LionheadLuver
Warren Veteran
Hey
Some of you may know about the changes I've done to my rabbits' accommodation due to Molly's sore hocks, vetbed on the floor of the hutch and foam matting in the run. She used to have thick hay on the floor of the hutch and run.
Well, 2 weeks on since the changes, and they have chewed chunks out of the vetbed :roll:, and Molly's hocks have become red, whereas when she was on hay all the time, they were a healthy pink colour. She still has one remaining abscess, and she is going to the vet tomorrow to get it lanced and sorted. She hasn't had any other abscesses erupt yet, which is good news, however the redness of her skin is worrying me.
I wonder if its best for her to have a fairly large area of floor covered in hay. I don't know if the foam matting is actually doing any good, or is causing the redness. Due to the amount of hair loss on her hocks, she has little cushioning of fur on her hocks, therefore her skin is always in direct contact with the foam, and this isn't extremely forgiving or soft. I suppose foam matting works better with bunnies who have small amounts of hair loss on their hocks, whereas Molly has nearly 3/4's of her fur gone on her hocks, so wonder if this is maybe where the problem now lies.
I'm going to put thick hay in half of the run for the moment and see if that improves her hocks. If not, then I'll cover the whole run with hay, with the foam matting still underneath to provide some sort of base. That should hopefully cure it, if the foam matting is the issue here.
I'm not sure what to do about the vetbed though. They don't eat the vetbed, they just chew it to shreads. Each morning, there is a pile of shredded vetbed. :roll: I've tried putting in willow toys and things to entertain them overnight, and this reduces the amount of vetbed they chew, but doesn't totally stop it. Again, if vetbed isn't helping much with her hocks, I'm probably thinking about getting rid of this too.
What are your opinions on these ideas? Am I doing the right thing here?
Some of you may know about the changes I've done to my rabbits' accommodation due to Molly's sore hocks, vetbed on the floor of the hutch and foam matting in the run. She used to have thick hay on the floor of the hutch and run.
Well, 2 weeks on since the changes, and they have chewed chunks out of the vetbed :roll:, and Molly's hocks have become red, whereas when she was on hay all the time, they were a healthy pink colour. She still has one remaining abscess, and she is going to the vet tomorrow to get it lanced and sorted. She hasn't had any other abscesses erupt yet, which is good news, however the redness of her skin is worrying me.
I wonder if its best for her to have a fairly large area of floor covered in hay. I don't know if the foam matting is actually doing any good, or is causing the redness. Due to the amount of hair loss on her hocks, she has little cushioning of fur on her hocks, therefore her skin is always in direct contact with the foam, and this isn't extremely forgiving or soft. I suppose foam matting works better with bunnies who have small amounts of hair loss on their hocks, whereas Molly has nearly 3/4's of her fur gone on her hocks, so wonder if this is maybe where the problem now lies.
I'm going to put thick hay in half of the run for the moment and see if that improves her hocks. If not, then I'll cover the whole run with hay, with the foam matting still underneath to provide some sort of base. That should hopefully cure it, if the foam matting is the issue here.
I'm not sure what to do about the vetbed though. They don't eat the vetbed, they just chew it to shreads. Each morning, there is a pile of shredded vetbed. :roll: I've tried putting in willow toys and things to entertain them overnight, and this reduces the amount of vetbed they chew, but doesn't totally stop it. Again, if vetbed isn't helping much with her hocks, I'm probably thinking about getting rid of this too.
What are your opinions on these ideas? Am I doing the right thing here?