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Sore Hocks & Arthritis

helgalush

Wise Old Thumper
Muesli has been to the vets today as he has been getting sore hocks just lately and they have been getting worse. I read through some old threads on here that said not to interfere with them too much and to try to get bedding/flooring right. He is on lino, with puppy pads and incontinence bedding around the areas where he tends to wee.

Its quite complicated because he has urinary incontinence issues but we are not 100% sure of the exact cause. He drinks a lot and has been put on a low calcium diet, he doesn't have EC and he doesn't have any bladder/kidney sludge or stones, but he does have moderately elevated calcium levels. He also has arthritis and on one side of his hip it seems like it has completely 'gone'...cant explain it very well but its not muscular like on the other side. He's had x-rays and is on pain relief and glucosamine daily.

I am not sure if the sore hocks are caused by his arthritis or whether its because of him sitting in his urine or urine-soaked pads. We try to change these twice a day or at the earliest time that we notice they need changing. Occasionally he gets a wet underside, although he goes through phases where he stays nice and dry and doesnt seem to do too many stray wees, then other times when he seems to get wet for no obvious reason.

So now he has bright green bandages on that look like 80s leg warmers, bless him. He looks uncomfortable with them on, like he doesnt know how to hop or hold himself - we were told to expect this. Luckily the vet who saw him today specialises in acupuncture (but has only treated one bunny) so as long as we can get the insurance to agree to this we will give this a try.

Any ideas or suggestions as to what else we can do to keep him comfortable and help his hocks to heal and stay dry? We have used vet bed in the past but it hasnt taken long for pieces of this to end up sopping wet. I really hope we can keep his quality of life going for a long while yet. He is only around 5.5 years old but is like a little old man.
 
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