Ouchie, Sore Hocks.

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Whammeh

Whammeh

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Jun 29, 2012
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Location
Middlesbrough, , United Kingdom
Hey, a worried owner posting hereeee.



My rabbit has been battling with sorehocks for perhaps just under half a year now. When I first noticed a small patch of hair loss and reddening on her feet I did what every owner does and panics. I searched all the possible forums for reasons why it had happened. When I first had her I bought her this indoor hutch which I thought was fine for her:

http://npi.petplanet.co.uk/shop_dev/assets/new_product_images/ferplast/50201.jpg



When she first showed signs of sore hocks I felt awful. I took out the plastic part of the hutch which you can see in the obove picture as I thought it probably wasnt doing her any good. I took her to the vets and they prescribed her something which I cant quite remember the name of, I had to measure like 5mls of it into her bowl everyday. It seemed to make it a bit better, at this point I had put padded fleece blankets down in the hutch and hay. I also applied Sudocrem about twice a day. After about two weeks it appeared to clear.



After a few weeks it started to come back, I took her to the vets again and this time they gave me a double dosage of the antibiotics (ouch for my purse) But this time even after the whole dosage had been used up, there appeared to be no real improvement, but it didn't get worse either.



At this stage I've changed her flooring, I've litter trained her, I regularly clean her out. She currently has a padded 'pillow' to lay on, this has a pillow case which is changed regularly and a waterproof padding underneath it. Her floor is covered in shavings with a topping of lots of hay and straw.

Today I came down and realised to my horror that the sorehocks had spread on one of her feet, it is now larger than before, there doesn't appear to be any broken skin, just soreness, there's really small patches on her pillow case of dry blood or something else but I've checked her over and don't see anywhere it could have come from. I've put sudocrem back on her feet.



I'm not too confident in the antibitiotics that the vet gave as like I said, despite a double dosage (of over a month) it didn't appear to do anything. Last time I went to the vets they said that there were no infections, that she's the type to be prone to sore hocks so it'll be a re-occuring issue and that the sudocrem couldn't hurt.

I feel awful but I cant currently afford the costs to go to the vets and try another dosage (which I'm not confident in anyway) Is there anything else I can do? I'm in the UK.
 
My Gary has chronic sore hocks from poor breeding. I use udder cream to keep his heels soft and it prevents the cracking. His house is half a room so I put layers of blankets down with fleese on top so it is soft. In the litter box I have a plastic rabbit resting board so his feet stay clean and dry in the box. I put baby socks with a little vet wrap around the top when he runs around on carpeting so protect his feet.

Once in a while they will get red and irrirtated. Then I use a bit of neosporin (plain, no pain relief) and A&G ointment on the sores. Then I keep his socks on for a few days while it heals. I check his feet daily to catch it as soon as it starts getting red rather than waiting for an infection. Hopefully it never gets that bad.

Good luck.
 
What sort of resting board do you use? I'd love to put something like that in because I hate it when she hops in and sits in her pee and poop.

Do you need to cut up those socks? Someone suggested putting some moleskin on the bottoms of her feet as it's sticky and apparently good for healing?

I gave her a long look over and realised she has a tiny scab on the sole of one of her feet, it's tiny and doesn't look infected or anything, I've uploaded an image:

http://imgur.com/QHGiP

The red patches which I've also drawn around aren't bloody/broken or anything they're just more red than the other parts. Did you have to use antibiotics or anything whilst applying the creams and socks?
 
Search ebay for rabbit resting board. It's a plastic with slots for the pee to go through.

I just used baby socks.
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It looks the same as when I was using the neosporin and A&D. I didn't give him any oral antibiotics. Unless it gets infected I try toavoid antibiotics because they are so hard on bunny tummies. I would just apply cream and socks. Change the socks and reapply socks daily.
 
Firstly I have to say that I d'awwed at those pictures so much, especially the first! So adorable.

Would you say there's any chance of the sore hocks improving at least a little bit if I put socks on her and creams? It was suggested that I put the sticky moleskin on the bottom of her feet as I said above. Do you think a combination of the two (moleskin and socks) would be helpful or just make it worse (someone who constantly wears shoes isn't going to have the healthiest of feet.)
 
Thanks. He really is very cute when running around in his little socks. He also tollerates the process pretty well since I give him a snack while I work and then he knows he will get to run, which is his favorite thing in the world.

I would worry that the moleskin would be irritating from the adhesive. Socks work well to protect but lets the skin breathe and heal. His feet got much better after just three days of socks all the time, so I just use them as preventative now when he's really running. He only wears them a couple of hours each evening when he's running the whole house, not when he's in his room. His feet are still bald, but the skin is light pink with no signs of irritation. I think that is the best they are ever going to be.
 
I got mine in the baby section of Walmart. They are for newborns.

I had a coworker give me a pair of pink ones he got donating to a child charity. LOL Can't wait to get pictures of Gary in PINK socks! I have been trying to preserve his dignity by using blue or neutral colors, but one pair of pink can be comical. :p
 
How are the nails looking? How often are they trimmed? I find that tends to be the deciding factor with my mini-rex...

RO LIBRARY: Rabbit Health - Sore Hocks (bottom of main page)

Have to be very cautious when wrapping anything around the feet without ensuring the wraps aren't too tight... I once made the mistake - didn't check every 20 min. for swelling, and poor bun's foot looked mighty rough :(.

There is a good link to a vet wrap protocol in that link - use with caution, though.
 
When I use the vet wrap around the socks I make it very loose so circulation will not be an issue. It's more just to bunch the top of the socks together a bit so they stay up.
 
In my case, Gary is free-roam in the house. He has one of the mats in his litter box to keep his feet dry. I added layers of blankets to the floor in his room with fleece as the top layer (thank goodness he only chews on his toys). Then he wears the socks when he's running around the house like a mad man with the cat. That helps protect his feet from the friction of carpeting. I keep his nails short.

I havn't come up with anything else that can help him because he certainly is not going to slow down to be less rough on his tootsies. ;)
 
Sorry I can't help with the sore hock issues, because I haven't had that problem yet. *knocking on fake wooden desk now* I just wanted to say that I laugh out loud every time I see pictures of Gary in his socks!! That looks so funny, but I'm glad it's working. I can't wait to see the pink socks on him. LOL
 
Brandy-now that you mention using utter cream on their feet-how often? Our Taffy's feet got better last summer but since the hair never came back, she still has a tendency to have the skin crack. I'm interested in trying this.



With our bunny (Taffy) we did the vetrap, but like Autumn mentioned, we didn't check it right away and it was way too tight and the poor bunnies toes were HUGE! I felt so horrible! We pulled it off right away and later I learned how to correctly apply it. Then we did neosporin every day once or twice a day as well as buying fleece (and double layered it) to put all around her whole cage and carpet on her ramp). Withing 1 or 2 weeks it was looking all better except still missing hair that never came back.
 
I put the udder cream on every night, the same as lotion on my own feet. It keeps the skin soft and soothed so it doesn't crack or create callus.

Yes, it is very important to keep the vet wrap loose. I can get my pinky between his sock top and fur, it really is just to bunch the sock top up to keep it on.

I will put him in the pink socks this weekend and get more pictures. I also got some blue dog nail polish. I tried it on Sophie, which didn't work well. I think Gary is my next try. *meniacal laugh*
 
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