Splay Legs

[katievt]

I have a young bunny with rear splay legs.  He pulls himself around with his front legs really well; eats and drinks just fine; but he is a disabled rabbit. 

In my 12+ years of raising angoras, plus the last year of meat rabbits, I've never come across it.  There are supposedly three possible reasons for it: injury, genetic, and environmental.  I don't believe it is environmental as it became apparent while still in the nestbox with plenty of traction.  Mother is a very large NZW who could have stepped on him.  She also comes from some very inbred NZWs, but was completely outcrossed (Flemish/Californian) for this litter.  I have several other litters right now from the inbred NZWs bred to inbred NZWs (wasn't aware how inbred until talking recently with their prior owner).  So either injury or genetic is possible.

I am wondering if anybody has dealt with splay legs and what did you do for/with the rabbit?  I know eating him is probably the way to go.  We are raising meat rabbits and I've been doing really well about not getting attached to the litters.  But this little guy has stolen my heart.    He is so sweet and docile, shows a lot of pluck keeping up with his littermates, and is Pointed/Californian/Himi marked, so he's extra cute!  He is currently wearing a ziptie/medical tape hobble to attempt to keep his legs together.  Anyone have any experience with that?  I'm holding out a slight hope that it will strengthen his legs enough, so he's not so disabled and maybe would be a decent housepet for someone.

Again, I realistically know that it may be best if he is grown out and then eaten.  If poor Hobbles was YOUR bunny - what would you do?  Keeping in mind that anything done would have to be free or very cheap.       

[shellymay]

Sorry to hear this Katie, I raised rabbits for a few years and have never come across this issue
and can't give you a for sure, but with sheep when the muscles in legs are not working correctly
it is called White muscle disease which is caused by  deficiencies in selenium or vitamin E, wonder
if you could give the bunny a shot of selenium ((BO-SE) "your sister will have this")  along with
what ever else you are trying??

As far as the bunnies future, I would be worried about what they can't say, if treatment doesn't
help heal how does one know if the bunny is in pain and that would be my worst fear as I wouldn't
want to see any animal suffering....

My heart goes out to you and the bunny!!

[WindyRidge]

Wish I was more knowledgeable on rabbits to be of any help. I only have a couple does and breed for meat. I don't have time to deal with issues, so I just cull any who aren't healthy. But I understand having a soft spot too. So I suppose if he's getting around fine with the hobbles and doesn't seem to be suffering (I'm sure you could tell if he was) I see no problem with giving him time. If he seems to heal up and you can find a pet home, great. If not, at least he'd be big enough to butcher. That was his original purpose so it's less of a waste than just having to put him down. Whenever we have a down cow (when we know the meat is safe) we always try to butcher her ourselves and at least get the meat - I feel less bad about losing one if at least she can feed us or someone else. THe same goes for bunnies.

Have you stumbled on the Rabbit Talk forum? www.rabbittalk.com It's run by a really nice group and the atmosphere is very friendly. Most do breed for meat so they understand about trying to solve issues without putting much money into it. I know some groups immediately insist on a vet, but these ladies are very knowledgable and excellent do-it-yourselfers. I seldom post there but lurk often and have learned a lot. Might be another good source of info for you to try.