rabbit farmer's vent: neurological problem in young bunny

so I just got two young giant-mix bunnies a few weeks ago, they were 45 days old, super healthy, active, great breeder with great stock.
brought them home and it's been about a month. One rabbit had a weird slow side-to-side scan of her head type gaze, which we noticed at first, but they're both albino and a vet friend told me that kind of scanning is not uncommon in light-eyed animals since their vision isn't great. Otherwise they were super active, great eaters, so I didn't worry.
Then one day last week we noticed one bunny had stopped moving her hind legs (the other is totally normal). She's still eating, super active, and even though she's dragging her butt she still tries to escape her quarantine cage and gets around well enough. At this point they're about 2.5 months old (and the little rabbit is just over 1kg already, the normal one is certainly fatter).
I messaged the breeder, who of course said he had never heard of such a thing, and said the bunny must have hurt itself. But it has range of motion and if I support its weight it *can* pull the feet back, so I don't think it's broken its back.
Our vets here don't work with rabbits, so it's not like the dog where I can just bring it to a vet-- there is a wildlife vet (where I took a guinea pig once) but we're talking big money.
There is a parasite called Encephalitozoon cuniculi that causes renal and neurological symptoms (generally head tilt, but sometimes limb paralysis) and is ubiquitous here, I read that over 80% of tested rabbits in my region have it (although it generally doesn't cause symptoms). Sometimes a month-long course of dewormer can improve things, so I've decided to try it. She also had stinky diarrhea the other day, so I washed her up and am keeping her in a different cage with a floor that's better for her (tiny bars, no chance of her feet getting stuck, she can slide around easily). I switched her to totally dry alfalfa and she's drinking a LOT of water (as opposed to none before- her urine was very milky), so at least excreting wise she seems a bit better.
I figure I'll do this every day (meds and clean off her hind end) for a month and see if she improves. I suppose it could also be something entirely different, maybe just 'one of those things' where there's not much to do. I don't see her being able to live long term with a paralyzed hind end- eventually she will get some sort of sores, I think.
I don't think the prognosis looks too good for her. And the first sign that she's hurting I think I'll put her down. So far though she is just as energetic as the healthy one; I'll reevaluate every day.

I guess I have been lucky so far but I forgot the cardinal rule of animals: when you have livestock you occasionally have deadstock or sick stock. I've focused so much on nutrition and ear infections but didn't consider other options (and there really isn't much to do about this parasite-- it's passed from mother to offspring and it's everywhere). I guess I still have a lot to learn.

ps i searched but of course only saw this related thread after I hit publish.... sounds just like this. https://permies.com/t/4978/rabbit-hind-legs-working#43325

it's been what, 5 days now? (this week is hell workwise with tomorrow a holiday, and I'm having a hard time keeping up; I went and bought the meds Saturday so I suppose we first noticed the problem Friday last, today is Thursday). The bunny went from death's door to now yesterday showing some movement in her feet again. Not back to normal, but not bad. Also no more poopy butt, which is great, because that was not the best start to my morning. I'm not expecting miracles but this is excellent so far. I'm cautiously optimistic and will definitely continue the treatment the whole 28 days.
I also noticed she's got the very start of an ear infection (they are ubiquitous where I live and my vet friend says the reason rabbits aren't more popular here), so along with the wormer I gave her an ivermectin yesterday (the drops and oils don't seem to do much, in my experience, although to be fair I've never caught one this early. I figure she's got enough to worry about as it is, and the ivermectin always resolves it).

Ivermectin? What action is it doing for a ear infection?

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Ivermectin? What action is it doing for a ear infection?

my understanding is it kills ear mites that cause it and gives it a chance to heal. i think that putting oil in is supposed to likewise smother the mites but it always gets the rabbits so agitated that they scratch at their ears and things seem to get worse. I don't like to give anything if I can avoid it, but giving a bunny a small oral dose usually clears it up right away.

So ear mites are parasitic then?

I’ve used ivermectin successfully for ear mites in the past. I’ve also had good results with fipronil (aka- Frontline).

Ivermectin treats a variety of parasites, both internal and external. Not all types of course, but quite a few. I use it routinely for scabies (aka-sarcoptic mange), which is quite common in my area.

Is there ivermectin specifically for rabbit sized beasts, or a dosage chart? Think cat.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Is there ivermectin specifically for rabbit sized beasts, or a dosage chart? Think cat.

I buy a pill that is targeted at small dogs (i think the smallest dose i can buy in a pill is 3 mg), i break the pill in quarters and grind it into powder and mix with mashed banana, divide that between 2 bunnies. I think it's still more than the standard dose (im not 100% sure here but I think it's a quarter to half mg per kg) but that's about the most precise I can get using what I have.
I don't know if it works as well in cats (i know there are ivermectin drops for ear stuff too) but I'm sure there is info out there. For the rabbits I got the idea off of one of the rabbitry blogs that often get cited here.

Sounds like you are giving excellent care and are doing everything you can. I am encouraged by her improvement and glad she is not suffering. I also have not had as much luck as I had wished treating ear mites naturally, but the drops I ended up buying did do the trick. I think that was good thinking to not want to do a drawn out treatment when the animal is already going through a complicated treatment. Keep us posted!

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Is there ivermectin specifically for rabbit sized beasts, or a dosage chart? Think cat.

I've read that selamectin or imicloprid and moxidectin as spot-on treatments may be safer for cats -- apparently they can be sensitive to overdosing of ivermectin, and it's usually given as an injection with cats. I'm not sure what we used to treat one of our rescue cats who arrived with a nasty ear mite infection, but it was a spot-on treatment and took several months of monthly dosing as well as regular ear hygiene (no fun for us or the cat!) to get rid of it.

A friend of mine quoted me the difference in dose of the same drug on two different species and it was amazing - no relation to mass either.

So yes, I'd do lots of research to get an idea of how a specific animal might react to the drug you're trying. First, is it totally toxic to them, and second, how much does the job.

That said, it's got me wondering if Ivermectin is safe for Bantam chickens. My friend has one that seems to have an ear issue.

This morning we noticed bunny is sitting on her hips for the first time, rather than with her legs off to the side. One leg is moving almost normally, the other is getting there. I am so glad we tried this. My daughter is a biologist but has an animal lab tech certification and in her opinion I was just wasting my time, she was pretty sure this was a lost cause (to be sure, in the lab she's working with rabbits that probably have no exposure to this parasite). I am so glad that the information is out there and that we have access to treatment.
(I really, really want this rabbit to make it!! I wasn't planning to bring home two but they were so little I thought it would be stressful on such a young kit to suddenly be alone. They're going to make me ridiculous quantities of manure when theyre full grown....)

I am so glad the kit is improving, Tereza! Praying it makes it!

It's the Easter Bunny!

An update on the bunny- things are going really well. She's still not back to normal, but yesterday I thought she was good enough to spend the day out of the cage in the 'playground' (a fenced run in the garden i plant with food they enjoy, with some safe spaces for digging and scratching and also a shelter they can go in and under).
She's putting more weight on top of her hips and pelvis instead of just flopping to the side. When she's tired one side is definitely weaker and she'll flop over, but this girl can get around now. I saw her run up and down the ramp into the shelter and, well, nothing is going to get in her way. There is a bit of a size difference between the two, but with time hopefully she'll catch up, especially now that she can get more exercise. I did start adding some pellets for both of them, since they are giant breed bunnies they still have a lot of growing to do and I don't want any more problems.

A few days ago I thought, you know she's well enough to go back in with her sibling, so I put her back in their hutch. They then spent the entire day competing for food, and I thought she looked kind of haggard at the end of the day so I put her back into the quarantine cage. The companionship´thing didn't seem to actually be all that!! They are now 3.5 months old if not 4, so the rambunctious behavior and dominance stuff is around the corner anyway. I think the healthy one is a boy, and while I keep calling this one "she" I truly am not sure yet. so far no physical indicators, and I'm absolutely crap at trying to sex them by looking at their bottoms. It doesn't really matter anyway, they're my Fertilizer Production Engineers and we're equal opportunity employers.

And so, with things looking a bit more stable, their names came to me yesterday. The little one is named Scooter, since she's still scooting along. The other guy suddenly is not a total albino, some grey appeared on his ears and tail, so he's Smokey.

Lastly, the other night my husband was out on the porch where the quarantine cage is, and he came running in all excited saying the little bunny was scratching its ear. Of course my first thought was "ear infections again grumble grumble" and he said no, she's scratching!! and was really enthusiastic. And then I realized the paralyzed rabbit has indeed not been scratching her ear with her back feet since all this started. So that is a great start (her ear was clean, btw, she just must have been itchy).
She's still not grooming herself and her entire back end is a bit matted (her rump especially). They are just starting to lose their baby fur and I'm not sure whether I should shave/cut it or let it fall out, if any more experienced rabbiteers have any suggestions I'd love it. She's pretty calm and probably wouldn't get too upset (although now she's getting feisty enough to not enjoy taking her meds anymore, a good sign), but I don't want to risk nicking her skin and getting a fly strike type situation (bot flies are common here).

Go Scooter, go! Congratulations to Bunny Doctor Tereza! I know the difficulty treating animals when they can't communicate with you. I'm so glad it's all working out.

Go, SCOOTER!! That's great news!! I wouldn't shave or cut - just brush. So good about the progress!