Young doe with back problem?

[Paully3]

Last night we noticed this young doe was having issues with her back legs. She was in a grow out pen with her 3 sisters. My duaghter noticed her kind of crawling and dragging her back feet. She is 13 weeks old. Her appetite is normal and behavior seems normal. Poop is normal. She was fine the day before. Could this just be a back strain or, God forbid, a neurological disorder rearing its ugly head? We have her separated and in observation for now. I want to be sure it's not contagious.,

 

[Bunnylady]

My first thought is a back injury. It is all too common to have a young rabbit wriggle out of someone's arms, fall to the ground, and wind up dragging its back legs (the floor in my rabbitry is sand for this reason). I have also seen a rabbit sprawled out in its cage with its feet through the wire get startled by something, jump up, get a foot caught in the wire and break (dislocate) its own back.

If this doe has any control in her back legs, there is some nerve function left, and there is a chance she may recover some or all of the use of her legs. She would need to be kept by herself in a very quiet spot where she will move as little as possible; it could take weeks or months for her to recover. Some don't recover, and the simplest and kindest thing to do is kill them.

There are some inheritable back issues that can appear as a rabbit grows, but unless you get a few of these otherwise inexplicable cases, I'd think that an inherited problem would be a bit of a "zebra."