floppy back legs

[poopscoop12]

Hi everyone 🙁

My bun has been on EC meds for a week now, we’re not sure if she has EC as she had weak legs when I adopted her about 5 weeks ago. Vet says it’s not arthritis, we did a full body check. She is 3 years old.

Today it seems like her legs have gone worst.. she is dragging them everywhere and it’s breaking my heart. Even though she had saggy legs, she was still jumping onto my bed and couch, it seems she was OK to jump up but struggle to go down so I got her a ramp which she now uses it most of the time. She also does plenty of stomping.

She’s also seems to be struggling to jump into her litter box today, saw her legs getting hooked a few times and I got my housemate to cut down the sides of litterbox to make it easier for her. She was fine using it previously. She had a step I used a lid of sturdy shoebox to get into her litterbox previously.

My Question is, is it possible that her legs have gone worst as it’s slightly colder today? its 8-15°C (46-59°F) and raining most of the day. Yesterday was about the same 7.1-19°C (44-66°F) with no rain? or the EC meds possibly affecting it?

She has her own room plenty of space which I open the window everyday when I let her out to free roam – there was no breeze blowing in so it shouldn’t have been too drafty

She gets to free-roam downstairs from 12-7PM, then I take her to my room upstairs for another 5hrs and back to her room and close the window.

Yesterday I got my new pet supply order and started giving her new brand of hay (Oaten Hay) and about 10 nuggets (Excel Rabbit Nuggets Mint). I was provided a big bag of oaten hay and some (unknown) pellets from the orphanage when I took her in for adoption – hay was running low and I heard the pellets were good + they were on sale. I’m in Australia, Timothy Hay here is mostly exported and expensive.

I’ve purchased Oxbows joint supplements along with a critical care+other supplements and toys (picking it up tomorrow) before noticing how bad she’s walking today. Hopefully it helps her legs somewhat. Will contact the vet tomorrow morning.

[Bam]

Hi and welcome!

I’m sorry to hear your bun is unwell. I don’t think the temperature is the issue, I think it’s the EC causing trouble. It can take quite some time until you see improvement with EC meds. Treatment for 28 days used to be standard  but many vets treat for 5 weeks or longer. Is she on fenbendazole?

Burgess nuggets are good. They have a high fiber content. Timothy hay is not necessary, any grass hay is fine for rabbits. Timothy is just a very common type of hay in the northern hemisphere, that’s why it’s often recommended for buns. Aussie buns do excellently on other types of hay 🙂

[jerseygirl]

I agree, I wouldnt think it related to temperature.  If EC related, they can show more symptoms when tired. Maybe that’s something to do with it? Is she more like this after she’s been quite active?

Maybe the vet will add a anti-inflammatory med to her daily schedule.

Did the orphanage have an idea about why she has weakened back legs? Had they treated for EC before? I think I know the organisation who had her. They have some VIB bunnies. 🙂  Was she one of them?

I’ve been feeding my rabbits a Peters timothy pellet made in Australia and have been pretty happy with it. They look like they are extruded but the are still pellet shaped, not round like some other extruded feeds can be. The first time I opened a bag it smelled like oil and it was off-putting. The rabbits were not super keen at first but now they love them. I believe it’s helped cut back some of the bladder sediment my oldest rabbit was producing.

 

[pinkiemarie]

I’m curious to know what your vet says and I hope she has a better day than yesterday!

[poopscoop12]

oops sorry everyone, didn’t realise my post was finally published as I was waiting on approval.

@jerseygirl yes! that is the one. The lovely lady did not have this VIB bun very long so we all don’t know her history. She was the one who suggested to give her the Panacur even though the vet couldn’t confirm EC traces after blood tests.
She was better the next day of opening post, but today one of her leg seems bad again.

@pinkiemarie The vet told me they will discuss with someone and get back to me (which they haven’t yet) and said no need to bring her in unless she stops eating.

Also her pee stains on her bum 😷. She doesn’t smell when she’s dry but after I give her a bum bath (water and vinegar mix) and sprinkle her with cornstarch, the cornstarch really brings out the ammonia smell. I’ve been giving her bum baths every 1.5 weeks as she seems to stain pretty badly and she is unable to clean herself properly coz of her weak back legs.

@bam yes! Panacur/Fenbendazole

She was fine the first 5 weeks of having her and suddenly this week, the legs seem very draggy 🙁

[jerseygirl]

She was the one who suggested to give her the Panacur even though the vet couldn’t confirm EC traces after blood tests.

That is pretty typical to just start treating with panacur because the test for it can be problematic.  The urine issue can be a symptom of EC also.  This is a fairly long article linked below covers some of the reasons a rabbit might develop hind end weakness. It does cover EC.  However it doesnt mention ticks. Has she had time outside? Are you in a region that has paralysis ticks?

Hind Limb Weakness

[poopscoop12]

I did let her outside my backyard longer than usual recently to eat grass😦. I’ll google if Australia has em. OMG!
ok we DO have them however I don’t think my rab has them.

From reading your link it sounds like it’s either EC or Spondylosis of the Lumbar Spine.
She’s still eating and drinking heaps. I’ll try to take a photo of her butt to see if those stains are normal, I read about flystrike and urine scalding so terrified my bun will get it.

[Author]

Messages