Tofee the rabbit.not looking good what would you do?

We had to rush Toffee to the vets last Tuesday as she had rear end paralysis.She was given an anti inflammatory, ab's and some medicine. the diagnosis was E cuniculi. this is a parasite which causes lesions oin the kidney and brain and which causes head tilt,fits and paralysis in rabbits.The medicine will kill the parasites but we have no idea if Toffee will regain any movement in her rear end.

At the moment she is inside away from her litter mate and is being nursed by us. We are having to wash her back end twice daily as she cannot groom herself. She is eating a small amount of fresh food but is not touching her dried food at all. She is taking a little water from her bottle which we are supplementing from a syringe.She is still urinating and pooing.She will lift her head up when she hears us coming and turns towards us with her body.

The vet said it would be about a week beore we saw any improvement but in my mind she is more dependent on us in terms of feeding than last week.

If she was your bunny what would you do? The medicine for the e cuniclui is to be given for a month so treatment is obviously long term.

Just wanting some input really .I am going to take her back to the vets on Monday unless we have a sudden deteriation before then.

That really is a difficult one. My head is telling me one thing and my heart another. I'm sure you are the same
I think I would give it the week and then make the decision that was right for the bunny.
Thinking of you x

I would give it the week, my one who recovered was unable to eat herself and was totally floppy. She was syringe fed milk so unless her eyes tell you enough is enough I would give it a little longer but it is definately a tough call.

oh hun, what a difficult decision.

If you could know that her paralysis was only temporary, I'd say stick with it, but it doesn't sound good at the moment does it.

I'm guessing the vet thought that if the paralysis was due to pressure from the internal inflamation, you would see improvement in a week. I think it is a good idea to go back and see what the vet says on Monday.

Hugs to you all

PS - I'm sure you've already read up, but I did find an interesting article on it - http://www.thebrc.org/health.htm

Just in case you are not aware, it can apparently be transmitted to humans. I'm sure you are already very careful about disinfecting yourselves particularly after cleaning Tofee's bottom, but I thought it better to mention.

What age are they now Rach ?

about 5 now Pip.

i just hope she improves this week - but about paralysis.... all depends if she improves then decision is perhaps made for you...

i hope she does make a full recovery - my friends rabbit is now nine, so i hope she goes on and makes that age

Rachel, as you know, I had a bunny (Jett) with e.cuniculi but I didn't realise until it far too late and we lost him and boy how I cried... But unless she really goes down hill, please don't give up hope... not quite the same but my late great guinea pig Charlie, had a nasty fall and had paralysis and the vets said no thats it he will have to be put to sleep, that piggie was walking albeit with a wiggle within a few days... I always say where there is life there is hope.. If she has not worsened and is eating something (which is important with bunnies due to stasis) then there is hope, it can take a while for meds to kick in..
Thinking of you hun xx

so sorry to hear about your bunny i would give it another week as well and see how she is then.

a friend of mine had a bunny who was the same as tofee, dont know if it was caused by the same thing, but was the same as your bunny. they sadly had to make the decision to PTS. hopefully your bunny will improve. (((hugs)))

This is a real rollercoaster. we have just had her out of her crate, we were topping up her water intake with the syringe. i came in with a bunch of baby carrots freshly picked from the garden. She smelled them and went crazy! they were absolutely devoured! We put her down on the floor on a cloth to see what she did and was running around. Her back end had no improvement at all but she had loads of energy . I am still going to take her to the vet on Monday as obviously it is the paralysis that is the main problem, and will be the determining factor I feel in the decision we have to make.