Fiona ripped out a nail!

[missyscove]

My brother went to get Fiona back out of her cage. I saw her and exclaimed, "She's bleeding"
We brought her to the sink, rinsed the paw until I could tell where it was coming from and applied pressure. I then put some corn starch on it to stop the bleeding and once it stopped, I put some corn starch on it.

It looks like she just ripped the nail out. The little pad of her toe is still there though.
Anything else I should do? I work at a vet that sees rabbits, so I'll probably bring her in with me tomorrow to see about antibiotics.

I'm trying to find the dosage for aspirin to give her for the pain if anyone can help me out with that that'd be great.

 

[missyscove]

She weighs about 4 lbs. I don't think we have any aspirin here in the house. I know tylenol isn't safe but I think that's all we have.

 

[Maureen Las]

What you did is the correcct thing ; there is no reason to take her to the vet for a ripped nail unless her foot pad is torn or she continues to bleed ; no need for antibioitcs either or pain meds unless she is exhibiting something unusual that you haven't mentioned.

 

[missyscove]

Well I was thinking of taking her in to the vet anyway because she's been sneezing again so I figure an antibiotic wouldn't hurt.
Since I work there and I'm working tomorrow anyway, it's a very simple thing for me to bring her in with me.
She's not showing any obvious signs of pain - the only pain meds we seem to have are tylenol which I know isn't safe.
She's licking her paws, but not the part that was bleeding so much as just the parts I got all wet (bad bad hoomin).

Does anyone else have experience with this? Will the nail grow back normally?
It's torn off right at the pad, not just like a broken quick.

 

[Maureen Las]

it happens quite frequently ; she should be fine

Don't give tylenol; i don't think that she needs pain meds
She should go to the vet if she has been sneezing and he can look at her paw if you would feel more relieved.

 

[missyscove]

No tylenol, I know that's not bunny safe - it just happens to be my family's preferred human pain reliever.

I have taken her to the vet twice before (before I started working there too) and both times she was prescribed baytril for the sneezing but it never really went away so we figured it was just a dust sensitivity type thing but recently the sneezes seem to be accompanied by more mucus so in to the vet she'll go.

 

[Maureen Las]

The nails don't alway grow back ....

the baytril is probably just not working. Rabbits can becomeresistant to it becauses it is used so much; you may need to ask the vet if he will try a stronger antibiotic or keep her on baytril for a longer time (although a different medication is a better idea.)

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I don't think aspirin is a good idea either. Aspirin is a blood thinner and prevents clots. Many bunnies have missing nails or stubs where the nails were.

Pebbles has always sneezed, but lately it is less active. Some bunnies live with it.

 

[Flashy]

It might be worth getting the mucus cultured to avoid the issue of her becoming resistant to Baytril which hasn't worked anyway.

Sometimes the nails grow back, sometimes they don't. She doesn't need anti-biotics for that unless it shows signs of infection (red, hot, weepy, pussy, etc) but I agree she needs to be seen for her ongoing respiratory issues.

I've had plenty of buns catch and tear off a nail. It's obivously not pleasant but because they bleed so much it looks unpleasant but it looks more unpleasant than it actually is for them.

 

[missyscove]

Fiona update:
I figured I should add this to the thread just for future reference.
Fiona saw Dr. Franco today (She's probably my favorite of our vets that sees rabbits). She weighs 1.93 kg (we weigh all exotics in kg or g where I work.)
She listened to her lungs and even put her stethoscope on her nose and head which I thought was interesting, to listen for congestion.
She agreed with me that if the sneezing was caused by something like a contagious URI, it wouldn't have been going on for 3 years - particularly when you consider that I've never heard Timmy sneeze but Fiona sneezes constantly.
So then we talked about allergies and now Fiona is on a prescription for .25 ml of Chlorpheniramine Maleate twice a day. That works out to 1mg twice a day or 2mg a day, so I suspect the dosage is based on 1mg/kg of body weight.
We have two weeks worth of meds so we'll see what happens.
She said that although allergies aren't really reported in rabbits, she has treated rabbits with this allergy medication before and it has helped and that should she not have allergies, well, it won't hurt her it just might make her a little drowsy.

As for the nail - she noted that it was sensitive / painful when she touched it but since she's walking fine and eating and drinking fine, she didn't feel it necessary to prescribe metacam.
She did prescribe animax ointment which is anti-inflammatory, antipruritic (anti-itch), antifungal and antibacterial
so basically like uber neosporin - I certainly didn't need the etire tube, but it'll be handy to have around.

 

[Maureen Las]

Could be an allergy but if the companion bun has a good immune systen it is not uncommon for that bun NOT to get a URI
I had a bonded pair with one bun sick with a URI for lengthy period which companion bun never caught it ........

I hope the allergy meds work
never heard of an allergy that cause chest congestion unless it was asthma??

 

[missyscove]

Well she's not congested really, she just sneezes a lot.
There is mucus build up - you could see it on essentially the insides of her wrists - until we soaked them in the sink cleaning up the blood last night.

 

[Maureen Las]

Is it yellow discharge or white ?

 

[missyscove]

I'm going to go with clearish white, but once it ends up on her paws it gets hay dust stuck to it so miscellaneous colors.

 

[tonyshuman]

Clearish is usually not bacterial. It could be allergies, which is interesting because I've never heard of anyone actually giving a bunny antihistamines or allergy meds, so it will be interesting to hear if it helps Fiona.

I worry though that there might be a tooth issue causing her nose running. Has the vet looked into this at all?

For the toe, it sounds like you did the right thing. Sometimes they grow back, sometimes they don't. I've seen both happen. Aspirin wouldn't be good for that situation because bleeding occurred, like Stan said. The rabbit drug dosage calculator is here:
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html

I wouldn't have given her anything unless she was grinding her teeth or limping, but ibuprofen would have been the best choice.

 

[missyscove]

She's had her teeth looked at and she's eating normally (she loves her pellets- almost attacks my hand to get at them and eats quite a bit of hay and greens too.)

We're discovering that it's much harder to listen for no sneezing than it was to notice that she was sneezing.