he was in very good spirits, but he didn’t regain his ability to walk. We never got a diagnosis of it. My vet and I agreed that at his age, he should be made comfortable and accommodated with whatever he could do, rather than trying to track down the cause since it appeared to be irreversible. He was considered a geriatric bunny by then.

I wonder if Willy had a spinal injury at all, like a pinched nerve, or possibly a small stroke, rather than strictly muscular and arthritis? You can’t change the effect of the temp. medication change now, but you are doing all you can for him. He seems to be scooting very well, so continue to work with your vet and keep him pain-free. I was amazed at how well Spockie seemed to say “OK, I can only do this now, so here I go.” He would scoot from room to room, and rest in his favorite spot under the loveseat as long as I was nearby. When you care for them this much, they seem to bond with you even more.

Oh, my vet got a new laser. I think it’s a rather new treatment option, so it may not be working as well as touted, or getting to the source of the problem. If it seems to be making him worse, consider something else. Rabbits are so tiny and delicate compared to other species that it may be a consideration.

Sending {{{{{{{{{{{Healing vibes, Willy}}}}}}}}}} just in case.

[TBpony414]

RabbitPam, thanks for the reply. I am at the ski house and the trip went fine, Willy was digging a little bit in his carrier like the old days but other than that is really out of it. We have a yoga mat down under his playpen which is what I’ve used for 5 years but he’s completely unable to get traction on it so I took one of the kitchen rug mats and put it in there for him. He fell twice earlier trying to hop in his litter box. I feel like bursting into tears, I don’t know what is causing this or what to do to fix it. He has been hopping a little funny for over a year but in the last 7 days has declined considerably. He literally cannot turn clockwise and he cannot lay in any position but with his legs to the left of him. I’m worried he’s going to get sores. This is my birthday trip that we planned one year ago and all I can think about is how soon we can get home so I can try to get him x-rays or an MRI or something. One week seems like an eternity right now.

It’s a relief to know that Spockie did not seem to mind the hind leg dragging and got used to it. Willy seems very confused and I’m not sure if he’s in pain or not. How could I tell? He can’t reach either of his ears now and I so cleaned them two days ago – talk about a buildup of wax. It was unbelievable. I suppose it’s possible he could have had a small stroke or a mini seizure that caused this but I don’t know. He has always been EXTREMELY active – can’t keep him still for longer than 30 seconds – jumping off the back of the couch and leaping onto the ottoman and hopping up and down the stairs and scrambling out into the kitchen for treats… so for him to just sprawl uncomfortably in one position for hours like this feels like I’m in the twilight zone. He’s not eating well either. RabbitPam, how long did your Spockie live after having the hind leg problems?

[Jessie1990]

I don’t really have experience with this. I just wanted to send some vibes Willy’s way. (((Willy)))

[Author]

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