Foster Bun having Neurological issues

[The Rabbit]

My handsome foster bun is having issues. I’ve had him for about a month now, and he has some obvious, clear issues.

 

He doesn’t seem to ehar or see properly at times.

He goes into an extreme deep sleep sometimes, where touching him or making noise doesn’t wake him up. It’s pretty scary.

He pees himself.

When he hops, he hops very tentatively, and has a habbit of flicking his feet out and to the sides after a few hops. He also has a habbit of stretching his legs all the way back before taking a hop. He does this every day, but not all the time.

Sometimes, especially after running to his hay box (if he doesn’t want me picking him up) he does this odd thing with his paws where he’ll shake them up and down.

He seems confused often.

he does this odd nibble thing with his mouth. he does this on people, and on his stuffed bunny. It’s as if he thinks that that is giving kisses. It doesn’t hurt, but feels odd.

He doesn’t seem to know bunny social rules. He’ll thump at odd times, like when were relaxing together. Sometimes my buns will do things, and he’ll do them at the complete opposite time.

 

He’s just been neutured (yesterday). So I can’t take him in to a vet yet.

I read that bacteria or parasites can cause these issues. he was found in the pouring rain with many other rabbits who had all peed on him, an bitten one of his legs which caused an abcess. My first thought about the legs was the abcess, but i’m not so sure. It seems to be the other rabbits new something was different about him when they attacked him.

 

any ideas of what could be happening? should I keep him in a separate room from my buns? I don’t want them to catch anything.

 

Thanks.

 

[BinkyBunny]

Awe, I’m sorry to hear your Foster bunny seems to be having trouble. You said he has problems seeing and hearing at times. Could he be blind and deaf? Or at least partially? He might be sensing his surroundings then more with his mouth and nose– which is why that may seem different. And he may be more sensitive to ground vibrations and may thump if someone’s “step” or something doesn’t feel familiar.

The shaking of the front paws doesn’t seem uncommon as sometimes bunnies will shake their front paws off before grooming themselves. But again IF his other senses are more sensitive due to hearing and sight issues, he might be more sensitive to certain things.

Did the vet check these issues out prior to neutering? Sometimes a vet will recommend blood tests prior to surgery if they suspect a health problem.

Has the vet checked for teeth issues?

I think that as long as he is healing fine and there is no urgency to bring him in, then allow him to heal from his surgery yesterday. But I would call your vet and let her know your concerns and let her decide when it would be best to bring him in. She might say wait until he has healed a bit or she may have good reason to request him in asap. So this is really something that you need to refer to your vet about.

This sounds like this has been happening since you started Fostering him? Is he recovering from surgery so far okay?

[Lagomorphic]

Poor guy! BB has some good ideas, and blindness could explain the leg stretching before hopping – he’s taking it slowly to “see” if there’s anything in his immediate environment.

But having said that, my Rosie is older (maybe 9-ish? She was a rescue), and she’s had a couple of the same neuro-type symptoms too. She seems to be having hypotonia, and she often stretches her legs all the way back before taking a hop. Or her front legs all the way out front first. Or sometimes she’ll be hopping, and stop and seem to lose muscle tone and do those “stretches.” It just seems like she has a hard time summoning up all of the muscle tone she needs to hop. I have hardwood floors, so I put rubber bath mats all around for her – outside the litter boxes, by the water dish, by her food dish, in her favorite places etc. Those + the rugs I have seem to help her.

She’s also having “absence” seizures where she just stares and doesn’t respond – she’s usually very responsive. They’re hard to notice if you don’t know her well, so you might want to watch for those in your new guy. She also seems to choke occasionally when she eats. The vet and I aren’t sure if this is a muscle tone problem or a seizure while eating or what. She’s on a maintenance dose of cisapride just in case the hypotonia starts to affect her gut motility.

I’ve been saving the not-so-great news for last: we don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s had all kinds of tests, but nothing’s come up. My vet even consulted with a rabbit expert at Ohio State. Rosie’s eating, drinking, pooping fine and being her usual happy and affectionate self, so all we’re doing right now is the cisapride and keeping an eye on her.

[BinkyBunny]

Lagomorphic — I’m sorry about your bunny. This information must be helpful though for member, The Rabbit, as the symptoms your bunny is having does sound similar.

You had said Rosie went through test– what tests did she have and what was ruled out?

[Lagomorphic]

As long as I don’t think about the fact that this is probably the beginning of the end for Rosie (since she’s older), I’m fine. She still gives me a half binky whenever I come into a room, gets excited about meals and new hay being put into the litterboxes, follows me around and “supervises” my activities, and insistently nudges me for pets alll the time.

The vet definitely looked for e cuniculi (negative) and took blood for other labs . . . Ugh, I’m not remembering what they were. I was pretty upset at the beginning of this saga and it obviously affected my memory! In any case, this vet clinic has several good rabbit vets, and they always do a thorough exam that includes dental etc, and nothing was found during the routine exams. They also had me videotape these behaviors, which they watched during their rounds and also sent it to the expert at OSU. They didn’t come up with anything more than “it looks neurological.”

Since Rosie is doing fine in every other way, we’re basically trying to prevent it from affecting her gut and keeping an eye on her. We had her on metacam to help with the seizures, but she started refusing it and I never noticed a difference when she was on it, so I didn’t push it.

[The Rabbit]

We actually had another volunteer bring in The bun with his fosters for the Neutering. The vet didn’t check it out, and the other volunteer really didn’t like him. So were definitely going to bring him to ours.

 

The paw thing is just  like before cleaning, except he doesn’t then clean himself. I know he had an abcess on his leg, and was in the shelter’s vet room for awhile, so they probably checked his teeth there.

[The Rabbit]

Poor bunny! I hope everything ends up all right with the poor girl. That could explain  Nibblet’s leg problems. The abcess was on his legs. The idea about his eyesight and sensing the movements could also be a thought. before the neuter I started leting him play in the living room. we did this twice, and he wandered around. every time he’d feel something, he’d chin it.

[Lagomorphic]

The other volunteer didn’t like him? Why is that person volunteering to help animals then?    I just find that odd.  I can find sympathy for even the most aggressive bun (since you know it’s based in fear), and I find odd buns’ quirks endearing.  Why would someone volunteer to help animals if they can’t find a way to like the difficult ones?       . . . Alright, I’ll get off my soapbox now. 

Keep us posted about what your vet says.

[Author]

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