Moomoo is falling over after a big binky or run…

[mint]

My poor moomsy is falling over occasionally. She will run across the room and all of a sudden fall over on her side. It’s almost like one of her legs gives out. She gets up after that and hops away a little more gingerly but otherwise is normal.

I took her to the vet the first time it happened and she had a touch of stasis. The doctor did X-rays and said she has minor disc shrinkage in her spine but it didn’t look too bad. She was on pain medication and motility drugs and recovered fine.

She’s been off meds for two weeks and the last week or so I noticed her fall down once. Today she fell down twice.

I’m worried she is having arthritis or something but I have no idea. When the doctor handled her she said Mooms didn’t seem too tender when stretching.

She’s otherwise fine, eating, pooping, playing and binkying. It’s just when I see her fall over its really sad. I wonder if she’s in pain? Does anyone know what it could be? Thanks for reading.

[BinkyBunny]

 Oh, I’m sorry, that must be sad to see. Rabbits though are amazingly resilient (it can affect us more emotionally then it affects them)…. and she has your love and affection to keep her spirits up.  However, physically, she may need pain meds and if she does have arthritis, there may be some things you can do as well to help — like glucosamine.  That helped Jack’s arthritis — his was mild though in his spine. (worse in his front foot). 

I would call your vet and let her know what’s going on so you can start working on what may keep your bunny physically comfortable if doing binkies or other bunny acrobatics seems to cause her to fall.  

Have you noticed that her legs or the way she hops in general is different? 

Another thing to keep in mind is the possibility of e.cuniculi as that can cause hind leg weakess in some rabbits as the nerves from the brain to the hind legs can sometimes get messed up and cause a bit of an imbalance at times.  My bunny Bailey was afflicted in that way, (she had spine issues and e.cuniculi, but with diffferent treatments she improved.  However, the way she hopped was not the norm— with her, it’s not like she would be hopping normally and then suddenly fall over.  She always had sort of a goofy hop (her legs would not stretch out as far out in her gate —  they would always tuck in more tightly than normal bunnies).   Again, this is not to scare you,  as Bailey was a happy active bunny, but it is something to bring up and discuss with your vet. 

 

[mint]

Thanks for the quick help. I’m glad there are options.

It is her hind leg. But she periscopes and hops like normal pretty much. She’s getting a little older, about 5 years old, so she doesn’t run around as much as before. She only falls during those bursts of energy.

I’ll definitely check with the vet. Glucosamine sounds like a good prospect.

[bunnyfriend]

Sorry I don’t have any advice but I read this and I hope she is okay! (((((vibes)))))

[RabbitPam]

I thought of glucosamine as well, since this gradually happened to Spockie when he was 7.
Have her checked for the e.cuniculi just in case.

It sounds like when you were focused on the stasis she had it but may have been weak and your vet was focused on the major issue. Now it could be arthritis or related to something else. Your vet will need to determine if she’s in pain with it.

It could be as simple as when we have not exercised in a long time, then do so vigorously, and we don’t have muscles up to the task, or coordination. But even so, a bunny fall says arthritis to me.

[Author]

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