Fifibutton
Wise Old Thumper
Elidore (English wildie cross) is almost 10, he is a small petite but strong and usually hyperactive rabbit (has wild blood in him and acts quite wild). Lately though he has taken to sitting more during free range time and also eating more (hay, grass, rose hips, dandelions and fresh greens). He is also becoming a wee bit easier to approach and handle where he used to run away from everyone. He might just be old and lonely since his mate passed on but I was suspicious and gave him a thorough health check.
I found that he has sore hocks on both feet, one has a fading scab on it. The tips of the hocks are very pinky red. He lives in a run with slabbing, covered by foam mats covered in hay and he free ranges on grass so all very soft surfaces. The fur covering is thick and the red tips are covered by fur which I had to brush back in order to view the sore bits.
He has one medium sized lump (size of my pinky finger) on the middle of his back. It is hard and under the skin, it does feel like I can sort of move it on the spot a bit though and it also feels there is something like a vein leading away from it. There are also two tiny lumps (bit larger than pinheads) on his back not far from the large one.
On his face there are 4 symmetrical small scabby lumps, 2 on either side of his face in the whisker area below the eyes. One of the scabs is like an earwax colour and one of them is black. The other two seem darker brown.
Also under his chin (not on the jaw) going towards his chest there seems to be a lump or fold of skin. Its squishy and might just be a tiny double chin but there is a scab near that and very little fur covering. The fur down one side of his chest is much shorter than down the other side which suggests he has been plucking.
So I am pretty confused by all of this. He is a healthy and normally active rabbit for his age. He gets into everything and recently did have a go at the rose hip (very large and thorny) which I thought might to blame for the scabs but I am not so sure. He is due at the vet for a booster on Thursday and as he is eating and playing mostly as normal I wonder if it will be ok to wait 'til then.
I am aware the cause might be a dental or mandible issue although he is not dribbling and he has a really good diet which supports effective tooth wearing. He also has a very strong bite as I found out yesterday :roll: I now have a bruise and lump the size of a 10p. So I'm just not sure what to do except continue as normal for now. The chin lump might be dental too but the back lumps? Unless there is an infection and that is an abscess and of course how do the sore hocks tie in? I have more theories than reasonable answers. I want to do what is best for Elidore of course. He becomes highly stressed quite easily upon handling and pants excessively (hyperventilates?) in any environment but his home but I would rather not distress him and combine vet trips if I can. If I can't I'll try him with some rescue remedy and then pop him along but as I said he does seem fine within himself despite the issues mentioned.
Does anyone have any advice or ideas as to what he may be suffering from.
I found that he has sore hocks on both feet, one has a fading scab on it. The tips of the hocks are very pinky red. He lives in a run with slabbing, covered by foam mats covered in hay and he free ranges on grass so all very soft surfaces. The fur covering is thick and the red tips are covered by fur which I had to brush back in order to view the sore bits.
He has one medium sized lump (size of my pinky finger) on the middle of his back. It is hard and under the skin, it does feel like I can sort of move it on the spot a bit though and it also feels there is something like a vein leading away from it. There are also two tiny lumps (bit larger than pinheads) on his back not far from the large one.
On his face there are 4 symmetrical small scabby lumps, 2 on either side of his face in the whisker area below the eyes. One of the scabs is like an earwax colour and one of them is black. The other two seem darker brown.
Also under his chin (not on the jaw) going towards his chest there seems to be a lump or fold of skin. Its squishy and might just be a tiny double chin but there is a scab near that and very little fur covering. The fur down one side of his chest is much shorter than down the other side which suggests he has been plucking.
So I am pretty confused by all of this. He is a healthy and normally active rabbit for his age. He gets into everything and recently did have a go at the rose hip (very large and thorny) which I thought might to blame for the scabs but I am not so sure. He is due at the vet for a booster on Thursday and as he is eating and playing mostly as normal I wonder if it will be ok to wait 'til then.
I am aware the cause might be a dental or mandible issue although he is not dribbling and he has a really good diet which supports effective tooth wearing. He also has a very strong bite as I found out yesterday :roll: I now have a bruise and lump the size of a 10p. So I'm just not sure what to do except continue as normal for now. The chin lump might be dental too but the back lumps? Unless there is an infection and that is an abscess and of course how do the sore hocks tie in? I have more theories than reasonable answers. I want to do what is best for Elidore of course. He becomes highly stressed quite easily upon handling and pants excessively (hyperventilates?) in any environment but his home but I would rather not distress him and combine vet trips if I can. If I can't I'll try him with some rescue remedy and then pop him along but as I said he does seem fine within himself despite the issues mentioned.
Does anyone have any advice or ideas as to what he may be suffering from.
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