Injury

[luvthempigs]

I was cleaning litter pans and feeding when I realized one of my buns, Dora had some poop stuck to her bottom. So I took her to the bathroom to bathe her bottom and when I put her back in her cage I noticed she has a rather large cut on her back. It's on her back off to the side a bit a near the tail area. It isn't a puncture wound and it looks like a clean cut or tear. Almost like the skin is torn and lifted if that makes sense. I don't know how in the world this would have happened. It's not bleeding although it looks like a fairly fresh wound. I checked over her cage and could see nothing that she may have got cut on. She was out of her cage for a little bit yesterday but I still dont' know how this could have happened.

It doesn't look like the type of wound that would be stitched but I'm worried about it getting infected or causing an abcess. I have some povidine iodine which I put in a syringe and squirted it into the opening. Between washing her bottom and messing with the wound she is none too happy with me.....

Besides the obvious of calling my vet (which I'm not going to do on Easter Sunday) does anyone have any suggestions? I don't feel it's an emergency but I just am perplexed about how it happened? Anything else I should be doing?

Thanks for any and all suggestions

 

[luvthempigs]

BTW, There was no blood in her cage (she is in a large tommy cage so it's smooth plastic bottom with coated wire top)

She is an all white bun and I didn't even see blood on her fur. I noticed the hair was a bit out of place and thats when I noticed it was a cut. It reminds me of a pocket on a pair of jeans. I can lift the flap and look down inside. Very weird.

 

[naturestee]

Ouch. That type of injury with just the skin the skin pulled back- called degloving- actually doesn't bleed much so it'll be hard figuring out how it happened. Do you have another rabbit that she might have gotten into a fight with? That's how Fey got a similar injury on her belly a couple of years ago. It does in fact need stitching to hold the skin in place, otherwise it won't heal right and will also be open to infection.

Do you have an emergency vet clinic that could stitch her up? Otherwise gently dab some triple antibiotic ointment (Neosporin) on the edges and wrap a bandage around her body to hold the skin flap in place. Make sure you clean out her whole cage and disinfect it to help prevent infection. And bring her in to your vet tomorrow to get stitched up.

Use your hand to feel all around the cage. Sometimes the ends of those wire bars can have a sharp little spur on them, maybe that's how she got cut?

Fey sends her love!

 

[luvthempigs]

Thanks Fey, Dora and Iappreciate it

She wasn't out with any other rabbits yesterday although when she was out I did hear her make a bee-line back into her cage. Maybe one of my cats? I wouldn't think a cats claw would have done this though.....but who knows?

I will call my exotics vet tomorrow morning. I'm really afraid to take a bun to the emergency vet here. I'm not so sure they have much experience with them if any at all. I thought you only had so many hours after injury to stitch skin?

She is laying on her fleece blanket in her cage right now. I went in to give everyone their Easter treat and she doesn't appear to be in any distress. Came right over to the door of her cage to get her treat.

Do you think it was wrong to flush the wound with povidine iodine? I hope not....Thanks for the suggestions. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Pipp]

luvthempigs wrote:

Do you think it was wrong to flush the wound with povidine iodine?

I'll step in and say Ithink it's the best thing you could have used, actually. My vet swears by the stuff -- Betadine.

I'd keep it up.

Hope there'san easy fix!

Do you have any pics of the wound?



sas :bunnydance:

 

[naturestee]

When Fey was injured, I took her right in to the emergency vet. It was a huge gash down most of her belly. The vet there that night couldn't do the surgery because he didn't know how to do the anesthesia properly, so he bandaged her up and kept her there till the morning when he knew someone would be coming in who could stitch her up. She healed up just fine.

I don't know if Randy (ra7751) will be online today but try pm'ing him. He has more experience with caring for injured rabbits and may have some better advice.

 

[aurora369]

My vet highly recommends betadine for any wound. Put some on a coton ball and dab on the wound.

I agree that it should really get a couple stitches or some glue (depending on the size) to hold it together. It helps keep the wound clean and aides in the healing time.

They may be able to do the stitches with some local anesthetic to numb the wound and then stitch. Zeke had to go under for his stitches, but he wouldn't sit still while they stitched up his private area.

He did wait over night to go into surgery because I brought him in just before the vet's office closed. They cleaned him up really good and left him in a very clean cage over night.

I would do my best to find someone to stitch her up today, but if no one is open then keep her extremely clean over night.

--Dawn

 

[luvthempigs]

Thanks Pipp, Good to know about the iodine. I used it on a rescue pig that had an infection on his foot pad but wasn't sure if it was the right choice for the bun.

I didn't take any photos of it and now its red from the iodine. I'm getting ready to leave for Easter dinner. Maybe I will try and take some when I get back.

Either way, I will call my vet in the morning.

 

[luvthempigs]

When Fey was injured was she put on antibiotics? Just curious....How easy is it to administer meds to a bun? I have experience medicating guinea pigs and horses but never had to with a bun.


Thanks to everyonewho replied. I will check back with youright before I leave which will be in about a half an hour and then again before I go to bed tonight.

 

[naturestee]

Yes, Fey was put on oral Baytril to prevent infections. Her injury was on her belly and extended down to near her privates, which pretty much guaranteed that it would be in contact with feces and dirt at some point no matter how often I cleaned. If it's possible that a cat did this then Dora should get antibiotics too because bacteria from cat claws are well known for infecting wounds.

Fey willingly ate her antibiotics when I mixed them with canned pumpkin. I've also given several rounds of various oral meds to my foster bunny Luna, and those I just syringe into her mouth. It's not terribly hard unless the bun really puts up a fight, Mocha's been the worst so far about that. With Luna, I just put a blanket on top of her cage (about waist level for me), set her on it, and cover her head with one hand and use the other to administer the meds. She doesn't like it but usually doesn't fight to much because she's already learned that she's going to get it one way or another.

 

[aurora369]

Zeke was also put on antibiotics as his injury was to his genitals. I had a real problem with him about the antibiotics, he took them orally the first day and then decided he didn't like them. I had to try to hid them in different yummy things for a week then switched to injectable. I found the injectable easier because he hated the oral. Although, he loved the metacam...

--Dawn

 

[luvthempigs]

Dora's wound is on top of her back so atleast that will help keep it clean.

I have three indoor onlycats, two are not declawedand none of them are nasty at all. They all love to sit on top of my guinea pig or rabbit cages but I have never seen any aggression. They are curious and will sometimes put their paws through the cage bars but I can't imagine that it caused an injury like this or atleast I hope not....

Should be interesting to see what the vet thinks and what she ends up doing.

 

[luvthempigs]

So they use metacam for pain in rabbits too? I have used that for my guinea pigs in the past.

Whatever she ends up needing, I will figure out a way to get it done.

 

[aurora369]

Yup, metacam is safe for bunnies.

Just keep it clean, and get her to the vet as soon as you can. I'm sure she'll be fine.

I'll be sending her some healing vibes.

--Dawn

 

[luvthempigs]

My mother is going to be here any minute to pick me up but I wanted to show you guys what *might* have caused the injury to Dora.

I have bought these wooden toys for all my buns for sometime now. She chewed it up good. Maybe when I heard her make a bee-line for her cage she ran past it and ran into it?

 

[luvthempigs]

Now I'm thinking I should remove these wooden chew toys from my other cages. I don't see anything else in the cage that she could have got caught up on.

 

[luvthempigs]

Okay, I decided to take some photos. The brownish looking color on her hair is from the iodine. The first one is just what it looks like from above. The last one I really tried to lift the flap to see how deep it is.

 

[aurora369]

OWIE!!! That looks very sore, poor baby.

--Dawn

 

[luvthempigs]

Yea, It does look bad. Although she didn't seem to mind me touching it.

Do you think it's possible that the wooden chew toy could cause that?

 

[aurora369]

I'm not too sure. I would think something small and sharp would have caused it. And the toy is not secured to one place, so it probably would have moved before ripping skin.

Does she go under your couch? Maybe there's a loose spring poking out the bottom? Or under your bed? What about squeezing beside the fridge/stove?

--Dawn