Has anyone experienced hind limb paralysis?

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This topic has 14sd replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 4 months ago by Hanna Banana.

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- 09/19/2016 at 2:01 AM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Hi everyone!
  I have a beautiful 1 year old English lop named Hanna. My bunny had a bit of hind limb weakness. I took her to the vet where they did not find anything wrong with her (they did X-rays and bloodwork). I figured maybe she was just loosing her balance on slippery tile and it was just my imagination or she was just a clumsy teenager). Fast forward a month, I woke up one morning and her back legs were paralyzed.
  When the vet examined her, he showed me that her teeth suddenly went crooked and she had a curve to her face (I can’t seem to upload the picture on this site). We had an E coniculi test sent to the University of Miami which came back negative. Two sets of X rays were inconclusive. I had a CT done but it was inconclusive as well. She is on Meloxicam and is having acupuncture and laser therapy twice a week. It has been 1 month since her paralization and she is improving. She has regained some function in her legs and can now get up when she falls over and can hop around the house (on a limited and supervised basis).
  I realize that this was likely a soft tissue spinal injury or a stroke. Has anyone experienced hind limb paralysis in a rabbit as a result of stroke? Has anyone been able to rehab a bunny with hind limb paralysis? Has anyone done an MRI successfully on a bunny? The neurology center here said they have only ever done one bunny and it died on the table…. Well I’m not going to do an MRI if it puts her at further risk.
  I just want to make sure I am doing everything possible to regain as much function as possible so she can live out a happy life.
  Any and all suggestions are appreciated!
- 09/19/2016 at 3:06 AM
  Azerane
  Moderator
  4691 posts
  My first thought with hind limb paralysis is E. c, but you said she came back negative for that. My second thought is a stroke, given the change to her face, a stroke will often make one side of the face droop. Paralysis could have other causes such as injury or swelling of the spine. An MRI I imagine could only be done under sedation, in order for her to remain still.
- 09/19/2016 at 7:05 AM
  Vienna Blue in France
  Participant
  5317 posts
  Hanna, in order to upload you need to press the +REPLY button rather than just ‘quick reply’ down below. Then you get the option to upload.
  Poor bun. Sounds as if she’s in good hands with you – how lucky.
- 09/19/2016 at 7:54 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17045 posts
  EC tests can give false nagatives. You have to take the blood at the exact right time or the test will come back negative. Here are two slides from a webinar on EC by Molly Varga earlier this year:
- 09/19/2016 at 10:55 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Healing {{{vibes}}} for Hanna !
  
  What areas were the xrays and CT done for?
  
  Im not entirely certain stroke would affect both hind limbs like this. It would more likely be one sided.
  
  I’d still suspect inflammation of nerves, perhaps in one area of the head/neck. The face pulling up like that is usually to do with the 7th cranial nerve (my rabbit has nerve damage that contorts one side of his face and pulls teeth out of alignment). It sounds as if there is a spinal nerve being affected also. It is very promising if there has been improvement. It may be that the anti inflammatories and keeping things at bay while the body heals up lesions. If Im thinking right, you’d only see that sort of improvement if it’s an injury or EC, whereas if it were an abscess or tumor causing neurological symptoms, I wouldn’t expect you’d see positive changes.
  
  That aside, has your rabbit been checked over for other parasites like ticks?
- 09/19/2016 at 1:08 PM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Thanks for the tip! It’s still not working on my phone though. I’m trying to upload from my photos but it’s saying the file type is not allowed. I will try to do it from my computer after work. Thanks!
- 09/19/2016 at 10:25 PM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Here are the photos from the day she became paralyzed. You can see her front teeth are no longer straight (She was at the vet a month before and they were fine). The second picture shows the curve of her face which is why I was leaning towards a stroke. Because I have spent $4,000 on this over the last month, I think I am going to hold off on the MRI even though it would be really nice to know what is going on. The vet said that even if we confirmed it to be soft tissue damage, we would continue to do what we are already doing….keeping her on NSAIDs and limiting her activity.
  
  Thank you all for your replies. I had no idea that the E Coniculi test could show a false negative. We live in Arizona and she is indoor only so the possibility of a tick borne disease would probably be unlikely. I do wonder if there is a possibility for Valley Fever but I also doubt that would show up this quickly and severely.
  
  Luckily, Hanna is improving wanting to run around. She is still a bit wobbly but she is now able to hop and get up if she falls over. I now swear by acupuncture and laser therapy as I have seen such a huge improvement. I just wish I knew what caused it so I can make sure she continues to get better!
- 09/19/2016 at 10:27 PM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  On a better note, here is a picture of her today. She looks much better than she did when this first happened!
- 09/20/2016 at 12:47 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  Beautiful girl!
  Her face looks even in that last photo. Seems everything you’re doing is certainly helping. She’s lucky to have you!
- 09/20/2016 at 1:05 AM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Thanks Jerseygirl! Her face does still curve to the left… It’s very odd! I figured this would be the best place to get any insight on possibilities that I may have missed on diagnosis and treatment. Everyone has been very helpful. So much for the free bunny I got on Craigslist!!! I think she’s one of the most expensive bunnies in the world?
- 09/20/2016 at 1:11 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17045 posts
  She’s beautiful! I agree with Jersey about the nerve injury/spinal shock and paralysis due to impingement or sth of the sort. In benign cases this can heal.
  
  Her teeth and curved face is really weird. I’m thinking some sort of skeletal problem, sth making the bones soft or not hard enough -kind of like brittle bone disease in humans. I don’t know if that’s even possible with a bunny though, I’ll have to look into that. A severe vitamin D deficiency stops calcium from being absorbed by the small intestine, (like ricketts in dogs and humans), and some say that’s the cause of dental disease that’s so common in house-bunnies but never seen in wild buns. If her bones are brittle she could have injured her spine quite easily, but been lucky enough not to suffer permanent injury to her spinal cord.
- 09/20/2016 at 8:39 PM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Thank you Bam, I will have to look into having her Vitamin D checked. Her X rays did show bad hips… Probably a result of bad breeding. I got her from someone looking for a good home on Craigslist so I don’t know what breeder she came from. Thanks so much for your insight
- 09/21/2016 at 12:50 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17045 posts
  Vitamin D and also blood calcium levels, perhaps. I read a (sad) study where they deliberately fed rabbits too little calcium and it pretty soon gave them osteoporosis. In another (sad) study they induced osteoporosis by ovariectomy + corticosteroids. Apparently rabbits are useful for studies of osteoporosis. (I have a hard time accepting animal experiments, but these studies indicate that osteoporosis can be induced in rabbits without too much effort.)
- 09/22/2016 at 12:58 AM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  Ugh, these animal experiments are so incredibly sad and unnecessary.
  I am taking Hanna to be spayed this Tuesday (I’m a nervous wreck of course). She is a large breed and apparently hit sexual maturity while all of this has been going on. She is going after one of my chihuahuas and causing a lot of tension. She is circling me, grunting and needing constant attention. I’m almost scared of her at times although she hasn’t bitten me at all. Maybe they can check her Vitamin D and calcium when they do the pre surgical bloodwork? I really wish I had her spayed sooner as the timing of this is awful!
- 03/19/2017 at 1:17 AM
  Hanna Banana
  Participant
  15 posts
  I just wanted to update this thread. It has been 6 months since Hanna had hind limb paralysis. We did chiropractic, accupuncture and laser therapy. She is now off the Meloxicam and is doing fantastic. She has regained bowel and bladder control and has use of her back legs! They are not perfect and she hops a little sideways but she is happy and pain free. One leg is a bit stronger than the other but she has use of them both. I just wanted to update in case anyone else experiences something similar.
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