rabbit hind leg amputation.

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Romain Pizzi — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:09:46 GMT

Quick addition. There are numerous different opinions, should you/shouldn't you; do rabbits cope better with hindleg or foreleg amputation; do younger or older rabbits cope better, etc.

I have unfortunately had to amputate quiet a number of both hind and forelegs in a variety of rabbits over the years (devitalised legs, severe bites from predators, highly comminuted fractures), and the vast majority have actually done very well, whether hind or foreleg - HOWEVER patient selection is essential. An elderly obese large breed rabbit, with spinal abnormalities and arthritis in the opposite leg is NOT a candidate for amputation!!!!

Romain

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Heidi O'Toole — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:41:24 GMT

ah yeah , thanks for the replys. The bun was pts, but it is still interesting to know about any possibilities for future rabbits. Thanks x

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Arlo Guthrie — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:32:51 GMT

Just to say that I've moved this into Romain's Rabbit Awareness Week forum for an opinion from the specialist!

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

A Little TLC — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:44:38 GMT

Seen hind limb amp in a wild bunny, who was kept as a permanent, whizzed about like nothing was wrong at all!!!

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Rachel Jayne — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:22:15 GMT

Oh no!

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Kim Buckley — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 19:06:33 GMT

[quote user="Rachel Jayne"]

Just had a look to see if I could find any articles on any for you

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12109898

If your vet wanted advice maybe he/she could ring the RWAF Rabbit Clinic at Bristol Uni?

[/quote]

The rabbit this post was about was pts

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Rachel Jayne — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:57:55 GMT

Just had a look to see if I could find any articles on any for you

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12109898

If your vet wanted advice maybe he/she could ring the RWAF Rabbit Clinic at Bristol Uni?

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Kim Buckley — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:53:20 GMT

I've seen one pinned aswell. Did well.

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Rachel Jayne — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:52:25 GMT

[quote user="Ding"]

ah thats all good to hear..we never really get the clients who want to go further with treatment with rabbits, they usually pts.

The rabbit in question is 1.8kg, young, healthy rabbit, who got dropped by one of the children and has a broken femur, he is dragging it about at this point.

We wanted to amputate it but i wanted opinions to see how well they cope as we dont really have many cases. This is all great news and thanks to everyone for thier comments x

[/quote]

In my first practice our ortho vet (at the time) fixed a fracture in a really young bun, did really well. Can't remember if he ex-fixed or pinned it though.

Hope your little one does ok!

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Kate Claxton DipAVN(Med)VN — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 19:15:33 GMT

If if's any consolation, I've seen a fair few hind limb amputations in bunnies where the buns did not have good post op function or QOL - one could only hop round in circles and it was heartbreaking to watch. I personally don't think it's fair to the bunnies - forelimb amputations yes, not hindlimb for the reasons your vet stated, all the power is in the back legs of a rabbit, and although it's more likely to be effective in a small breed, it's still a high risk procedure to put the rabbit through given the success/failure rate. The vets at my former charity hospital decided not to offer the surgery any more on ethical grounds following a few trial procedures in injured bunnies over a 2 year period - we used to see a fair few dropped rabbits, unfortunately.

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Maisy — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:52:02 GMT

Poor bunny

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Heidi O'Toole — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:59:37 GMT

ha no, not in norfolk! Unfortunately the vet read up on it and advised the o's that it is a risky op and for the £200 op , it may not be guaranteed to work and the rabbit may not take to 3 legs as they use thier hind limbs more..so got pts :( was only 6m old too. I tried to get him signed over but it was to no avail :(

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Jo Mackenzie — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:22:01 GMT

I've seen a hind leg amputated on a rabbit (it's in my portfolio - covered a huuuge amount with that case lol) but we also recently pinned a rabbit's femur. It was a young, otherwise healthy bunny that had been dropped, doing well so far (touch wood!)

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Fiona Leathers — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:15:15 GMT

Been involved in a couple of amputees and they all seem to do very well without legs! Certainly wouldn't say they have any bother. The biggest worry for us was wound interefence but this happen more in house rabbits or ones that were kept inside - I think cos they got bored easily - garden rabbits did much better - just need something like F10 with insecticide on the wound to prevent myasis.

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

A-J — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:51:40 GMT

oh that is what happened to my cousins rabbit

are you in Norfolk?

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Heidi O'Toole — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:24:42 GMT

ah thats all good to hear..we never really get the clients who want to go further with treatment with rabbits, they usually pts.

The rabbit in question is 1.8kg, young, healthy rabbit, who got dropped by one of the children and has a broken femur, he is dragging it about at this point.

We wanted to amputate it but i wanted opinions to see how well they cope as we dont really have many cases. This is all great news and thanks to everyone for thier comments x

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

A-J — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:44:06 GMT

my cousin had her rabbits leg amputated yesterday and it is bouncing around as normal well minus its leg!!

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Sal the 1st — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:18:13 GMT

have seen one rabbit hindlimb amputee following an horrendous wound and swollen foot caused by a ring.(the foot was black and stinking by the time we got to see it). did very well initially then developed a sore over the stump which took an age to heal. about 6 months after the sore had healed developed another and after that had healed was presented with flystrike. rabbit was signed over and never looked back - i am convinced some of the post op problems were down to husbandry

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Maisy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:50:27 GMT

I've seen a couple of bunnies with amputations, one of which was a hind limb amputation. The rabbit was a Flemish giant rescue bun with an old unrepaired # and muscle wastage and was starting to drag the limb so the decision was made to amputate. Surgery wise all went well however there was some dehiscence of part of the wound afterwards. The owner was given a mini-physio/mobility demo on building up muscle tone on the remaining hindlimb and the rabbit coped really well afterwards.

I think a lot of it does depend on the bunny, especially the size. The client was considering pts in this case because his overall condition wasn't fantastic as he had previously been poorly cared for yet was quite a young rabbit. This would definitely be something to consider like we would when contemplating large heavy dogs having one of their HLs amputated. Certainly smaller bunnies could cope just as well as they do with 4 legs.

How come the rabbit needs amputation?

Re: rabbit hind leg amputation.

Kim Buckley — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:43:22 GMT

I've seen a few and yeah they generally cope really well with it. Don't think the same would be said for a front leg though.