Rabbit help ... not moving back legs

[erinszoo]

Our one year old female California White was laying in the back of her cage today when I went out to feed them. Normally she gets up and comes to me to see what treats I have for her but today she just laid there not moving. She was still breathing but seemed to be staring up at the ceiling without blinking. I tried to get her to move but she wouldn't stand up. She reacts normally if I touch her legs and hind quarters but won't stand up on them.

She has just weaned her first litter. Their hutch is outside and they have daily romps in an enclosure in the yard. She was fine yesterday, hopping around and everything. Today she is eating and drinking just fine, just won't move her hind end.

Any ideas what to do? There's not a vet open or available today anywhere near us.

I brought her inside and put her in our room in a smaller cage with a water bottle where she can reach it without moving and have hand fed her some carrot tops and alfalfa hay, which she loves.

 

[Munkey]

How hot was it there today? is around her tail all wet?

 

[erinszoo]

It's been in the mid to upper 90's for the last few days. No her tail end wasn't wet. Since I brought her inside she has eaten and drank A LOT. I went in a petted her a few minutes ago and she flinched all over like she was going to thump at me but she didn't move otherwise. Any time it gets over 85 during the day I put a large gallon jug that I keep frozen in the middle of their cage.

AFter I brought her inside, I put everyone else in their outdoor enclosure in the yard and we cleaned the whole cage with bleach/water and then rinsed it all really well, let it dry, and filled it with completely new hay.

 

[Munkey]

she could have had a heat stroke, The signs of heatstroke include heavy panting, salivating, confusion, inability to move and the rabbit may have convulsions. I would keep her indoors for a while to see if things start to get better.

 

[Bunnylady]

How is she today?

 

[erinszoo]

She's still not moving much but she is drinking and eating the vegies I've given her ... and she's eliminating just fine. She's moved herself around the cage some but she's not getting up and moving normally. When I touch her she raises her head up and kicks some. Both of her back legs seem to still be working just fine and she's not sensitive to touch so I don't think she's hurt. She's eaten lettuce, carrots, carrots tops, a cabbage leaf from the garden, a piece of banana, and some alfalfa.

Our biggest concern is that we are supposed to leave town Thursday morning for a much needed and very delayed vacation. My mom will be here one day to look in on everyone and water the garden but the rest of the time we have a neighbor girl coming to care for the animals. I hate to leave her alone with a teenager because I would hate for her to get worse and then the girl would have to deal with it but our vet said they wouldn't do anything more than we are for her and that she'll be less stressed at our house.

 

[Bunnylady]

Dumb question - you are giving her pellets, right?

As you most likely know, rabbits are prone to spinal injuries. Your doe might have caught a leg or something and hurt her back, but if she is able to move her limbs, etc, there's a good chance she'll recover.

Here's another thought, one that is a bit off-the-wall. I haven't read anything to support this, this is based just on my own observation. I believe that rabbit does can lose enough calcium while nursing to develop a calcium deficiency. The symptoms (weakness/lack of coordination, possibly convulsions, depression) may be pretty subtle. Over the years, I have had a few does that died when their litters were 3 - 4 weeks old. That is past the point that one would expect "young doe disease" to be the cause. Each of these girls had largish litters, and the kits were growing very well. There were signs that some of these does died in convulsions. Some of these deaths might have been attributable to heatstroke, but some had occurred at night or during other times when the temps weren't all that high. I hadn't a clue what might have been the cause, until this one Netherland Dwarf doe. She was raising 5 (which is a lot for a Dwarf) and they were close to 4 weeks old. I thought they needed more room, so I was moving them to a larger cage. When I picked up the doe, I realized that she was trembling - I could feel it when I held her. When I set her down in a cage, the trembling continued; when she moved, she seemed to be staggering, and she was having trouble using her back legs. On a hunch, I isolated her, and started force-feeding her a calcium supplement tablet crushed up in yogurt and banana. Within a day, the trembling stopped (she also started eating the banana mixture voluntarily). On day 3, she had a bout of GI stasis that had me doing this

but she recovered, and a few days later was well enough to go back out to the rabbitry. You say your doe just weaned a litter - my experience makes me wonder if her minerals might be a bit depleted by that litter she raised.

 

[mike256]

I have a californian that just had her first litter. with these symptoms. She was getting around well yesterday and today she's not using her hind legs and acting as if they aren't working correctly. She has 4 kits and they are all doing well. Her hiney is wet and she's developed some sores. I'm going to be giving her a bath and dressing her legs as best as I can tonight. We got her for meat and I don't want her to suffer if it can be avoided. The last couple days have been pretty warm, but we've been putting iced bottles in for our bunnies to snuggle with and keep their hutches in the shade.