Dislocated elbow

[katiep]

Hello everyone,

    Wanted to see if anyone has had this issue before.  My female rabbit, Smokey likes to zoom around the apartment when she’s happy.  One night, after a few laps she slowed down and hopped into the living room with my husband and I when I noticed she wasn’t using her front right paw, when we picked her up we notice her paw was slightly turned to the right so the bottom of her paw was facing the other paw and not on the ground.  This was a Saturday night  and we didn’t notice that she was in any pain so we waited till monday to take her to the vet.  The vet took her in and examined her and took xrays and said her elbow was dislocated.  They knocked her out for awhile while the the head vet and the bunny expert vet tried to pop it back it.  They said the ligaments are too stretched to hold it in.  The options I was given was to put her to sleep (out of the question unless she was REALLY suffering and she wasn’t) go through a surgery to insert pins (which probably wouldn’t work) or amputate the leg.  Well, even the amputation was $500 after paying $250 for the visit so after consulting with the vet we decided to wait and see if it bothered her enough to have it amputated.  He suggested we could wait 4 to 6 weeks till it started to atriphy (sorry bad spelling). It’s been about a month now and while it’s still turned and she doesn’t seem to have complete control of it she does use it to jump and when she comes and visits me and stands on my thigh there are two definate paw pushes.  She can’t use it to groom or and doesn’t use it if she doesn’t have to but she seems to use it for balance.  Has anyone heard of this healing or owners leaving a limb on even if it’s disconnected?  Again, she doesn’t seem in any pain and still zooms and happy pops and does binkies and jumps up and down on the couches.  Any advice is welcome!  picture of Smokey is included.

[BinkyBunny]

Oh, my!   I have no idea in this case. I would have never guessed that a dislocated joint would lead to three such drastic options. (Especially #1 and #3)

If it were me, I may seek out a second opinion from another rabbit-savvy vet.

I will let the other leaders know about this and see if they have any advice to offer.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’d ditto that. I don’t see why it cannot be fixed without surgery or amputation. Do you know of other vets in your area? It might be time to hit the yellow pages and phone around.

[BinkyBunny]

This is also a good expert to ask

http://www.allexperts.com/user.cgi?m=4&expID=35789&catID=703

She’s not a vet, but she is extremely knowledgable about rabbit health and is a good resource.

[Sarita]

Pinning a rabbits leg is very painful and my vet does not suggest this – rabbit bones are very fragile. I would either seek a second opinion, wait to see how it heals and in the worse case possible amputation (before I would even think of pinning).

[Beka27]

Did you get a second opinion after it happened? I agree to go find another vet and see what they think about this. What can happen if an animal doesn’t have control of a limb, it can end up dragging and getting sores on it and they end up worse off than if it had just been removed. Housepets are pretty resilient and they can learn to do well with a missing limb. So if it is necessary, I would not rule out amputation in favor of putting to sleep. Surgeries are expensive, on exotics especially, but if it needs to be done….?

Hopefully another vet can tell you if she is using it and what kind of condition her arm is in, and if she has any control of it.

[bunnytowne]

Hmm I don’t see why they don’t put it back in place and wrap it so it can’t move out of place again.    Then agian I am not a vet.   And this is just a thought.

I would ask the next vet I bring her to about this.   Poor thing.  And your poor pocketbook ouch.

[KatnipCrzy]

I would strongly suggest getting a second opinion.   I would call around and see if there are any orthopedic vet surgeons that will see rabbits- you may even be able to describe the problem on the phone to see if they think they could help.  I am not sure that surgery would be the treatment option for your bun- but I think she might need to see a vet that is used to dealing with the musculoskeletal system.

The fact that the elbow has been out of place for so long does cause so problems with possible treatment- the ligaments/tendons are streched out of place on one side and shortened on the other as a result of the unnatural placement of the joint.  I know rabbits do not typically do well with “wrapping/splinting” and tend to chew off the bandages- but it might be a possibility if they can get the joint back into place and manage chewing with an ecollar.  But this would need to be done by a vet that really knows what they are doing- and I am sure would require anesthesia to get the joint back into place if they can.  (Never wrap or splint a bunnies leg at home).

The muscle will atrophy due to the leg not being used in a routine fashion.  If you are considering pursuing an alternative treatment to what you are doing now- you should do it soon- the longer the injury the harder to get the pet back to normal.

[LittlePuffyTail]

The poor little bunny! She’s very cute and I hope you can get a second opinion to set her leg right!

[katiep]

Thanks so much for the posts!  I know we have to make a decision here quickly.  I think I’m going to take her back into the vet for a follow up and see if maybe the ligaments have been tightened enough to be held in again.  She does use it a bit and i’d rather her have it for balance then amputate it.  She doesn’t drag it but can’t seem to lift it towards her face to groom.  She can reach it forward though.  As we all know exotic surgeries are expensive and I was waiting for my bonus at work to fund the surgery and that comes this friday so we will probably make a decision with the vets help here soon.  Thanks again for all your posts, it’s really nice to have a community like this!  My only other contact with house rabbits is the lady I help out with rescues and she isn’t always readily available for questions as she is very busy too!  I also posted on the bonding board as 1/2 fixed as we are thinking of bonding Smokey with a male we have names Rupert, their first bathtub picture is posted there.  Thanks again!!

[jerseygirl]

Hope you have some better outcomes this time. Maybe some alternative therapies may assist too. Physio and Chiro? I’m not sure it would in Smokey’s case, but there is such a thing out there for rabbits! Thanks for the help in rescue you do, by the way. Keep us posted on Smokey – from that picture, she must pull at your heartstrings a bit!

[BinkyBunny]

Any updates?

[katiep]

No updates yet, making the vet appt. soon. I think we will go back to the vet we were working with, see what he says and if he is still as drastic I will get a second opinion.
Smokey is such a character! Since we have 4 rabbits and they aren’t all fixed or bonded yet we let them out of their pens (which are about 4ft by 4ft each so pretty big) for an hour each night separately. Smokeys favorite game is to try and get me off the computer and down on the floor to pet her by tugging and grooming my pant legs. She also like to jump on me while i’m on the couch and demand attention by grooming my shirt or the blanket i’m covered with. When she wants attention, she gets it! She’s is our princess and is pretty demanding!
She is a bit of a digger and doesn’t understand why she can’t dig at the couch but when my husband touches her backside to distract her she spins around angerly and has even nipped him for disciplining her and interupting her digging. She even gets this look on her little face like “Daddy STOP IT!” It’s hillarious how expressive her little face is!
OH, and I don’t know if anyone else has experienced this…..I swear our rabbits can tell time!! No, i’m not crazy but at the end of their hour every night within a few minutes of the exact hour they either put themselves away in their pen or try to make us follow them to put them away! Example, if we are sitting on the couch they run over close by and just stare at us, when we get up off the couch they circle our feet and run into the room where their pens are, we do give them a couple raisins to make them go to bed easier and as we get a few out of the package they circle our feet and when we make a step towards the pen the run in jump into their pen and wait for their raisins. It’s sounds crazy I know but it’s every night! It does make bedtime easier though instead of chasing bunnies! That’s it for now, will try to get an appt this week sometime!

[bunnytowne]

They sound so cute.  Cotton does the bed time thing too.  HE will go in his house about 10 and wait for a while.  If I don’t put him to bed he comes back out and an hour lates goes back in his house.

[katiep]

I took Smokey to the vet and it looks like her elbow will never relocate but is healing up fine as it.  The vet is confident that it shouldn’t disrupt her life expect for the fact she can’t wash the right side of her face.  He did a basic check up on her and she is doing great!  His concern was with an injury she would stop eating well and he was pleasantly surprised that she gained an ounce!  He’s pretty much cleared her and wants to spay her in about 2 months.  He still wants to wait a bit to make sure she’s out of the “period of concern” but the elbow is healing at an angle so she will have some use for the rest of her life.  That means NO AMPUTATION!  YAY!!  We are very relieved that she doesn’t have to go through that surgery and then another for being spayed.  Well, guess that’s it for now!  Thanks so much for everyones posts!

[Hedi]

That is so good to hear!

One thing to remember though for the future..because rabbits tend to be other animals meals they automatically hide the fact that they are sick or injured. So even as pets it is in their nature to hide what is going on. So even with other conditions your bun may not truely show how bad it is. So if you ever think there is an issue make sure to take her to the vet asap. Next time the outcome could be very very bad. Just a few hours and buns can go downhill quickly.

And like Katnip said, once ligaments and tendons are overextended for a long period of time the chance they go back is slim and this is true even in us humans. I have seen humans end up with having things amputated because of this same thing. So it does happen.
Hopefully your bunny will surprise us all and get more use out of that arm that anyone thought!

[bunnytowne]

Great no amputation.   Hmm  just leave it like it is it won’t go back in place awe poor bun bun…    glad that she is eating well   very good bun bun you had your parents so worried.

[LittlePuffyTail]

That’s great that she won’t have to have it amputated. I was glad to read that.

[BinkyBunny]

Oh whew, that good. I wonder though, if her tendons are stretched, and it can’t relocate, does that put her at risk for future injury she runs around?

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