best flooring for indoor rabbits with sore hocks

what is the best flooring if you can't put hay down everywhere?

bisc was doing lots of sprints and binkies this morning and now his heel has cracked open again. i think it looks like it has spread aswell now, towards his ankle.

he's obviously quiet now because he's upset.

does anyone have any advice please?

Old towels??? Not sure to be honest!

When my two become playful.and active, I cover my floor with old towels, curtains, bedding, and even and old duvet.
Hope bisc feels better soon!

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What about those foam tiles? I used to have my entire bedroom covered in them, for the rabbits. They didn't have sore hocks, but I've seen them recommended for sore hocks. You can get the big ones and cut the ones round the edges to fit the room.

he's got padded blankets placed around but i was thinking some more pieces of profleece/vetbed? i tried before and he ate them :roll: but i'll try again and i could even wrap a fleece blanket around them i suppose. :?

i've bathed his heel and applied honey. it's not spread, it was just the blood making it look that way. so it's the usual place again. it will hopefully clear quickly as it usually does, but it's happening quite alot and especially when he binkies and sprints. i feel bad for him because he's happy and running about, and then his heel cracks and he's obviously upset.

i'm trying my best to get cream on before it cracks but i keep failing most of the time. i just can't predict it. i started checking it after a mad binky session but it looks ok sometimes, then cracks again. but i don't want to just apply cream all the time as that can be bad aswell. it's really difficult.

foam tiles might be ok. then fleece on top of them and profleece in his most used areas??

i pad up his two trays alot so he's comfortable in there, and his two favourite places have fleece and a padded blanket down aswell.

i did consider a kids duvet aswell?? he likes my bedding but did used to wee on it :lol: i'll just try different things and see how we go.

he likes to be warmer so that's ok. i couldn't pad the area too much with matt here as he was always way too hot.

eta:: i wonder if his heel could be what is causing him some stress. possibly all linked to his tummy and being dirty underneath? :?

I use vetbed for my buns. Not had a problem with sore hocks since :thumb:

Both of mine have issues with sore hocks and I use foam tiles and vetbed, hope he gets better soon

think i'll try a mix of foam tiles, and profleece/vetbed. his nails are kept short and trimmed regularly. it just seems to be when he sprints alot. which is such a shame because i want him to beable to run as much as he wants to.

he has the whole lounge with the majority of his things at one end of the room, so i don't know how i will cover all of it :shock: but i'll start off with his most used areas and expand :thumb:

i wonder if he could be dirty underneath because of not being able to sit comfortably when he toilets?? :? that would make sense. or just that he can feel it and it makes him upset so his tummy sets off? :? i don't know. we've been reducing his profibre thinking they might be the issue but it doesn't seem to be.

i got well and truly thumped at when he saw me getting everything ready. he thumps but then lets me pick him up but he likes me to know he isn't impressed :lol: he's a good boy though. lets me bathe it and apply honey and then goes over to the drawer to wait for his reward :lol:

he's cheered up now i've figured out what was wrong. he has just been doing more tip toe binkies! :roll: :lol: i'm like 'arghh, you're heel'! and he just seemed to find that 'funny'! :lol:

I read you put honey on his feet and I think that is a good idea-- If you can get the medical grade manuka honey that might work even better. Diabetics with wounds that won't heal report that it works really well so I think it would be really good as a dressing for sore hocks. Plus you can use it for all sorts of other things like - eyewashes, sore throat gargle even for yourself.

I'd also be careful to check his front feet. Mimzy gets very sore toes (and he's on cotton towels and hay) from his pushing his weight forwards due to his back end hurting him. His rear feet and heels are fine but his wee toes on his front feet get red and blistered.
Fiver is also becoming arthritic and squats oddly in his litter box so I get a lot of mess on his heels and his bum. He has terrible sore hock but he's a minirex and they are prone to it.

thanks everyone. his heel is looking much better already so that's good. he's also alot more clean underneath now i've checked him properly. he has some poop around his tail area but not much, and the rest is clean now. it used to be upwards and even on his tummy. so maybe the profibre being reduced has helped alot.

when o/h's back i'll check his paws properly. when o/h holds him, i can move his toes and check them.

we use normal honey as he only has a small patch of sore hock, but the vet did say we could move to manuka honey if they get worse. i wouldn't say they're worse yet. i'd more say it's me not getting the timing right quite yet. i'm worried about putting cream on too regularly (the vet said only just before it's going to crack because too often is bad for it aswell)

arthritis has been ruled out with a check up and xrays so hopefully that is still the case, although the vet does check him everytime we go in, just because of his age now. but he's on metacam daily anyway for something else, so that would control any minor arthritis anyway.

he's been doing binkies again this morning! so he's obviously feeling better.

we're going to get different flooring for him and see if that helps, but if not, we'll take him back to the vet just to double check everything is ok.

thanks for all the advice :wave:

I use old towels underneath vet bed. When it's really bad I bandage until healed ..