Causes of sore hocks?

My little girlie bun Lavender has been suffering with her hocks recently, its since we changed her housing but I think that may just be coincidence. She used to spend the day in a large dog crate (news papers on the floor, wooden shelf and litter tray) with her friend Charlie, and the evenings out in the living room. Now she has a large section of the living room (8ft square, plus dog crate) which was carpeted but for the last several months the carpet has been covered in fleece as I had (perhaps wrongly) assumed the carpet was causing her sore hocks. I've also noticed she kinda sits odd sometimes, and sticks her back feet forwards more than I'd expect.

So, now I'm investigating other causes, been reading around on the internet and the main causes cited seem to be:
- overweight (no, if anything she's v slightly underweight)
- wire based cages (obviously not relevant here!)
- dirty cages (nope, litter tray cleaned daily, area vacuumed regularly and blankets all changes weekly or immediately if any 'accidents' occur, which they don't)
- long nails (nope, hers are clipped v regularly)
- arthritis in the spine (probably not, I discussed this with the vet, and we put her on metacam to see if it made a difference, did it for 6 weeks or so, no difference at all)
- hips (the vet felt her hips and said he couldnt' feel anything out of the ordinary, but couldn't be sure)

She's obviously not in pain as she binkies all over the place. Her one foot bled today so we're off back to the vets again, but anyone got any ideas?

How about over grooming cos she is sometimes v v vigorous with her feet licking!?

I just read something that suggested using cold used tea bags to toughen the skin on their feet - anyone any idea if this does anything?! http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sorehocks.shtml

I would suggest an Xray of her spine/hips.
Also, is the hock swollen at all ?

The other possibility is a problem with the tendons in the hock. So the Vet would need to carefully assess her gait and how she positions the plantar area of her foot as she sits/hops etc.

I have not used the 'teabag treatment' myself

Finally, ask the Vet to check her ears. If she has lots of gunk in the ear on the same side as the sore hock that could be a pointer towards the fact she is less agile with that leg (so cant scratch her ear on that side). Conversely if the ear on the opposite side to the sore hock is full of gunk that would point towards the possibility that she is taking less weight on that leg (causing a sore hock on the opposite leg) due to a problem in that leg (the non sore hock one!)

Hope that last bit makes sense :?

Jane - you're a star, thank you. I'll chat to my vet about your suggestions.

could she be moved to grass could it be the ahrsh carpet causing the probs? a deep layer of hay may help, what breed is she? i know giants adn rexes are more prone to it than other bunnies. i am sure that raven rex used to post about a creame that helped...i think it was flamazine? but check with the vets or previosu posts iv not had a bun with sore hocks(well not to the extent of bleeding) and havent personally treid the creame. x