At a loss ? Injured bunny

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Sam1cot1

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Staffordshire
Hi
My lionhead bunny Lily is nearly 9 weeks old (she has been with us a week) lives in a cage on her own next to our Guineawe woke on Sunday morning to a horrific site

all of her front arm had no hair on it
She was quiet Inself but eating drinking weeing and pooing
but wasn’t using her arm at all
I spoke to the vets and took her in
They X-ray her and found no breaks on her right arm (the arm with no hair) but found a break on one of her bones in her left arm but the other bone was helping to splinter this

she said the skin was toughened as though it was a burn or scald ?? She has been no where near any hot surfaces or water for this to of happened ?
The hutch is kept outside and have noticed digging marks around the concrete of the base of the hutch and the hutch was not damaged so what ever digging (fox or cat) hasn’t got to Lily.
Lily has been prescribed a pain relief and antibiotic and seems more lively after the pain relief.
But I’m at a loss to what could be up or of happened to her? Does anyone have any ideas ? Or suggestions

lily is currently now being kept indoors until I know she is ok
She’s hoping around more now and using this arm right one more but still drags it at times ?
I’ve posted two pictures the morning we found it (on the pink blanket) And today as you can see the hair is missing on her arm but not on her paw ???
im due to take her for a check up next week unless things change
Thanks for looking
 

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That is a really strange injury... it sure does look like a burn, however, it reminds me of an injury I've seen in the past and a story I heard from a fellow rabbit parent. I will tell the story, but it is a bit graphic, so warning, and gives me nightmares even though my bunnies are inside and it isn't a risk for me. I will avoid going into more detail than necessary.

The story I heard was about a rabbit who essentially was skinned through the bars of her hutch by a raccoon. Unfortunately, she did not survive this encounter but did die in the arms of her owner who loved her on the way to the vet clinic. The description of the injury sounds very similar, although her case was much more severe than yours. There was no damage to the enclosure.

If this sort of situation was the case, the injury to the hairless leg could come from it being grabbed or caught in wire, etc., and the fracture to the other leg from a struggle to escape.

What does the hutch look like and do you have raccoons, weasels, toast, or similar in your area that may have been access to the area? Is there wire? What are the construction components of the pen?

Best of luck in your bunny's recovery
 
We live in the uk
There are cats and foxes around but no raccoons weasels etc
The surrounds on the hutch are wire this is a similar set up (but ours is bigger I promise)
 

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We live in the uk
There are cats and foxes around but no raccoons weasels etc
The surrounds on the hutch are wire this is a similar set up (but ours is bigger I promise)
A cat could certainly be the culprit, although a martin or a stoat could be as well. Even a small dog or fox may have been able to cause such an injury if your bunny was caught off guard near the bars. It's amazing the regional wildlife we miss while asleep.

While unlikely, did the vet do a skin scraping for infections, fungus, or parasites? That could also be a potential source of the skin looking the way it does, although it fails to address the fracture, perhaps two separate conditions are at play.
 
That's not just fur missing, that's tissue damage like the skin has been degloved there and is gone. It looks like an animal ripped the skin and fur off and now that subdermal layer is exposed and drying out.

It's really good she's been put on antibiotics and pain relief, but if the skin has been ripped off and that's the layer beneath(which I'm pretty certain is what happened), that can't heal without surgery and skin grafting. Which at this point is too late to try even if they did such a thing with rabbits. If it was degloved and that subdermal layer is drying out, necrosis can start to occur, then that will likely mean amputation to prevent infection and sepsis occurring.

Even if this isn't a degloving which I doubt, with the extent of tissue damage I would have expected a vet to keep the leg bandaged to protect it and help prevent infection. It's what I would want in a similar situation.

If this is a degloving and your vet couldn't tell this when examining the injury, I'm not sure this vet is experienced enough to deal with this kind of injury. In which case I would strongly suggest taking your rabbit to a specialist . You have Molly Varga in Merseyside and Aidan Raftery at Ashleigh vets in Manchester. I'm not sure if you have one closer to you than those.
http://mollyvargavet.co.uk/clinics/
https://www.ashleigh-veterinary-centre.com/about-us/meet-the-team
https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-...abbit-friendly-vets/rabbit-friendly-vet-list/
 

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