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Rex Hocks

Rabbitches

Young Bun
Hello! I am new here and this is my first post.
I have two beautiful Rex does. 1yo, neutered sisters, both vaccinated, insured and in good health. Ever so slightly overweight thanks to us spending Christmas with my mum, who loves to treat them to get them to do tricks. On a diet now so all good. Have Adlib hay, a few nuggets a day, and fresh veggies and herbs. House rabbits, free range in my bedroom- all bun proofed! I trim thier nails myself, they are very good to do, am currently working on encouraging the quick to shorten (nails were a bit long, nothing terrible- when I first got them, so quick had grown longer than ideal)
They are my little companions!
Went to vet for general health check and all fine but vet mentioned to keep an eye on hocks (I know Rex's are predisposed to sore hocks)
Just having a look on one of thier back feet and she has worn the hair away- it's not inflamed but just bald. I will take her to vets (I work at one specialising in exotics and am training to be one, but not that far into it yet!) but just wondering in the mean time what people do when they wear their hair away? Is there something safe I can pop on it to protect it? I was thinking a little sudocreme but not wanting to make it wet in case it encourages bacteria? She is her usual binkying self, eating fine and generally loving life so they don't seem to bother her-yet! I obviously don't want it to get to the point of bothering her. They are both fully insured. I am away from work at the moment as just finished exams so have gone home to visit family (rabbits are with me) so can't ask one of our vets, I have a local practice I will use to take them if necessary before I go back.
 
I haven't had experience of sore hocks myself, but I know from reading about others experience on here preventing it from getting worse can be achieved by lots of soft bedding - hay, vet bed, quilts with sheets over them, and avoiding any abrasive carpets/rugs. Hopefully someone will advise soon, sending lots of vibes for her.
 
Hello

I have kept Rexes for about 18 years and in that time I have found that the best substrate to keep them on is very deep soft hay. House kept Rexes tend not to do well on abrasive surfaces like carpet or hard wooden/tiled floors. So it can help to cover carpeted areas they have access to with cotton sheets as this prevents direct contact with abrasive carpet. Rugs covered with cotton sheets/fabric of some sort could be placed on hard floors (wood/tiles etc).

If a Rex gets to 1 year of age and the hocks remain fully covered then with appropriate husbandry they should not be at such a great risk of 'Rex Hocks'. If the breed line the Rabbit comes from is prone to early development of hock problems then it usually manifests itself within the first year, so you are wise to be taking appropriate action to try to minimise any problems your Rexes may have.

Personally I find applying any topical treatment to just a bald hock (ie not sore as such) can make things worse as the cream/ointment flattens the surrounding fur and adds to the problem. I dont use sudocreme on my Rexes at all, but I am aware that some Vets advise it to be applied to Sore Hocks.

I have used various other topical treatments on Sore Hocks and IME it can depend very much on the individual Rabbit's response to to a particular topical preparation as to what helps most. An example of some preparations I have used over the years include:

Flammazine (POM)

http://www.sebclair.com/flammazine-78.html

Healx Cream ;

https://www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/H...X9-2K0O25ys5mFBeBEVi9QxjHpd5x1HtjQxoCiDHw_wcB

Activon

https://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/activon-medical-grade-manuka-honey/prd-iba

Some Vets will prescribe Isaderm (previously known as Fuciderm) for sore hocks but personally I dont like to use any topical treatments containing a steroid.


These links may be useful:

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Mechanical/Pod/Podo.htm

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/Ulcerative_pododermatitis_rabbits.htm

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...MAI#v=onepage&q=rabbit pododermatitis&f=false (NB, I'd recommend obtaining a copy of this book if you can !)

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/sore-hocks.html

The practice you work at may subscribe to the Vet Times and if so you should be able to gain access to this article:

https://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/pododermatitis-in-rabbits-an-under-recognised-problem/

Elisabetta Mancinelli, the author of the article, is a very well qualified Exotics Vet
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. I have had 3 Standard Rexes for 5 years now. They are housed in outside accommodation, so not entirely relevant for your situation. Their accommodation is a lino-covered large shed, mostly covered with deep hay and a series of outside runs on concrete. Some of the outside runs are covered and some are not.

Over the time I have had them, all three have had times when their rear hocks have become bald and sometimes a little red. When this happens I confine them to the shed and luckily the hocks seem to recover very quickly. I have never put any cream or anything else on their hocks (I know they would eat it off!).

You have got some good advice and also lots of reading material. What I would add is to make sure that your rabbits do not become too overweight as in my opinion this will make the condition more likely to occur and more difficult to treat. Not easy I know, if like mine, your rabbits have inherited the "greedy Rex" gene. Our rabbits are encouraged to exercise a lot, which is mainly on concrete, so you can see that even when a Rex has had sore hocks, it doesn't mean that they will always have them, nor that when they have them (or the start of them) it will always become a serious problem.

You have said that you have been in different accommodation recently. It may just be that where you were, the carpets were more abrasive than what you have where you live.

Enjoy them they are wonderful rabbits :love:
 
Thanks guys! Some very good advice, I think I will stave off anything topical for now and pop some sheets down on the carpet areas. She hasn't had it before so hopefully it's just the change in flooring; thinking of it they have done a fair bit of travelling recently so it could be down to being in their travel cage for more time. I'm going to make sure it's really deep with hay so they aren't resting thier hocks on the plastic for the journey. Also going to look at changing litter to something softer than wood pellets, maybe some tumble fresh as it's much softer.

Thanks again!
 
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