Please help: bunny can’t move hind legs, X-Ray fine.

[Wendy]

My little bunny snow jumped off my arm Friday night and was limpy on one side. I took him to a 7/24 emergency animal hospital (which specialized in small animals) immediately.

The vet did a physical check up and also did an X-Ray and said the bunny doesn’t have a bone fracture and gave us some pain-killer. We brought bun home and placed him in a cage. We placed all the essentials inside (water, litter box, hay, etc.) and let him rest inside.

Today (Sunday, 2 days after the incident), I noticed he is eating well. But he seems still can’t use one of his hind legs and don’t move much. Also, he seems doesn’t eat the soft poops well. What should I do? Please help.

Also, I wonder, if there is no bone damage, what could cause the immobility of my bun? I really worry if there might be something serious but the vet didn’t see from x-ray. And normally how long it takes for recovery and if there is anything I can do to help this little guy.

 

Finally, a photo of my bun and he says “thank you”. :p

 

[Tony's Mum]

I would bring him to a second vet to be sure.

[Bunny House]

Did you take a picture of the X-ray that you can upload on her?

[Asriel and Bombur]

I agree with the others. Get a second opinion. Also wet readings vs dry readings can give different evidence, so it could be worth to ask them do a Dry reading as well. Sending vibes!

[A Happy Herd of Hares]

This is sad, I would get a second opinion! If she does not get better but she still eats and uses the bathroom normally you could try a wheelchair? Sending good hoppy vibes!!!!

[Q8bunny]

It could be something that’s not showing up on the xray, like a pinched nerve. I’d get another bunny savvy vet to examine the little guy.

[Bunny House]

Q8 is right, one of my buns had a tooth root abscess and from all the surgeries, it ended up ruining a nerve so she has nerve damage. She was painful for months and CTs didn’t show anything and I told them maybe a pinched nerve, got her on gabapentine and it’s a wonder drug. No pain until I miss a dose. So maybe try that, but I do recommend treating for EC at the same time just Incase because tests can show negative if they have it

[jerseygirl]

Sweet bun!
Getting him looked over again couldn’t hurt. It’s possible he’s got muscle or ligament injury that didn’t show up on xray. Or some swelling around spine that wasn’t evident initially.

When one of my past bunnies strained her front leg, it took about 2 weeks to heal.

[Bam]

X-rays can be difficult to interpret and a normal flat x-ray (as opposed to a CT or MRI) doesn’t give a full view. Muscle or ligament injury wouldn’t show up on a normal x-ray. A pinched or partially torn nerve is another possibility. Swelling takes a while to develop, so it’s not present when the injury is very fresh. Swelling causes problems because when tissues swell there’s less space for blood vessels and nerves, Did he get metacam (meloxicam)? It’s a painkiller but also an anti-inflammatory of the same type as diclofenac or ibuprofen for humans. It could potentially help with any swelling. Gabapentin can be very useful for nerve pain, but hopefully this is something temporary that could heal. My dog gets gabapentin for her back pain when it gets particularly bad, but she has a well investigated chronic back problem due to age. 

Can you tell if he has sensation in his leg and anus? If you lightly press the leg or try to bend it, very, very lightly though, is there (like a refexive) muscle response?

[Wendy]

Thank you for all the great advice!!

The bun seems gaining some of the strength back on the hind legs. No soft poops in the cage any more. (I assume he eats all of them.) And we saw some urine in the little box. So it looks like, as soon as he has the strength, he prefers to hop a little to use the litter box. He is a little bun with high standard of hygiene. (PS, The litter box has a low entrance but he was peeing in the cage instead of litter box on the first two days.)

Now he can’t stand with only hind legs and wash his face. He can stand with four legs just fine as the photo and I saw him standing using three legs and then using one front leg to clean his face.

I will keep watching~~~

[Wendy]

Posted By bam on 9/24/2018 12:18 PM

X-rays can be difficult to interpret and a normal flat x-ray (as opposed to a CT or MRI) doesn’t give a full view. Muscle or ligament injury wouldn’t show up on a normal x-ray. A pinched or partially torn nerve is another possibility. Swelling takes a while to develop, so it’s not present when the injury is very fresh. Swelling causes problems because when tissues swell there’s less space for blood vessels and nerves, Did he get metacam (meloxicam)? It’s a painkiller but also an anti-inflammatory of the same type as diclofenac or ibuprofen for humans. It could potentially help with any swelling. Gabapentin can be very useful for nerve pain, but hopefully this is something temporary that could heal. My dog gets gabapentin for her back pain when it gets particularly bad, but she has a well investigated chronic back problem due to age. 

Can you tell if he has sensation in his leg and anus? If you lightly press the leg or try to bend it, very, very lightly though, is there (like a refexive) muscle response?

Thx! I think he has sensation in his legs and anus. Yes, the vet prescribed meloxicam. He is taking 0.75 ml per day now. He seems improving everyday. I suspect he got a muscle injury.

[Bam]

Yay, lovely news =) Keep improving, little Snow!

[LittlePuffyTail]

((((((Snow))))))

[Q8bunny]

Phew… I hope it was only minor and recovery will be full and swift. (((Snow))) ?

[Author]

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