HELP! bunny injured ankle and bone is sticking out of bottom of foot!

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helpfortoby

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I took my rabbit to the vet today for an injured foot. Turns out he injured his ankle, likely between 10 and 12 days ago while we were on vacation, and the bone is sticking out from under his foot! Here are the options we've received from the vet:

1.) cast it and see what happens

2.) get surgery to grind down the bone so it no longer sticks out (expensive, and bunny will likely not have good ankle function)

3.) get surgery to pin the bone in place by threading wires through the foot bones. This is very expensive, and the vet appeared to develop this option on the spot and it didn't sound very thought through...

Bunny is on antibiotics and anti inflammatories.

We don't have a lot of funds, and don't know what to do. I love this animal so much :(
 
If it really can be done, surgery to pin it would probably have the greatest chance of repairing that sort of injury, but I'm sure it would probably be really expensive. Casting it seems like the next best thing to me. Sorry about your poor bun. I hope he'll be ok.
 
Hi and welcome to RO!
It sounds like some kind of surgery would be best. Did your vet mention amputation as an option?
 
no mention of amputation. Once the pain killers kicked in, my bunny started tearing around the room and is eating and drinking like nothing happened!!! obviously I put him in his cage because he shouldnt be moving around too much, but at least he's doing better :) he hasn't eaten in days
 
I would not leave it sticking out the bottom of his foot, though. Something, even just the cast needs to be done. The chance of infection is very high and if you leave him, it will happen sooner or later. Any animal just isn't meant to have a compound fracture and not have it dealt with.

Also, I would not allow him to be tearing around your room at all. He should be confined to a small area so everything doesn't get banged around and more messed up until you decide what you need to do.

Honestly, I would possibly see a different vet, you don't seem overly confident in this one and you make it sound like they aren't overly confident. And I find it odd amputation wasn't even mentioned...
 
If the bone has broken the skin and been that way up to 12 days I would choose amputation. An open fraction = infection and it's also had time to start trying to heal - I'd have thought successful pining (which is tricky anyway) would be very unlikely and I'm surprised the vet suggested it. Ditto on grinding the bone down!!

If you can I'd be tempted to see a diff vet, but rabbits cope fine on three legs and heal quickly so amputation would be my first option. Tbh, even with a fresh fracture I'd lean towards amputation rather than pinning just for the quicker recovery time/fewer possible complications.
 
Geoff said:
I have to agree with that last comment... whatever you do, you don't want to leave exposed bone... good way to get a systemic infection... better to lose a leg than a entire bunny.
Click to expand...

Just what I was thinking, but since I don't have a vet's experience I hadn't commented.
 
We had this happen to a dwarf rabbit.
We opted for antibiotics and he seemed
to start getting better. It was his front
leg and it was also a compound fracture.
He kept getting abscesses in and around
the joint where the fracture took place.
We had to cut and drain every 3-4 days.
He was a real trooper, but he just would
not heal. We had him put down rather
than keep him in pain. If I had it to do
over again, I would have had the leg
amputated and he could have healed up
and been fine. Sorry you are faced with
a tough decision. And like above statements-
I'd try another vet.
 
Thanks you all so much for your replies!!! I took my bunny to another vet who didn't do a lot of fancy orthopedics and she recommended amputating the foot. We decided to go with that option, since the others didn't seem sustainable in the long run. He's with her right now getting the surgery done. Again, thank you all so much for all your help!!! It was great to hear other options and what worked for all of you. <3
 
so sorry to hear about your bunny's injury! I'm glad you were able to find another vet who is fixing him up... hopefully he'll adjust well to losing his foot.
 
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