Gahhhhhhh! Sore hocks!!

I'm at my wits end with it
Both Alice and Bear have sore hocks NOTHING is helping!
Alice has arthritis and has daily metacam which seemed to help for a bit, Bear has had full diagnostics with John Chitty and he can't find anything that could be causing it but we have him on metacam too.
We have tried lots of different flooring but it's hard as they free range in their own room, there litter tray is cleaned out regularly. I just don't know what else to try at the moment I'm just burying my head in the sand but I can't bear the thought of them suffering

I remember Jane saying that she uses a thick hay substrate. Would this be possible? Perhaps a hay filled resting area??

Poor little loves. Its so hard when they are unwell isnt it?

I know this is going to sound strange but my very rabbit savvy vet prescribed Anusol cream for one of my buns sore hocks. I was like :shock:
Sadly I didn't get to use it as she passed because of another unrelated illness but one of my boys is just starting with a sore hock so will try it on him.

The main cure/help for sore hocks is soft flooring. My 2 girls have had sore hocks for ages and had 2 lots of steroid cream from the vet which seemed to help but didn't cure. Anyway, I gave up as they really got upset when I put the cream on. The floor of the shed was just wood but their run is newspaper and hay. I did the same to the shed. Their hocks are healing. Slowly, granted, but they are definitely healing and I put it down to the soft floor.

You can use sudocrem on their feet too as it's a barrier cream so though won't help actually heal, it will give them a little bit of a cushion - until they lick it off, of course!

I put vet bed, pillows and soft towels down for Fiver but tbh his have never healed up due to arthritis and probably never will. Mine free range, so I'd recommend vet beds, especially in places where they like to sit or stand (i.e at the water bowl).

My mini rex, Molly has sore hocks. I keep her on thick hay flooring. She lives in a large hutch and run, and I use Megazorb litter in the hutch as a base, and then thick hay on top. In the run, there's foam matting with thick hay on top. Her hocks rarely get red, and now she's on long-term Metacam, she rarely gets abscesses too. The metacam keeps her pain-free and she binkies a lot so she must be comfortable.

In your accommodation, I would provide as large an area as possible with thick, soft hay.

They free range in a bedroom so hay/substrate wouldn't be possible unfortunately They already have a huge deep filled box of hay as I've heard hay is best for sore hocks but the little ******* don't sit in it!
We have tried every lotion and potion out there already, it seems to make it worse as it sticks to the hair then makes the patches even more exposed.
I wouldn't wrap their feet, it's bad but it has never bled and they seem to me moving about ok.
I feel terrible for just leaving it but I feel like I've tried everything possible now, even the vet has run out of ideas

Have you tried foam mats, preferably ones where the top surface is smooth and not textured?

I know a lady that would have to use baby socks on her mini rex buns feet on occasion, and this seemed to help.

Yep we have tried 2 types of foam flooring, didn't make a difference
I wouldn't dress their feet, there not bleeding or really bad, there just bad if that makes sense, I think the stress of covering them up would be worse for them.

Dressing their feet is definitely a bad idea.

Are they definitely actually "sore" or are they just patches? Xena has pink "spots" on her feet that are just calluses, most likely from being kept in unsuitable accommodation. They have never progressed and don't bother her at all. Fiver's sore hocks are more reddened and he does occasionally lick them, but they certainly don't bother him. I have tried absolutely everything; foam mats, vet beds, soft carpet, soft towels etc etc, nothing has made his feet better apart from treating the arthritis.

Do you have a garden by any chance? The best thing to help sore hocks is grass. I plan on getting my buns out on grass as much as possible this Summer to see if that helps Fiver's feet.

I wouldn't worry too much as long as they aren't bothering them. Alice's will most likely never clear up properly because of her underlying problems. Are you sure Bear doesn't have arthritis?

Marble had sore hocks when she came to me. I have a couple of cheap duvets on my floor and they've cleared up :thumb:

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I feel your pain :wave:

It takes moooonnnnttthhhss for hockey's to clear and even them they are still prone

I have done so much research in to this it's driven me nuts :roll:

Although hay is a natural thing for them to sleep on I found when there have sore hocks this makes it worse as bits of hay poke into the wound and also can create it to itch, when I took willows hay away (he only has it in racks and toilet roll things now :thumb it made a difference!

A layer of duvets are the best, and as vegan bunny said grass helps loads too, also,look at everything as if you were the one with sore feet! I changed willows littler tray to fitch (also good as a bedding:thumb and it's changed 2-3 times per day so there's no risk of any urine touching and irritating his feetsies :lol:

He sleeps on a chair ....so I packed the chair with fleece blankets, which also helped.:thumb:

I'm sure you know all this anyway and possibly tried it but don't give up! Look through your bunnies eyes! In willows case he nibbles them as they are healing.......my vet think s it's because they itch so I out an aloe Vera spray on before he eats his nuggets so it sinks in........beware of sudacrem I tried this and it made it worse because willows feet were so sore it drove him mental and nibbled even more

Vegan_Bunny said:

Dressing their feet is definitely a bad idea.

Are they definitely actually "sore" or are they just patches? Xena has pink "spots" on her feet that are just calluses, most likely from being kept in unsuitable accommodation. They have never progressed and don't bother her at all. Fiver's sore hocks are more reddened and he does occasionally lick them, but they certainly don't bother him. I have tried absolutely everything; foam mats, vet beds, soft carpet, soft towels etc etc, nothing has made his feet better apart from treating the arthritis.

Do you have a garden by any chance? The best thing to help sore hocks is grass. I plan on getting my buns out on grass as much as possible this Summer to see if that helps Fiver's feet.

I wouldn't worry too much as long as they aren't bothering them. Alice's will most likely never clear up properly because of her underlying problems. Are you sure Bear doesn't have arthritis?

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Bear has had every test under the sun with an amazing rabbit vet, he's also on metacam daily for his sore toes but I'm going to discuss taking him off it, it's not making a difference and I don't want him on long term medication forever if he doesn't have to be.
We have grass but our lawn is in a terrible state it's full of plants I don't think are bunny safe and moss so we have put down weed and feed so hopefully we can get them out be the year.

May sound silly but can anybody show me a picture of 'bad' sore hocks and 'ok' sore hocks?

HoneyBear said:

Bear has had every test under the sun with an amazing rabbit vet, he's also on metacam daily for his sore toes but I'm going to discuss taking him off it, it's not making a difference and I don't want him on long term medication forever if he doesn't have to be.
We have grass but our lawn is in a terrible state it's full of plants I don't think are bunny safe and moss so we have put down weed and feed so hopefully we can get them out be the year.

May sound silly but can anybody show me a picture of 'bad' sore hocks and 'ok' sore hocks?

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I was going to ask you to post a photo too :lol: I'll try get a photo later when hubby is home so he can hold him :wave:

I had a sore hock bun inside on hard flooring. Can you get some equine rubber matting - the thick type. Then a double duvet. You will no doubt have to keep buying duvets - but asda did a £5 offer for a while & then you can find cheap rubbish ones online.

It won't necessarily be permanent - I found that once you got them under control & healed, you could afford to be less careful as long as they weren't on carpet/concrete.

Carpets and towels can aggravate or even cause sore hocks also I agree about using either a smooths surface like lino or mats or a thick substrate like hay. Sore hocks tend to be this little ball on the underside of the heel. Its very pink/red, raw looking and often broken or dry skin around it. My elderly rabbit has sore hocks because he will sit of ages on the balls of his heels. He has hay all over his run for a floor and grass outdoors and also arthritis has been ruled out for now. If your bunnies are sitting like that constantly than it be a cause. For Elidore I apply sudocrem onto the sore points and it does cushion them somewhat. Elidore acts as though its does not bother him but we try and treat if we can. There is a type of cream that women use for cracked and sore nipples when breastfeeding and its something we are looking into with the vet to see if it could be safely used on a rabbit and also effective. It is something you could bring up with your vet :wave:

Here is a link to someone who but toddler socks on their bunny who had a long history of sore hocks that just wouldn't heal up. Its a bit of a laugh, and a good read, even if it isn't something you want to try.
http://rabbittalk.com/workaround-for-sore-hocks-t21237.html?hilit=sore hocks

My vet has been treating Sparkle for sore hocks for a while. he has said hay can be course so to use vetbed which I have done. he also prescribed metacam twice a day, f10 barrier germicide ointment twice a day and a tablet to improve blood flow. at long last I am starting to see some improvement.