Sore hocks

I had Jager and her brother at the vets yesterday (finally they are trying to work out what her head shaking is about!) and noticed she has small red patches on her feet. I checked Fleury and Harley earlier today and found out that they both have sore feeties too I never noticed before as their feet are soo furry

They don't seem bothered by them at all, I have had Jager and Fleury just over a year now and Harley nearly a year, and this whole time they have been on carpet, but in their cages I originally had wood shavings covering the whole base, then a fleece blanket and then I just had the plastic base as they always moved the blanket to lie on the plastic. In the last week Jager and Fleury have moved into a dog crate with a wooden level and I have just put a folded up blanket on the level so they have a "soft" area and vet bed on part of the bottom of the crate. Harley currently just has plastic as his base as I've only just realised.

Sorry for the length just wanted to get in all the details, but how long do you think they have had sore feet? Would it have been caused by the hard surfaces in their cages or by the carpet? Thinking about it I'm sure a few months ago I looked at somebun's feet and they were fine :?

Keky said:

I had Jager and her brother at the vets yesterday (finally they are trying to work out what her head shaking is about!) and noticed she has small red patches on her feet. I checked Fleury and Harley earlier today and found out that they both have sore feeties too I never noticed before as their feet are soo furry

They don't seem bothered by them at all, I have had Jager and Fleury just over a year now and Harley nearly a year, and this whole time they have been on carpet, but in their cages I originally had wood shavings covering the whole base, then a fleece blanket and then I just had the plastic base as they always moved the blanket to lie on the plastic. In the last week Jager and Fleury have moved into a dog crate with a wooden level and I have just put a folded up blanket on the level so they have a "soft" area and vet bed on part of the bottom of the crate. Harley currently just has plastic as his base as I've only just realised.

Sorry for the length just wanted to get in all the details, but how long do you think they have had sore feet? Would it have been caused by the hard surfaces in their cages or by the carpet? Thinking about it I'm sure a few months ago I looked at somebun's feet and they were fine :?

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Then they sound like normal hock callouses and with all the lovely thick fur on the feet they really only need monitoring at this stage, as the fur will protect them.

Any surface that does not allow the toes to sink in and lift the weight off the hock when bun is at rest can predispose to this condition, as can many other factors such as being overweight, lack of exercise, certain breeds with little or no fur on feet/guard hairs, gait problems from disability and soiled bedding etc.

The bedding you are providing now is ideal for indoor buns but I would pad it out more underneath and make sure every bun has somewhere padded to rest up. One folded blanket does not 'give' much. Vet beds with a towel underneath and a blanket on top is what we do here :wave:

Yes carpets, especially manmade fibres can precipitate the problem through friction and sawdust is highly abrasive.

prettylupin said:

Then they sound like normal hock callouses and with all the lovely thick fur on the feet they really only need monitoring at this stage, as the fur will protect them.

Any surface that does not allow the toes to sink in and lift the weight off the hock when bun is at rest can predispose to this condition, as can many other factors such as being overweight, lack of exercise, certain breeds with little or no fur on feet/guard hairs, gait problems from disability and soiled bedding etc.

The bedding you are providing now is ideal for indoor buns but I would pad it out more underneath and make sure every bun has somewhere padded to rest up. One folded blanket does not 'give' much. Vet beds with a towel underneath and a blanket on top is what we do here :wave:

Yes carpets, especially manmade fibres can precipitate the problem through friction and sawdust is highly abrasive.

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The blanket is folded so it is 8 times as thick as usual if that makes any difference? I'm struggling to come up with ideas of how to cover the wooden shelf due to the shape of it :lol: It's the same shape as from this thread. I might go raid Tescos for cheap towels :lol:

Keky said:

The blanket is folded so it is 8 times as thick as usual if that makes any difference? I'm struggling to come up with ideas of how to cover the wooden shelf due to the shape of it :lol: It's the same shape as from this thread. I might go raid Tescos for cheap towels :lol:

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Depends if bunny is a chewer or not. If not then you could cut and glue rubber or foam matting to fit and then lie the blankets on top. Although to be honest unless you are certain buns don't chew it would be safer not to bother and just put the blankets where bun likes to rest - it doesn't need to cover the whole cage, just their favourite spots for snoozing!

prettylupin said:

Depends if bunny is a chewer or not. If not then you could cut and glue rubber or foam matting to fit and then lie the blankets on top. Although to be honest unless you are certain buns don't chew it would be safer not to bother and just put the blankets where bun likes to rest - it doesn't need to cover the whole cage, just their favourite spots for snoozing!

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Jager has a rubber fetish! Wonder if she'd do the same to foam :lol: