New tripod bunny help

I'm very new to this website but have seen how useful the comments can be so I thought I'd ask for some help for my bun.

My mini lop, Marmite sadly broke his left hind leg very badly on Saturday (unknown cause). We immediately took him to 24 hour vets as I found him in his cage with his sis limping very badly. Our options were to have his leg amputated or him be put to sleep. We decided to have it amputated as we felt as he is only 9 months he could easily adjust and he shouldn't be put to sleep if he had the possibility of living fine.

The operation went fine, thankfully. However he is very wobbly and scared, of course that is expected.

He is now home in a seperate cage from his sister and seems to be okay, I have padded out the cage with a cat bed and towels and lots of hay with two teddies to help his balance (as I heard it'd be useful) but I was wondering if there was anything else I could do to make his painful experience better.

Please let me know if you've had any experience or ideas

Welcome to you and your furries. I'm sorry to hear about Marmite, what a dilemma .

There are a few members on here with tripod buns or experiences with them so I am sure they will be better placed to help...

All the best.... !,! Post pics when you can

Fee xx

Oh my goodness, that sounds awful your poor bunny! Vet bed that you can buy which is soft and fluffy may be good if he will need to be comfortable for quite a while. I have no experience of leg breaks so hopefully someone with experience can help. Is he eating as normal? If not try oats in small quantities which seems to always encourage my lady to eat and also mashed up pellets with water. Most of all I am sure he will be fine and he will adapt. Well done you for making such a good decision re not having him put to sleep.

Did the vets give him any painkillers like metacam to keep him comfy?

I have no experience of this but just wanted to send (((healing vibes))) to your bun.How frightening for you both.I hope he will adjust and be fine soon.Bunnies are very good at adjusting to new situations and im sure that as he is young and otherwise well he will be fine.Youve done the right thing for him

Hi there peanutandmarmite, welcome to RU :wave: I've never had a tripod bun but there are definitely a few on here. Noodle springs to mind, but I've seen several with both hind and foreleg amputations and owners have said they adapt very well The fact that he has a bonded partner will help him a lot when they go back together.

When I had a bun with hind leg weakness we rolled up towels and put them round the edges of her pen, so that if she fell over she didn't roll but flumped into the soft landing of the towels. Might be a temporary idea for your wee guy but hopefully he'll be up and kicking about in no time! All the best for him x

Not quite the same but Ive a tripod cat, back leg. At first he was very wobbly, he was on cage rest for 6weeks, then we started letting him out. The vet warned he would do very little.

Within 3 months he had mastered the catflap and was playing out, could climb over the garden wall, he learnt how to do the stairs, he could climb my lounge curtains and with the help of a little buffet he could get on the furniture.

Its certainly not stopped him. Good luck, it just takes time.

The main things at the moment are to keep Marmite eating and pooing. Make it easy for him to get to his food and water, but without making too much of a mess of himself. Keep an eye on the wound - it needs to be clean and dry to heal well. Make sure there is no infection and no abscesses forming (pockets of infection under the skin). These need veterinary attention until they are completely healed.

The next step is for him to get used to being a tripod and readjust his balance. Again, just make sure that he isn't going to hurt himself by eg falling downstairs or into something that he can't get out of. Once he has regained his balance, there will be no stopping him.

Re-bonding with his partner will be very important - without a leg he will have some issues with grooming certain areas. Keep an eye on his ears (for the rest of his life) as he won't be able to reach one any more. A partner bunny will make him a much happier bun and help to keep him fit and active.

I have a front leg amputee rabbit. You would struggle to spot which one he is amongst the others now. It took a week or 2 to get his balance back, and a few months to sort out the abscesses he got all down one side (depocillin injections twice weekly, daily flushing out and filling the cavity with high UMF manuka honey). Sore, crusty / scabby areas of skin were treated with Savlon Healing Gel and kept covered with burns type dressings (that don't stick to skin) held on by vetwrap type bandages that cling to themselves (cheapest at Tesco).

Hope all goes well. Ask on here for more advice if you need it - there will be someone who has been there.

Thank you all for your replies, I have been giving him edible pain killers and antibiotics the doctors provided. He is desperate to try and run around however is very wobbly and falling everywhere so we have confined him to a small cage.

He has stopped drinking and only eating small amounts of carrot poked through the cage which is an easy height for him to access so may try to feed him the recovery food which I have to syringe into his mouth.

How much should I worry about his wound? He keeps weeing on himself and I have been wiping it with a tissue. Should I be doing more? When should I start letting him out his cage?

Thank you all for your support!

He really needs to be eating normally. If the op was a couple of days ago, he should be feeling better with the painkillers. If he doesn't eat, he will be in danger from stasis - which is very serious. Can he get to his usual dry food? Maybe put it on a flat surface as well as in a bowl. What about hay / grass? He should normally be eating lots of these as the fibre keeps his guts going. He can be bedded on hay - just check that you remove wet / dirty bits daily. You could put it in a cat litter tray, or just on the floor. If he is sat on it, he can reach it to eat. Newspapers underneath will keep everything a bit neater and easier to keep clean.

If he is not eating for himself, he will need syringe feeding. You can get special recovery food to mix with water and syringe or spoon feed him. Otherwise, soak his normal pellets in water and do the same with those. He may just eat softened pellets from a saucer. Baby food (fruit / vegetable only - no meat or cheese / milk) sometimes goes down well. Some brands come in small squeezy bags with nozzles that you can feed directly from.

Quite often it is easier to tempt a poorly bun with fresh dandelion leaves or herbs from the supermarket (if you don't have any in the garden). A bit of carrot or apple is OK if he won't eat anything else, but he need more fibre and less sugar.

Water - can he reach it OK? Try using a choice of bowls and bottles in places that he can easily get to them.

If you have any problems, the vet nurses will show you how to syringe feed him and will check his wound for you. A rabbit not eating or pooing is an emergency. Don't be tempted to leave it a couple of days - he needs to be eating today.

My bridge bun Billy was a tripod bun. He coped very well with three legs. He would lean on his partner for support while he groomed, and she helped with the grooming too. It was a few years ago, so I can't remember the early days of recovery and how long it took him to get on his feet again.

I hope Marmite is eating and pooping now, and with a bit of rest he'll be bouncing around again soon. Sending lots of vibes xx