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White spirit for red hocks?

weedug

weedug

Mama Doe
Anyone heard of doing this?

My vet said I should do this with Floppy, who has problems with his rear legs which has resulted in sore hocks. The skin isn't broken, but is very red. I am supposed to dab his legs with white spirit twice a day to cause callouses, so the skin doesn't break so easily.
 
I think maybe your vet is a guitarist and is getting white spirit confused with surgical spirit.
White spirit is a solvent, it's what you clean gloss paint out of brushes with, it's chemical classification is harmful and it's labelled with a warning to avoid skin contact.
Surgical spirit is essentially alcohol and people use it to harden skin for guitar playing etc.
If it was definitely white spirit the vet said then I would tell them and change vets, that kind of advice is downright dangerous.
 
Extreme pain for bunny!!!!!!

Go and cut your foot then rub white spirit into it....see for yourself!!

That is very bad advice.Sorry.
 
In all fairness, he was muttering away at the time, maybe to himself, or I hope so anyway! I thought what he said sounded a bit off!

Anyway, Floppy has really red patches on his hocks, skin isn't broken though. The cause is his luxated and subluxated patellas.

Any advice what I should do to help the hocks?
 
I use white spirit to get paint off brushes and my hands. On unbroken skin it's fine but on sore hocks?! Sorry, but your vet is nuts. That would be extremely cruel and extraordinarily painful. DON'T DO IT!!

Surgical spirits on the other hand - as someone above said - should be okay. I used to clean my freshly pierced ears with this, although it was heavily diluted, and it didn't sting BUT as I say, it was heavily diluted.

I'd seriously think twice about using anything like that unless you have a piece of sore skin yourself and can try it. Surgical spirits might be okay but your bunny can't speak and may not show signs of pain so I seriously would try it out on myself first. Sadly I cannot do this for you as although I have sore/thin skin on my fingers, I haven't got any surgical spirits else I'd do it for you.
 
Undiluted surgical spirit is painful even on unbroken human skin (don't ask me how I know), and I would keep it well clear of my rabbits...
 
Angie B said:
Go on - how do you know?!
Click to expand...

In Norway, it used to be tradition for the under-18's to drink surgical spirit heavily diluted with coke at 4am in the morning for a kick, and inevitably, on drunken morning, someone spilled it onto my arm and hand, and the burning sensation was indescribably painful...

You did ask :D
 
Alleycat said:
In Norway, it used to be tradition for the under-18's to drink surgical spirit heavily diluted with coke at 4am in the morning for a kick, and inevitably, on drunken morning, someone spilled it onto my arm and hand, and the burning sensation was indescribably painful...

You did ask :D
Click to expand...

:shock::shock::shock:


I use Sudocrem on my buns pinky/red hocks.
 
Alleycat said:
In Norway, it used to be tradition for the under-18's to drink surgical spirit heavily diluted with coke at 4am in the morning for a kick, and inevitably, on drunken morning, someone spilled it onto my arm and hand, and the burning sensation was indescribably painful...

You did ask :D
Click to expand...
Wow! I must ask my Norwegian friend about this.

It must be stronger than the surgical spirit you can get from the chemists here; I've used that loads of times to remove sticky stuff from skin & household objects and it doesn't sting. Best thing for removing the stubborn remains of stickers from surfaces that won't be spoilt by the spirit.

But it gets put on human skin to speed up skin hardening where it would normally take place anyway, from lots of walking or playing an instrument. Rabbits are supposed to have fur on their feet!
 
My vet suggested witchhazel to toughen the skin on Mini's hocks. Only thing is you have to watch them for a bit to make sure they don't lick it off. I only tried it once :oops: didn't seem to hurt her at all. I've used it on spots where the skin was broken and it didn't sting.
 
Does witch hazel really toughen the skin?

I put it on my face most days to get rid of late-afternoon oiliness and I'm sure as I can be that my skin is not leathery.
 
Vita said:
Does witch hazel really toughen the skin?

I put it on my face most days to get rid of late-afternoon oiliness and I'm sure as I can be that my skin is not leathery.
Click to expand...

Apparently. I use it on my face too, not every day and I've run out now so I'll be using rose water now. But apprently ballet dancers use to to toughen skin on the feet. Not something I'd heard of myself.
 
Sudocrem is quie commonly used for sore hocks, but the best way forward is to review the base that your rabbit lives on.

We have had many rabbits with sore hocks at the sanctuary, and besides topocal treatment to the feet, the most important change has been to keep them on deep, soft bedding all over the floor area where they live.

We use Dixons dustless, which is a very finely chopped straw. Its super soft and we put a good 3-4 inches down covered with lots of hay. They usually need to remain on this sort of flooring forever, as sore hocks tend to reappear if they go back to a harder surface, particulary in buns like yours where its caused by the way the rabbit uses its feet due to physical changes, rather than due to being on hard or abrasive surfaces.
 
BB Mommy said:
Sudocrem is quie commonly used for sore hocks, but the best way forward is to review the base that your rabbit lives on.

We have had many rabbits with sore hocks at the sanctuary, and besides topocal treatment to the feet, the most important change has been to keep them on deep, soft bedding all over the floor area where they live.

We use Dixons dustless, which is a very finely chopped straw. Its super soft and we put a good 3-4 inches down covered with lots of hay. They usually need to remain on this sort of flooring forever, as sore hocks tend to reappear if they go back to a harder surface, particulary in buns like yours where its caused by the way the rabbit uses its feet due to physical changes, rather than due to being on hard or abrasive surfaces.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Floppy currently has folded blankets with vet bed over them, or foam pads in his run. I was worried about putting anything down that he could get caught on, or that could become uneven as he falls over easily now.

I also felt the blanket and vet bed would help soak up the wee that is very often splattered on his legs. I try to keep him as clean as I can, but he still gets in a mess, although since he has stopped going outside things aren't quite so bad, so I am thinking maybe it is helping with the wee problem?
 
White spirit :shock::shock::shock::shock:
Hope he doesnt give this advice to not so savvy rabbit owners! :(
 
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