Bunny Neuro problems?

SaratogaNZW · #1 04/16/09, 08:12 PM

Have a bunny health question, or problem really.
Have you ever seen a rabbit go blind or have vision or balance problems?
Yukon Jack, a NZW Buck, Born July 27th 2008.
He had some time with the does this week, Bred every morning Sunday through Wednesday, a different doe every morning.
No changes in his feed, no changes in stool. But he has been eating and drinking less.
This afternoon he was lethargic, and didn’t greet me like he usually does. I paid closer attention and pulled him from the cage.
It would seem he is blind. He just sits there, in whatever position I pose him in, which is unlike him.
His eyes are clear, his ears erect, his coat soft and thick. He isn’t grinding like hes in pain. Hes isn’t paralyzed.
But if I flip him over hes closes his eyes and curls to one side, instead or relaxing back like he usually does. And If I lay him on his back it takes him a minute to figure it out and flip over, very sluggishly.
The does he was with are all fine, and have 13-18 day old litters.

Its almost like he had a stroke or something. I plan on just watching him closely for a day and see if hes just exhausted from breeding and the unseasonably cold weather. It doesn’t seem to be obviously GI related, but I will cut him back to just some hay and water, in case he has a blockage.

Any other Ideas? Hes my only breeding buck right now, Can't afford to loose him.

MaggieJ · #2 04/16/09, 08:29 PM

I know its not the same thing at all, but I had a rooster once who gave himself a nasty concussion when he crashed into the nest box while hopping down from the roost. I was reminded of this from your description, although in his case only one eye seemed affected. He recovered but not fully, losing the sight in the eye and never seemed quite right after that. The only reason I am mentioning this is that I am wondering if perhaps your buck was startled by something and cracked his head on the cage wall.

SaratogaNZW · #3 04/16/09, 10:22 PM

On closer examination, it may be pharmacological.
His posture is flat, he prefers to lay flat on his tummy. His head posture is worse now, chin flat on the floor.

His pupils are dilated. They are reactive to light, and he flinches away from bright light, but hes definalty out of it. He seems stoned out of his mind. I promise I dont have a "Daddys special garden" lol. What kinds of things could he have gotten ahold of to make him act like Spicolli?

I put him away for the night like I do with all the buns, I hope he sleeps it off.

nancy237 · #4 04/16/09, 10:36 PM

Can rabbits get rabies???

SaratogaNZW · #5 04/16/09, 10:46 PM

any mammal can get rabies. But that would entail a slobbery bite from an infected animal like a racoon or shunk. No bites, no infected animals in the barn.

Lauren62 · #6 04/16/09, 10:52 PM

Very strange symptoms and I hope for the best for your bun. I would like to share a story about my early years of raising rabbits that was also quite strange. I would find several young ones dead or near death with symptoms that were slightly similar to yours but with swelling and foam coming out of their mouths. It seemed at first that only the very young were afflicted with this strange 'disease' and then my best buck started wobbling around, his head swollen, then foaming at the mouth, and then died. That's when I saw the rattlesnake under the cages. Turns out the snake would strike throught the cage bottom and bite my poor bunnies. Well I killed that snake and a few others in the area and raised my cages high enought to keep them safe. Anyway just one other bunny affliction to keep in mind. Good luck.

SaratogaNZW · #7 04/16/09, 10:56 PM

Hes actually on the upper tier of the barn, the bottom of his hutch is about 5 feet high. The top goes all the way to the top, about 8 1/2 feet. One of those pre-made assembled at home things from IFA.

nancy237 · #8 04/16/09, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaratogaNZW

any mammal can get rabies. But that would entail a slobbery bite from an infected animal like a racoon or shunk. No bites, no infected animals in the barn.

What about a bat bite you can't see??

SaratogaNZW · #9 04/16/09, 11:21 PM

I would hope a bat couldnt get inside the 1x1 wire mesh on his cage.

The Farm I got him from suggested wry-neck, an inner ear infection. I'll just be hoping hes doing better in the mornning.

brody · #10 04/17/09, 07:04 AM

I'd keep him warm and hydrated personally I'd have him where I could keep an eye on him

is he pooping and peeing normally? if not I'd get him going on force feeding - the last thing he needs now is to go into digestive shut down

poor you and poor him

nancy237 · #11 04/17/09, 08:15 AM

Let us know how he is doing this morning...

SaratogaNZW · #12 04/17/09, 09:49 AM

WTB Pedigreed NZW buck of breeding or near breeding age =(

He didnt make it through the night. A port-mortem revealed intestinal blockage. He was fine Wednesday night, eating and drinking, but now that I really look, his cage pan is pretty empty, the pellets in there are old. He may have been blocked since Wednesday night. He wasnt exibiting classic signs of blockage, like hunched posture or grinding, and didnt have a bloated tummy. looks like the blockage was up high in the intestine, near his spine, and early in the intestine. Stomage was pretty full of guck, not new recently ingested pellets. Now that I look back, he did get alot of green grass sunday through wednesday, as I put him in the excercise pen on the lawn every morning to breed. He would do his thing, munch and rest, and do it again. The lawn is clean and chemical free, but was probably just too much to fast. There was poopies in the excercise pen however.

If I had paid closer attn I may have noticed it Thursday morning. By the time I got home last night he was allready gone I think.
Even though i now think it was GI related, Im still going to disinfect everything and treat it like it was bacterial or protozoal wry neck. That means getting some antibiodics for the does, watching them very closely for a week, and administering antobiodics at the first sign of trouble.

Thanks for your advice and ears folks.

SquashNut · #13 04/17/09, 10:32 AM

I wish you were nearer, I have a nice 20 week old pedigreed NZW buck.
I am so sorry to hear about your buck. It hard to loose an animal like that, espesilly your herd sires.

nancy237 · #14 04/17/09, 12:29 PM

Sorry to hear that..

He sounded in bad shape last night.

I hope the does he bred to give you lots of babies.

Don't be hard on yourself..it sounds like he went downhill fast...

MaggieJ · #15 04/17/09, 12:32 PM

Sorry you lost him.

It's very odd, though, to hear of a gastric blockage in conjunction with feeding grass. One would have thought that diarrhea or bloat could possibly result from sudden overindulgence in greens, but blockage? Very odd.

SaratogaNZW · #16 04/17/09, 01:21 PM

Thats why im going to disinfect everything anyways, and clean it all down. I told the kids and wife it was GI related, but I cant convince myself 100% that it was completly GI related, just because of his behavior.

___---*** Warning - its gets gross now if your squeamish***---___

If this helps anyone else out, or If anyone sees anything that may be of further investigation please say something.

My verbal notes during the exam went like this:

This is my first time inside a New Zealand, but I have done rex and mixed breed medium buns for 19 years. They are just as big on the inside!

Skin is in great shape, allthough tougher than that of rex or any other rabbits I've ever raised. Very little fat, if any. But he also had the nicest coat of the herd. Eyes are clear, ears are clean. There is a "slobbery" spot under his chin, of slightly yellowed, matted fur. perhaps 1/2" square. I think he has always had it.

His stomach was empty, His large intestine was distended and full of gunk, his small intestine full about halfway through. Bladder is also full. How odd, the bladder sphincters should have relaxed and well ya know.. emptied.

Liver and kidneys looked remarkably clean and nice, the apple cider vinegar seems to be working for that.

Heart and lungs normal. Heart may be a little big in comparison to kidneys and other organs?

Not that I would actually be able to see wry neck infection affecting his brain, but his head came off anyways and I checked for "Mad Bunny Disease" I guess. I published a paper in 1998 on prion diseases, before the mad cow scare and CWD in America's deer and elk. I would be able to recognize somethign THAT evident. But as the first 10 years of my adult life was spent in medicine, I still had to look.

SquashNut · #17 04/17/09, 01:33 PM

Your notes sound like my NZW buck I lost last spring. He was maybe a year old when he died. He went down fast and his heart was large for his size. We did an amature diagnosis of heart problems. Every thing else you stated was the same.
I only have 1 animal left from that sire, decieded to breed away from that line. I asked the breeder if she had had any thing like it before and while she told me no, I had a feeling she wasn't being honest.
I double check all fryers when we butcher to see if there is any more like them.
What line was your rabbit from, out of curiosity.

SaratogaNZW · #18 04/17/09, 02:18 PM

His pedigree

http://lawrencefamilyalbum.com/bunni...konJack-TB.htm

SquashNut · #19 04/17/09, 02:33 PM

Looks like Taylor Rabbit farm has been around for awhile. My original rabbits were came from a breeder in Washington.
My husband thinks I keep to many rabbits, especially bucks. But if you loose your buck it really messes thing up.
Bummer!

SaratogaNZW · #20 04/17/09, 03:03 PM

Yes, Taylors has been there for 19+ years. Its just a 3+ hour drive for me, but she usually will meet you halfway on sunday afternoons =) Every bun I've seen come out of that farm has been a quality, healthy rabbit, bred for teh best qualities of a meat rabbit, not show. Large litters, Good Mommys, Long and large bodys. No fat, sick, lame, or lazy buns here!

Well Yukon wasnt a total loss. He was a good breeder, has 33 kits in the nests now, and 24 days from now, his legacy will continue when his last sired litters are born. With as sweet and funny as he was, my next buck has a big cage to fill! I may actually get 2 and rotate them in, since my does have a habit of always coming in within 2-3 days of each other.