Sore Hocks and more terrible news

[JenniferCameron]

I've told the story of how I aquired 3 baby bunnies one of which died and I posted a notice on the rainbow bridge. Well now another one has died, last night, both of the rabbits had very frail bones their whole lives, so I'm wondering if that had something to do with it. I read something about tempurature changes, but honestly the poop was normal and so was the behaviour.Thankfully the other one is much stronger, but now I've noticed that he seems to be getting sore hocks. I'm not really sure why this is happening but I think I know why. It's not bad yet but I noticed the fur was thining so I'm trying to find out how to stop it before it gets any worse. Here is the situation...

The babies live in a big hutch about 7 feet by 4 feet, we have cardboard lining the wood and carpet on top of it (I check it everyday to clean it and make sure that they're not eating the carpet, thankfully they haven't). I change the carpet every few days and the litter every day, but the rabbits pee everywhere so the carpet gets wet.i was wondering if that might be why he got it. I change it as soon as it gets wet but i'm sure he still walks on it a bit before I notice. The other one didn't have sore hocks so I'm wondering why it's just this one. Does anyone have any suggestions, I've tried litter training them but it just hasn't worked as of yet. I feel like a bunny failure at the moment.

I was told to by the vet tech to use polysporin and clean it with warm water, to make sure it doesn't get worse and that it goes away faster. What do you guys do in big cages, hutches ? Any new and different ways to potty train ? I'm really worried, that this is going to turn into something worse and I'm not enjoying it, my others rabbits have all lived healthy nice lives so I'm wonding why all these problems are happening with these new buns. Could it have something to do with the mother ? Or is it me ?

Any help would be appreciated as long as you don't **** me as a bunny mom failure, although I think I might just be.

 

[hartleybun]

excuse me if i use the word 'lagomorph' alot. im sure you've seen the posts about monkeys and mooses (april fool joke on this forum). i have two otter rexes, which are prone to sore hocks - the guard hairs just arent very thick on this breed. the doe, roxy, a very determined little lagomorph, occasionally suffers from this. i have covered the floor of the bunnery with old cotton sheets and towels. the floor underneath is concrete and she has a habit of digging thru most coverings until she can get to the bare concrete. for some reason she loves to lie out on this:? ive even stopped using woodflakes as lining as these can also irritate. i do put it in the part of the hutch used as a toilet - they are free range lagomorphs. i also use fleece (you may call it polar fleece) as a lining. my local supermarket was selling pieces of this for pets for £2 a metre square recently. went mad and brought enough to keep lagomorphs going for a while.

iv'e also got something called vetbed which i used as a whelping box liner (bred from my choc lab 2 years ago. ) this is a type of fleece especially designed for this purpose and is brilliant - can be expensive tho'. my local pets at home sell this.

the only downside is the washing! probably wont be so bad tho' if it's just a hutch you are lining.

and no you are not a failure as a lagomorph mom:biggrin2:

 

[Maureen Las]

Here is some of the library articles that may be helpful



http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11953&forum_id=10

 

[tonyshuman]

I'm so sorry for your loss. Binky free, little one.

I bet the sore hocks are from the wet carpet. Neosporin/polysporin is good, but make sure it's not the kind with the pain medicine in it. Bag balm is also good if you can find it. The vet bed would be optimal, but what about lining the cage with something non-porous (like linoleum or coroplast) until he's trained.

If you'd like some input on why the one died last night, we can try to give you an idea from any symptoms you might have noticed.

 

[hartleybun]

tonyshuman wrote:

Bag balm is also good if you can find it.

have googled this, im in the country and have enough farm suppliers around. ithink it might be worth getting in case my rexes get sore hocks again. from what i can see bag balm is for cows udders although people seem to rate it highly for their own skin. if it's safe for cows it should be safe for bunnies who may lick it off:rollseyes

jennifercameron -i hopeyour bunnies recover. please take a small crumb of comfort in that you have helped my bunnies