Help, Tia`s had a nasty accident!

Went out to do the bunnies this morning, did my usual daily check over and when i got to Tia i noticed some blood underneath, on closer inspection she has a rather large wound from the inside of her back leg going across to her lower abdomen! :shock: The only way i can describe it is like when a cat gets it`s collar stuck under it`s front leg and the sebsequent large wound you see.
Anyway i rushed her straight down the vets who was also really shoicked by what he saw. It`s definately not a fight injury 1) because of where it is, 2) Blue & Pandora are fine and the trio have always been a very laidback harmonious group. We`ve emptied out the hutch and thouroughly checked it over and there`s nothing obvious that she could of caught herself on. :? All we can think of is that she might have slipped down the ramp and caught herself on the side of it?
Anyway my question is what do i do with her now? Obviously for the time being she can`t go back in the hutch as she`ll need pretty much complete rest to try and allow the wound to heal, ( i`ve just spoken to the veterinary nurse and they`ve stitched it up, but have had to use external stitches due to the type of wound, which means she`s also got a buster collar which unfortunately i know she hates as she had to have one after her neutering disaster)! I know at first she`ll need to be kept in but i`m worried about her and the other 2 losing their bond. I have a large dog crate she can stay in, would it be worth bringing the other 2 in too? I don`t want them exciting her too much and causing further injury but i want them to keep their bond if poss.
Bonding experts, i need your advice???!!!! PLEASE.
Tia`s going to need lots of care to help her recover from this, apparently she`s still not come round too well from the sedation. :?
Please can you send my baby loads of positive vibes and advise me what to do best with her living arrangements?

Thanks in advance,
A very worried Su.x

I don't know what you should do next, but healing vibes coming your way.

I would be inclined to bring them all in and keep them all together - if they are a closely bonded group, the presence of the other 2 should stop her from getting depressed and help her to recover quickly. You can open the cage up to let the other two bounce around but supervise Tia. As you can't see what happened, it will also mean that you can keep a closer eye on them to check that it definitely wasn't a fight, and in the meantime can go through the hutch with a fine toothcomb and make changes so it can't happen again (if you think it's the ramp you may find fur/blood stuck to the side of it, and may be able to put a wooden upright board there to stop it from happening in the future.

Poor little Tia, hope she recovers quickly xx

Aww poor Tia. Sending lots of healing vibes for her and hugs to you. i hope she gets better soon x

Poor Tia . Lots of vibes coming her way.

Poor Tia - hope she heals quicklyxx

Poor Tia

Maybe if you could keep them close but not actually together i am sure that will be find with regards to bonding!

I still stick with what I said on the phone!! :wink:

Janex

Hi guys,
Thanks for all your replies and positive vibes. After much thought and discussion with others i`ve decided to keep Tia on her own for now, i know there`s a chance she may lose her bond with them but due to the seriousness of her injury i can`t chance her doing any further damage and they can get rather excited at times and if she just jumps or lands funny when they`re playing she could have a whole new lot of problems to deal with.
Have got to ring the vets again soon so will keep you updated as to how she`s getting on.

Su.x

That's what I did when Fey was injured, as the vet was really concerned about her tearing the stitches due to where they are. Her injury was not from her bond-mate, but I was worried about Sprite picking on her and they didn't want Fey to move around much because the stitches were likely to tear.

Your vet was sure it wasn't a fight wound? Fey had a 6cm long gash from her mid-belly to the inside of her hind thigh, and that was from fighting. It was a claw wound from a rolling-on-the-floor kicking fight with Mocha. Thankfully they were able to keep her stitches internal.

I don't know what you normally do or your vet recommended, but my vet prescribed "heat therapy" for 15 minutes three times a day along with her pain meds and antibiotics. I did it for longer because Fey had the choice to move away and usually didn't. She really liked it. At the time, I was putting an electric heating pad under part of her hospital cage, which had a plastic bottom. You could also use a snuggle safe or a sock filled with dried rice and microwaved.

*vibes*

Any chance of putting a little jumper on her rather than a buster collar? I found that that worked really well with one of my bunnies when he had leasions. He had to get used to it, but didn't mind it at all once he was used to it.

Vera

awww, poor little thing keep us updated on her. sending healing vibes xx

Well Tia`s now back home. Living in our bedroom in a dog crate. Considering what she`s been through she seems amazingly bright. I`ve cut her collar back, ( i`ve tried her in a body bandage before with her and she just tore it to shreds)!, have managed to get her to eat some dandelions and she has every other kind of food in there you could imagine so hopefully this will tempt her. Imagine i`ll be up all night watching her though as she hasn`t drunk yet or pooped, so if i have to syringe feed her i will, just don`t want to stress her out unnecesarily.
Now the wound is stitched it actually turns out it`s straight along the inside of her back leg where it meets her torso. :? She`s had antibiotics and a painkiller but i will give her another shot of marbocyl in the morning and if she shows any sign of pain i`ve got metacalm to give her.

Thanks for all your positive vibes, will keep you updated as to how she gets on.
Su.x

I'm glad she's back home with you , I'm sure she is glad to be back too. Poor Tia's had quite a day! as have you. How are your nerves now? mine would be shattered! :shock:

sparklefairy said:

I'm glad she's back home with you , I'm sure she is glad to be back too. Poor Tia's had quite a day! as have you. How are your nerves now? mine would be shattered! :shock:

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nerves?????!!!!!!! Well so far i`ve looked in the tobacco cupboard for the milk, Tried to take one of the cat`s pills instead of mine and tried to kill the dog by throwing her frisbee to hard and it went straight across the road! :shock: :shock: :shock: And other than being a quivering wreck i`m fine! :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Su.x

:shock: :shock: :shock: :lol: :lol: oh dear! maybe a few sherberts may help?? I'm afraid I'm totally hopeless when things go wrong I just run round in circles panicing and acting like a jibbering mad person! ( no difference there then! :shock: :lol: )

Su, something similar happened to my Otto over 2 years ago. When it was just Otto, Emilia and Sebastian, they were neutered at the same time but Sebastian had a slight infection so they all stayed in hospital overnight afterwards. Everyone was fine the next day so they all came home...a couple of days later I had to take Sebastian in to be checked over and, inadvertently, I handed Otto to Jason as I had taken them all up together....BUT it was just as well because Otto had a huge gash in his groin :shock: I couldn't believe it and hadn't seen it!!!! The skin was peeled back and, honestly, you could just see how a rabbit would look in a butcher's shop, it was ghastly!!! Sebastian was fine but Jason had to stay really late at the surgery to anaesthetise the poor boy and put him back together. He did really well afterwards and was fine, he is and always has been the heftiest of my Dutchies. He had to be kept separate from the other two for a short while but the bond did not break....thank heavens. Sadly now, although there are still 3 of them, Beatrice has joined them and Sebastian has gone to the Bridge.

I really hope that your little Tia will be as trouble-free as this episode with Otto was! :wink:

Good news to hear Tia is doing well
Hopefully she'll heal up quickly and NOT get those stitches out :roll: :roll:

Janex

My Maya just recovered from a wound very much like you describe. I assumed it was a fight wound and separated her from the others. I had seen Sunshine chasing her the day before and was already considering splitting them up. Obviously I should have