bunny spinal injury

[pixie_16]

Hi guys, i’m new to Binky Bunny, and when i Googled many rabbit-related spinal injuries questions online, i’ve been diverted to many results with forum threads here! 

We are based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and recently our wee indoor bun started walking on her hind legs instead of hopping, and strangely, she has been having diarrhoea episodes on her usual spots. I took her to the first local vet, who thought she might have a sprain in her middle back. She gave her some Metacam, to be medicated once a day. And it was unlucky timing, that we had to go away for a week, so that evening, Bunny was shipped off to a cat/bunny cattery. I’ve given instructions on care and medication to the owner, and she reassured me that she will take good care of her. i’ve also checked in everyday to see if there were any changes with her condition, and it all seemed fine. 



A week later, when i went to pick Bunny up, she was completely dragging her hind legs, and it was so heartbreaking to watch. I immediately rung around to see if there were any vets open on a Sunday, and we went off to the second vet. He couldn’t diagnose what the problem/cause is, we’ve had xrays done, and my initial suspicion was E.cuniculi. He prescribed baytril, and panacur, and multi-vitamin jabs every alternate day. Bunny wasn’t recovering nor getting worst, we continued the metacam anyways. 



A week later, we decided to get a second opinion, and it was difficult to find a rabbit specialised vet in Christchurch or even NZ, especially since rabbits are considered pests in the country. We finally found a vet, and she was fantastic. She sent bunny through second round of xrays, and found out that on her second lumbar bones, it was a little off, you literally have to zoom in to see it on the xrays. She said it was causing swelling and possibility the disc was swollen which is pressing on bunny’s nerves, that is affecting her hind legs. 

Bunny still has feelings in her hind legs, she would stretch them out when i clean her bottom. The vet has also built a wee cart for her, to just sit in, and stretch her back legs. I massage her hind legs for 30 mins twice a day, to keep the circulation going. Am i doing the right thing? I bring her out to the lawn, to get some fresh air and she loves being outside too. She is cleaned twice a day to make sure the pee doesn’t sit on her hind legs, and burn her skin, we’ve put Vaseline on her as well for a small area that looks abit pink and sore. 



I’ve read that bunnies with spinal injuries have to be kept in an enclosed area, buddled up with towels to keep them from moving around too much. I’m not even sure if bunny’s injury is a spinal one? the vet said its okay to just move bunny around, but its been almost a week from seeing her now, and we haven’t really seen improvements, nor her condition worsening. Also, how fast should we expect recovery to take place? i’d assume its like with humans, it will take weeks for her to get well. 

Should i still continue cleaning Bunny, or should she be kept still at all times, she seems happy grooming herself, even trying to drag herself into her litterbox. Her indoor hutch is always filled up high with hay, and straw, with a pee pad below it to catch all the pee. i’ve tried offering her, her cecotropes, but she doesn’t seem interested. i try to keep her feet tucked under her at all times, maintaining the meatloaf position. She is still eating well, popping and weeing normally. She seems to know her bladder is full, and needs to be emptied, but i think she can’t control where she releases it. 

We were just away overnight yesterday, and had a lovely housesitter come by to clean Bunny up, medicate her etc, when i cleaned bunny again and put her in her cart, she didn’t seem to stretch her back legs as much or doesn’t spread her toes, when i massage her. it seems everytime i’m away (it won’t be ever now!), her condition seems to go a little downhill. 

It’s been 3 weeks since Bunny has hurt herself, we don’t know how, and when it happened. the vet said it is an acute thing, which could also mean she hurt herself at the cattery?! The vet said there is a 50/50 chance of recovery, i’m just worried all the time about her, the unknown is so scary… In the many cases of bunnies breaking their backs, what are the chances of recovery? We just hope that she can recover enough to at least be able to go into the litterbox without difficulty. It’s just so heart-breaking to see her drag her hind legs, when we are so used to seeing her being very active, thumping, binkying, scratching at our bedroom door. 

Anyone who’s had similar cases of this happening to their wee buns before, who can advice what else can i do?? 

[Bam]

I’m sorry you are going through this. We’re not vets here, so I’ll just write a little bit of what I know about lower back neuro injuries:

To me it seems like this is an injury that occured before you went away. The reason why it got worse during her time in the cattery could be swelling and inflammation. Inflammation and swelling takes a little while to develop and it causes pain. Inflammation must occur when bone and other tissue heals, it is an important part of bone healing, but swelling means less room for nerves and blood vessels and the body often goes a little overborad with the inflammation. Nerves can be pinched and blood flow compromized because tissues need more room when they swell. 

A damaged disk, if there is one, can potentially pinch the spinal cord if it bulges out into the spinal canal. A part of a disc can even fall off into the spinal canal and cause inflammation there. This can (and does) happen to humans, and in most healthy humans, this type injury can heal without surgery – but it takes a long time.

It’s more common for an injured disk to protrude outwards though, thus pinching nerve roots that emerge from the spine. This is very common in humans. At first you get back pain, often severe, but it transforms into leg pain, numbness/tingling, motor impairment and loss of sense of where you have your leg exactly (proprioception). Again, this heals. This heals in virtually everybody healthy and at least here, you’d basically not get surgery unless your peeing and/or pooping functions were compromized or you had lost sensation below the knee. Healing takes a long time. A dog could get surgery, but I doubt any vet where I live would want to take on such an operation on a rabbit. 

Hopefully this is “just” about swelling around the site of injury. If there’s bone injury, bone heals well in rabbits, but again, the body can go a little overboard and start making extra bone, narrowing the holes where the nerve roots protrude from. This takes some time though and wouldn’t have happened yet.

You must clean her, of course, she can’t have pee or wet poop stuck on her. You can keep offering her the cecals, or rather give her the option to eat them from a plate or sth (pick them up and put on a plate etc if you see them lying about so she doesn’t step in them) but it’s common that buns dont want to eat them when they aren’t fresh from the anus. To help her tummy and replenish it with good bacteria she can be given a probiotic, for example Benebac.

When an injury is fresh and if there is bone injury, restricted movement is important. When an injured disc is healing and the injury is stable, moving around is good and beneficial. Not heavy duty exercise (like running up and down stairs or jumping up and down on sofas of course). One of the reasons you pad a disabled bunny’s area are if its in such a bad way that it otherwise can hurt itself on sharp corners etc because it can’t control it’s body. (With a fresh spinal injury it’s of course super-important to immobilize the bun so it doesn’t make matters worse by moving around. It doesn’t seem to me like your bun is in that situation.) A spinal injury i.e injury to the spinal cord itself, is more or less permanent once its stable, but an injury outside the spine can heal and will heal to a lower or greater extent.

The fact that she doesn’t seem to get worse indicates to me that she’s healing. To what extent she’ll heal is not possible to say. I think this is a lot about waiting and seeing. Keeping her dry and clean and happy. It’s normal for a bun to not like it when the primary hoomin goes away, and mood impacts any physical condition, so that would be normal imo.

By acute injury your vet probably means “the result of a specific impact or traumatic event that occurs in one specific area of the body, such as a muscle, bone, or joint.” It can mean a very fresh injury that’s occured in the nearest 48 hours, but that’s clearly not the case with your bun. Acute doesn’t mean severe. Technically you can have an acute paper-cut. Your vet sounds wonderful btw.

So, my post is getting very long now. I know I’ve missed some things. Please ask if I’ve been unclear. Is she on any medication now? Does she seem to be in pain? How is her appetite? 

[pixie_16]

Thank you so much for such an informative reply! I feel like there is hope after reading your reply. Bunny still hasn’t had much improvements, but she hasn’t worsen either. i am wondering if this is as much as she can go, in terms of recovery. From what you have described, and our earlier follow up visit with the vet, she said that Bunny has sensation in her legs, i told her, when i clean her, she would often stretch them, and when i massage her legs, she would stretch her toes. She said that bunny just doesnt have any sense of where her legs are, which was what you’ve described as proprioception. My homework for the week, was to keep pinching her legs, so that she will retrieve her legs back, and be reminded of where they are.

& with bunny’s case, it was more of a dislocated bone on her spine. it was so slight, then we had to zoom into the xrays to see it. Vet has also said she would give bunny another week to see how she goes, and as vets do, she said i should consider putting her down, if she still doesn’t have any improvements, as this affects her quality of life.

I am trying to see if there are any natural remedies that i can give her now, ontop of her Metacam twice daily. I found some comfrey in my colleague’s house, and bunny has taken to it well, though she wasn’t sure about it last night. This morning, the whole leaf was gone! I only give her 1-2 leaves twice a day, as i’ve read that it can give her diarrhoea. Not sure if there are any other ways i can try. She doesn’t seem to be in pain, she just sometimes fluffs her fur up, and probably scrunches her face, i think she’s bored. she has been eating well too, pooping and peeing normally. i still go hunting for dandelion leaves and flowers, which are her favourites, and just been spending heaps of time, talking to her, massaging her, petting her.

i know if the damage is permanent, it will affect her quality of life, but i really don’t mind caring for her, my partner thinks otherwise (coming from someone who wanted bunny in the first place!), he says that i am torturing the bunny, when she is supposed to be happy and hopping around. it is especially hard, when i see that she is fighting so hard, and trying her best, and it just makes me wonder, why should i take that away from her, if she clearly wants to live.

[Q8bunny]

Can’t contribute anything, I’m afraid, but I do want to send some love for your brave little bun. We’re hoping for gradual healing and thinking of you guys. ?♥️

[LittlePuffyTail]

What a difficult situation.

(((((Healing Vibes))))))

[Author]

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