Indoor flooring for sore hocks??

My Dudley (mini lop) appears to be developing sore hocks the little pink areas are very red! He lives indoors with Daisy and they are free range on carpet! Dudley likes to dig his blankies back and forth which I presume has exacerbated the problem! So apart from filling my house with hay is there any particular indoor flooring that would be ok? Is there a type of carpet that is better a particular type of synthetic, wool etc he doesn't like laminate flooring (I have it in the kitchen). So far my options are:

1) change the flooring if there is one suitable
2) section off an area that could have a hay flooring, but this would involve significantly reducing their space when they have been used to free ranging!
3) set up a bunny mansion outside which could have a hay flooring and large attached run on grass BUT Daisy has seemingly incurable dysbiosis so she would be at constant risk from fly strike, it would also still be less space than they are used to, they have lived all their lives indoors (4.5yrs) so would they be ok outside.. I'm sure they would but Id still worry they'd think they'd been abandoned!

Any thoughts suggestions welcome!

I found putting down duvets helped, or something spongy with a cottonsheet over, vetbed for instead. It gave that sponginess for nails to sink into but wasn't abrasive like vetbed can be. The only thing is initially mine weed on it a lot, they got used to it after a while and it lessened but to begin with I was washing duvets twice a week. Changing over to lino helped a lot too but I suspect that was more to do with my old carpet which was very old, threadbare and rough.

They now have lino with carpet offcuts (in a soft carpet) with blankets where they tend to sleep. It seems to be where they sleep that the damage happens.

Since they've lived inside for so long, it would most likely stress them out to be moved outdoors. Not to mention the health concerns for one of your rabbits. I believe that unclean litter boxes can also cause sore hocks, so that may be the cause? (not suggesting you don't clean well, but it is a pontential cause)

Some people like synthetic wool and it is often recommended for patrially paralyzed rabbits because of it absorbency. It is also very soft and wouldn't cause sore hocks.

Elena said:

I found putting down duvets helped, or something spongy with a cottonsheet over, vetbed for instead. It gave that sponginess for nails to sink into but wasn't abrasive like vetbed can be. The only thing is initially mine weed on it a lot, they got used to it after a while and it lessened but to begin with I was washing duvets twice a week. Changing over to lino helped a lot too but I suspect that was more to do with my old carpet which was very old, threadbare and rough.

They now have lino with carpet offcuts (in a soft carpet) with blankets where they tend to sleep. It seems to be where they sleep that the damage happens.

Click to expand...

Oooh you may have solved it!!! I was trying to figure out why this has only happened recently, but that comment made me think, they used to sleep in 2 particular areas of the lounge on soft carpet but in the last 4 months that has completely changed and they now sleep in an area with coarser quite rough carpet, which is an off cut that sits under their NIC setup! All because I took out a panel to create an additional entrance/exit! Oh please let that be the answer, that's an easy fix!

I think Id be more worried of them eating the duvet the weeing on it :lol: plus it would be difficult to do through the lounge and in and around their set up?!

Snowytoshi thanks for you comments! I'm sure it would stress Daisy very much she likes being indoors, and I would hate them being outside and I would be in constant fear of fly strike! I don't think it's likely to be the litter box as they have a very large dog basket with lots of hay that is cleaned every other day or daily in the summer, plus this hasn't changed in 4.5yrs so I'm assuming if it was a problem Dudley would have shown signs before now!

Right, I'm now convinced changing that piece of carpet will help, I'm off to look for a new softer off-cut! Elena if you are right I will owe you big time!!

Hope it helps! I remember Jane saying it once before when Mini's were really bad. I think if you can put something soft where they tend to sleep and rest rather than the whole area it should help. I'll try and find the photos I had.

This is what I put at the bottom of the ramp to my bed where they tended to sleep at night...



It's vetbed in a soft pillow case. It's so mucky cos it's when we were also struggling with Mini's dysbiosis.



They slept on the shelf during the day so I either put a duvet in there or vetbed with pillow cases on top.



And here you can just about see the bit in front of the crate. That was plastic sheet (to protect the carpet) / towels (in case they weed) / vetbed (for sponginess) / cotton sheet (for softness). That part got a lot of running on back and forth from hay to water bowl and also they tended to nap there sometimes.

Awe thanks for that, that's very helpful I've bought a new piece of carpet which is quite thick pile and soft! I'll put it on top of the existing piece for extra spring! If this doesn't help or they try and eat it (highly likely :roll I'll definitely copy what you've done in the crate! How long did it take for the change in flooring to improve their hocks?