Bunny seems damaged since spay

[Deleted User]

Hello, I’m new here, so first I want to say thank you for being a great resource for bunny owners. I’m pretty new to bunnies, my sweet girl Clover Bun-Bun (as named by my kids) started visiting our yard a few months ago and after a few weeks, we took her in and made her part of our family. She was very sweet and cuddly, well-socialized, and really seemed to love us. She demanded lots of scratching and loved hanging out with my kids. She is pretty small, about 3.5 lbs, and I can’t seem to find what breed she is.

We decided to get her spayed because she was peeing in a large square around her cage, clearly marking. After the spay, she continued to pee on the rug, but no longer in a pattern, just anywhere and everywhere. She then began just dribbling little bits of pee here and there. She also started doing a lot of stretching, something she didn’t do much before. Instead of moving her whole body toward the thing she was going for, she would just stretch and leave her hindquarters where they were. She seems to be avoiding using her back legs, though sometimes when feeling playful, she will seem totally normal and hop all around. She has a lot of trouble getting her back legs over any obstacle, even a few inches high. Her back legs kind of stumble over the edge, eventually hopping in after some trouble. She isn’t as loving as before, but still enjoys a good scratch. It’s mostly that she seems to have been damaged in some way from the surgery. It’s been at least 5 weeks so it seems she should be well by now. Also she poops and pees everywhere, seemingly not noticing her pee and willing to stand or sit in it. She isn’t cleaning her bottom and her back feet and butt area is really dirty. She will sit in pee and then track it all over the floor. Also I saw her try to scratch her ear yesterday, and she actually tipped over sideways, and wasn’t able to hold herself up on the one leg.

I did take her to the vet about a week after the spay, and the vet checked her for and injury, checked her sutures and incision, and sent us away with an antibiotic for a possible UTI. The pee dribbling has mostly stopped, except sometimes when I approach bun bun, she will stretch to greet me and then pee a little. It seems like she’s incontinent or something. Mostly though I’m concerned about this hindquarter problem. She eats and drinks well and seems otherwise content.

Any suggestions or ideas? Is she possibly still recovering from her surgery? TIA!

[LBJ10]

Hmm, there are a lot of possibilities here. My first thought was UTI. Did your vet do a urinalysis? What antibiotic did they prescribe and for how long?

Here is a link that describes other potential causes:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/urinary.html

It’s unlikely that the spay surgery itself caused this, but an injury could have occurred during the surgery. Like a back or pelvic injury, for example, could cause issues with urinary incontinence and back leg weakness.

[Bam]

It does sound a bit like some sort of injury to the nerves coming from the spinal cord in the the lower back. Nerves there control both mobility and sensation and urination. It may be that she is healing now, since she has made progress.

Incontinence after spay is well described in dogs and cats. It is partly due to lowered levels of estrogen. It could also be from a spinal injury or injury to spinal nerves.

Check her often so she doesn’t develop urine scald. This is redness and irritation of the genital area due to prolonged contact with urine. You can use a barrier creme if her skin gets irritated.

[Beka27]

I think I would follow up with the vet again of you haven’t already. You said she was given antibiotics a week after the spay, but it’s possible that one course was not enough and the UTI (if that is what the problem is) could have returned.

[Author]

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