Smudge - U/D 30/04/10 bandage off, but the real challenge begins!

Looks like I'll be taking Smudgie to the vets tomorrow morning, he's got a limp on his back right leg :? I don't for a moment think that it's broken, it doesn't seem like it is and he doesn't flinch when I touch it, but I know how fragile their bones can be. He seems fine otherwise, stuffing his face with hay and drinking, still hopping around a bit and whilst he's sitting on it okay, using it to scrat his face and in his cleaning routine/etc just fine, he's not putting full weight on it when he hops. It doesn't appear to be bothering him and there's no obvious signs of pain. But obviously I still want him to see the vet asap :? I'll be monitoring him tonight to make sure he stays otherwise-okay.

The only thing I can think of.... Is it possible for a rabbit to pull a muscle if it tries to over-exert itself after a period of confinement? I ask because he's been in bunny-boarding for 6 days which was a 6ftx5ft pen (compared to his usual free ranging across the whole ground floor of the house) and the moment he got home he raced straight around the house/garden, if that were me suddenly doing exercise after not moving around as much, and not warming up first, I think I would pull a few things but I don't know enough about rabbit muscles to know if they can get pulled as easily as lazy-human muscles...

Poor Smudgie, almost a whole day later and not a single reply to his thread?

Well...the vet has taken a look at it. He thinks Smudge has fractured the lower part of his foot or his toe, most likely the toe, after a really good feel from the top of the leg downwards he thought he felt some 'clicking' in the toe digits. He believes that the leg itself is fine, which is a relief, but he's booked us in tomorrow for an x-ray just to be sure that nothing else is going on. If it's the toe itself there's not much they can do surgically, it's better off healing on it's own, if it's the foot he talked about pins but I guess it all comes down to what the xray shows. Poor little boy

I'm confining him to the living room this evening, it's a bigger space than his run is and bigger than ideal, but it's a safer place for him to be since it's a all level whereas the run has a ramp and shelf/etc that I don't want him to try jumping up on :?

Hey

I'm really glad your bun is back home with you, and I'm relieved that it's not his leg that seems to be the problem. I'm sending as many vibes for his X-ray tomorrow as possible and I hope it's something that can be sorted without surgery. Is he on pain relief for it? xx

Thanks *hugs* He isn't on any pain relief at the moment, he seems to be coping very well with it all. I guess if it's the end of his foot rather than his leg then it may not be causing him too much grief moving around as he's mostly using his other 3 legs (and even on those 3 legs, he still outruns me...:roll but he's being watched like a hawk for any signs of going downhill :shock: right now he's tucking into a big lump of hay whilst giving me a bit of a glare

Aww bless him.

Edit: Sorry, I mentioned about what happened to Smooch and have just been and checked and you had already replied to it and were fully aware. Give your bun a massive hug for me, he deserves it. I really am so glad your bun's problem isn't too serious and that the x-ray results come back positive and he doesn't need surgery, and thankyou for your support xxxx

Smooch is still very much on my mind this evening I guess, like you, we won't know anything for sure until after the xray. I would give Smudge lots of cuddles tonight but he's just not a 'people' bunny, he adores his bunny-wife Sora but his contact with us is only on his terms. He's an anto-social little Victor Meldrew but we love him just the same I think I will try and win his love with carrots instead

Although in a way it was a bit complicated trying to explain to the vet that the way to distinguish Smudge from Sora tomorrow is that Sora has the white smudge on her head and Smudge has no smudge

Any news on Smudge's X-ray results? Hope it's all gone well and the problem can be sorted easily xxxx

:wave:

All I know is he's woken up from the light anaesthetic they put him under and he's 'fine' in the sense of having woken up okay, but the receptionist couldn't tell me any results of the x-ray over the phone. I'm collecting him and Sora at a pre-booked appointment at 6.20pm with the vet, but I guess in the meantime since they didn't need to call me during the xray then it's not the worst-case scenario, though I'll have to wait until tonight to know what's going on or if the x-ray didn't provide any answers.

But it is a relief since he's woken up from the anaesthetic I can worry a little less and can now actually get on with the job I'm paid to do until 5pm

P.S - decided to catch him on camera last night stuffing his face (he's the one in the background :lol

Well...the xray shows he's broken one of the bones in his foot it's the second toe in from the outside, and broken on the foot bone right before the toe joint so there's nothing that can be done for him in terms of pinning etc, - I wanted to show people exactly where the break is as it's hard to describe, but I haven't been able to find an image of the skeletal structure on the internet :? He's come home in a giant bandage all up his leg


(please ignore the mess...they were in cardboard-demolish-mode for the last couple of days )

The vet recommended that we try and keep him confined to a small area for three weeks, so we went out and bought an interlocking animal pen from Argos and set up a little area for him in the living room....and it just stressed him out being locked up I really don't want to add stress to his problems so I'm in a bit of a catch 22...do I lock him up and watch him stress or do I let him just sit where he pleases in the room and hope he doesn't get too active? I've taken the Nero cage out and just put the litter trays straight onto the floor so he doesn't have to worry about jumping in and out of that.

He's going back on Friday evening for the bandage to be removed & checked and he's on 0.5ml of metacam daily. If anyone has any foot-healing vibes going, he could really use some and they would be really appreciated

Aw...poor boy!!!!! Sending lots of 'foot healing vibes' your way!!!!!!

Poor chap

I hope he will mend well xx

Only just seen this thread.

Lots of vibes for little Smudge! xx

Thank you for the vibes, he's spent all night resting (a little bit of a hop here and there but thankfully nothing too much) but I've had to sleep on the sofa next to him because Sora keeps trying to bite and pull the bandage :?

I'm trying to think about how to get the metacam into him today, I'm going to try syringing him but it's going to be difficult as he's not keen on being caught & picked up anyway and after yesterday he's not really letting me go near him unless he's dozing off - and I don't fancy the thought of him trying to run away from me if he's supposed to be on the bunny equivalent of bedrest. If oral syringe fails I think I may try and mix it with some Critical Care and see what happens.

All my friends are laughing at the photo of him saying he looks silly :roll: I told them if they broke their leg to give me a call and I'll happily go round and laugh at them :evil:

i never saw this thread before

poor little thing in that cast sending loads of quick recovery vibes xxxxx

One of my foster bunnies, Hank, broke a similar bone but in his front paw. Pic below He didn't seem at all bothered by the damage he had done to himself and would happily hop around on 3 legs. Keeping him confined was hard work but we found a balance & he made a full recovery

Giving Metacam might not be that hard. I've generally found that buns like the taste and will happily open their mouth and let you squirt it in. Good luck tho x

Awww bless his little heart. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Only just seen this thread! Poor Smudge!

Sending lots of healing vibes and hope he copes ok with being confined.

My chinchilla was on Metacam until he died and though he hated syringing in general he'd take the Metacam direct from the syringe without being held as it is so nommy. So worth a try....

Poor Smudge; I've only just seen this too so apologies for not replying sooner.

I'm sure he'll be back hopping around before you know it. Alfie is now running around like he always was and, apart from his bald leg, you wouldn't know which leg was pinned.

Confinement is hard - luckily Alfie took it pretty well and just sulked instead of getting stressed and angry. :roll:

Alfie didn't like being syringed his meds - the least stressful way was to put the metacam on a small piece of bread or mixed in with a very tiny amount of baby food.

Sending lots of vibes.

Poor chap.
I put metacam on a fenugreek crunchie...or one of Liz's biscuits.

Thank you all for the help, advice and tips mentioned

At the moment working with what I have, the ‘happy balance’ is confined to the living room :? Though it’s a bit bigger area than I would prefer, it’s considerably smaller than his usual roaming ground (usually he has the whole of the ground floor which he dashes around, as well as free range access to the garden for all of the daylight hours I’m at home).

I have a second interlocking pen on order from Argos as they only had one in stock last night when I needed it at short notice – it’s this one here which will arrive either tomorrow or Friday. I’m hoping that interlocking two together as a NIC cube-style setup, giving him a slightly larger area than we tried last night but still a smaller area than the whole living room, might be a better balance :? I think the main problem is Sora, when we tried confining her in with him, she stressed biting and attacking the bars trying to get out, and when we tried putting her on the outside, she did the same trying to get in. Both times set Smudgie off with stressing and panic :?

He’s been a good boy and rested all night and all morning before I went to work, he just seems to want to rest in a place he chooses rather than me choosing for him or putting a pen around him wherever he lays :roll: but that’s always been his nature so nothing out of the ordinary there I did mention my concerns to the vet last night and asked what would happen if we weren’t able to keep him confined. His response was to do our best, but it still feels like we’re failing

I’m off to Sainsbury’s at lunchtime to find something tasty to put his metacam on, I’ve seen before that people mention a very small amount of porridge may work so I’ll be picking up that, as well as baby food, and various treats from the pet shop so I’m well-armed tonight for his metacam :shock: he’s a bit of a food-lover so he may well just take it out of a syringe but I don’t think I’m that lucky to get an easy ride with it :lol: