Bunny's Bad Back

Left - Caption: "The bunny's range of movement made it, amongst other things, an ineffective goalkeeper"


Another visit to the vet today. Cloudy shows improved eyes from the eye medication, and the extra saline probably helps, but she's showing little or no improvement to her nearly-motionless legs from the antibiotic and the inflammation-reducing agent. Indeed, she's suffering hair loss in the urine-soaked fur on the area on which she sits (prelude to bed sores).

I also checked records, and established she had been born about July 20, 2000, making her seven years old, not six, as I had previously thought. Rabbits typically have ten-year life spans.

Today, the rabbit specialist took a look at the X-Rays, and in addition to various bone spurs (spondylosis), she discerned two collapsed disks and a noticeably bent spine - likely the source of the paresis (near paralysis) in the hind legs. Often these things result from trauma, but except for a fall six months ago from the porch steps (three feet fall onto concrete), I know of no trauma she's suffered lately. Her decline seemed to be gradual, rather than instantaneous. Maybe that initial fall set off an unfortunate deterioration that is finally expressing itself now. Or maybe she just lived long enough to encounter these problems.

Coming into the exam, I had been inclined to opt for euthanasia, but the doctor didn't think it was time - the maggots hadn't set in yet. Paraphrasing the doctor:

Rabbits have paper-thin skin that is easily infested by maggots if they have urine-soaked fur, or fecal mats that result from diarrhea, or any other cause that irritates the skin and keeps it moist. The rabbits don't seem to pay much mind, but maggot-infestation can happen very quickly, especially in summer, with the maggots quickly crawling up under the skin. We had one maggot-infested rabbit here, and when we tried cleaning out the maggots, there were so many of them, they clogged the sink. So, the rabbit can probably live indefinitely as an invalid, but wash her four times a day, pay strict attention to skin irritation, change her position to avoid bedsores, and keep her away from flies.

So, no euthanasia, for now. But keeping the rabbit away from flies means keeping her always inside, which diminishes what little quality of life she has left (not to mention all the extra cleaning). So, a choice, of sorts: inside or outside....

I'll pick up some Desitin this evening for the diaper rash, but I'll let her enjoy the nice day outside, such as it is....