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Heels of hind feet, oozing blood??

Jess2107

Warren Scout
Iv just gone down to see to feed Lavender and change her water and noticed blood around her run.. she isnt a rabbit that loves a fuss so just battled with her to try and see where the blood was coming from and its oozing from the 'heel' bit of her hind feet? its in the place where I imagine hutch burn would be, but surely she cant get that? shes in a large concrete pen with a wendy house and lino on the floor. She has clean dry hay in her litter tray every day too..
Should I rush her into the vets or can it be dealt with at home? I just dont fancy taking her to the vets if its a simple matter of cleaning them and apply wound powder or cream.. Help needed asap! Please xx
 
Bleeding feet/hocks are potentially serious and if infection sets in then the problem can become life limiting. So without being able to see how bad things are I cant say if a Vet consult is needed today. Certainly an open wound needs cleaning well, pain relief is needed and possibly systemic antibiotics. Also, the reason why this has occurred needs to be addressed. So looking at things like the substrate the Rabbit is kept on, is the Rabbit over-weight or do they have mobility problems...............
 
If her hocks are bleeding they must be very sore and should be treated pronto by a vet. Personally, I think bunnies need to be on soft straw, not lino, or carpet, or anything else synthetic, which can cause burns on the feet. You might want to look at changing her living layout and removing the lino - I know a lot of people use it, but bunnies need really to be on a surface where their feet can sink into it, like they would in the wild. I have to use Vet Bed now on top of my straw, as my bun is 11 and incontinent, but up until this time he was on a big layer of barley straw and underneath that was a very soft gym mat to provide extra softness. I think you'll find the lino will be causing the sore foot problem in the first place. Also, once sore hocks develop they are very hard to get rid of if the root of the problem is not addressed (ie the lino).
 
bisc gets sore hocks quite regularly. the first time the amount of blood was scary! :shock: anyway, we now keep it under control by bathing it with salt water and applying honey. obviously you need to see the vet though incase it is a more serious case that needs different treatment.
 
Thanks everyone, got her in the vets at 2pm just as it was closing but luckily they still saw us. Basically what id already done was correct (bathed them and wrapped them up with vetwrap) he says because shes a giant bunny and they are heavy they are more prone to sore hocks on concrete and Lino so they need a bed which is thick! so until they start getting better shes now locked in her wendy house with a mountain of hay for bedding.
Hes told me to bathe them twice a day with saline or salt water and but sudocream on and a pair of baby socks.. so shes now modelling a pair of pink + white stripey ones :D
Id managed to stop the bleeding before I got to the vets too but the amount of blood oozing out was unreal. :(
The vet has also put her on baytril once a day and shes has to go back after next weekend for a check up.
Now were wondering what we can use instead of the slabs/concrete in her run.. I was thinking gym mats? My dad said artificial grass mats? we also said carpet but our only problem is, her runs gets abit wet depending which way the wind blows (she has a roof on her run but the side are all meshed) so any ideas welcome please????

Thanks again
 
Thanks everyone, got her in the vets at 2pm just as it was closing but luckily they still saw us. Basically what id already done was correct (bathed them and wrapped them up with vetwrap) he says because shes a giant bunny and they are heavy they are more prone to sore hocks on concrete and Lino so they need a bed which is thick! so until they start getting better shes now locked in her wendy house with a mountain of hay for bedding.
Hes told me to bathe them twice a day with saline or salt water and but sudocream on and a pair of baby socks.. so shes now modelling a pair of pink + white stripey ones :D
Id managed to stop the bleeding before I got to the vets too but the amount of blood oozing out was unreal. :(
The vet has also put her on baytril once a day and shes has to go back after next weekend for a check up.
Now were wondering what we can use instead of the slabs/concrete in her run.. I was thinking gym mats? My dad said artificial grass mats? we also said carpet but our only problem is, her runs gets abit wet depending which way the wind blows (she has a roof on her run but the side are all meshed) so any ideas welcome please????

Thanks again

How about lying down turf on top of the concrete? The natural flooring (aka mud and grass) is best for rabbit feet, as it allows even weight distribution and for the claws to slightly sink in.
 
How about lying down turf on top of the concrete? The natural flooring (aka mud and grass) is best for rabbit feet, as it allows even weight distribution and for the claws to slightly sink in.

Would it still grow ok with it being ontop of concrete?
My worry is that it may become a sludge hole in the winter months unless we find a way for the rain/snow not to get through the sides of the pen.
We thought about ripping the flags up and just grassing it but then that was our worry x
 
You could just use a nice thick layer of straw.
I would use straw over hay outside as the hollow stems do allow for better drainage so it wont stay as wet. It will need completely removing and replacing regularly, I would think once a week would probably be sufficient but it may need doing more often. It is a doddle though to clean off of slabs.
If your bun doesn't use a litter tray however you would need to empty it our far more often;)
 
You could just use a nice thick layer of straw.
I would use straw over hay outside as the hollow stems do allow for better drainage so it wont stay as wet. It will need completely removing and replacing regularly, I would think once a week would probably be sufficient but it may need doing more often. It is a doddle though to clean off of slabs.
If your bun doesn't use a litter tray however you would need to empty it our far more often;)

Another idea I thought of but its just the cleaning bit.. I have no idea where id stick all the straw afetrwards.. Im living at home with my parents at the minute as I have no job so im limited with stuff like that. She is litter trained, im just worried she might start doing it everywhere now her wendyhouse is full of hay for bedding :eek:
 
Did the Vet give any pain relief ??

Me & My partner spoke about this, this evening. He didnt prescribe her with any pain relief. I was expecting metacam, I did mean to ask him before we went but then we must have gone onto a different subject because I forgot :shock:
 
Me & My partner spoke about this, this evening. He didnt prescribe her with any pain relief. I was expecting metacam, I did mean to ask him before we went but then we must have gone onto a different subject because I forgot :shock:

I would call the Vet first thing tomorrow and request some.
 
Will do :thumb:

Iv cleaned them again tonight, they look alot better already now the bleeding has just about stopped, Applied some more sudocream but wrapped them up with lots of padding for tonight and vet wrapped them as I dont fancy going down the garden in the dark to check her little socks during the night. So fingers crossed she wont have ripped them off!
 
Well had to wait for the vet to ome back off holiday to ask about metacam. Lav had a check up Tuesday and asked again about metacam as noticed her right leg is sore when I clean it. He wouldn't give me any and said it wasn't causing her 'much' pain so I said well rabbits don't show pain well but he was adiment she wasn't in serious pain so he said she didn't need any? And told me to carry on the antibiotics again. Her feet have dried up now its just the right one at the back where the furs come away what's makin it sore x
 
stable matting

My rabbits are in an aviary on concrete and were getting sore feet. I went on ebay and bought some stable matting - which is soft and spongy so its not hard to walk on and it is pourous so the rain water soaks through it. It has worked great. Also if they get wet feet in the rain, I dry the feet and apply vet wound powder and this stops the feet getting sore.
 
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