Tobi's foot

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BethM

BethM

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Shawnee, Kansas, USA
Late last night, my husband noticed a red area on the bottom of one of Tobi's back feet. He saw it when she was lying down, feet kicked out to the side. Tobi does not deal well with being handled, and we interact with her exclusively on the ground, so we had not noticed this before.

This was very late, after 11pm.

This morning, we noticed she was licking that foot quite a bit. Neither of us could get out of work today to take her to the vet. This evening, I gathered Tobi up to look at her foot. I have posted some photos, which were taken before I cleaned the area. I rinsed it with sterile water, and when wet the sore area was about the size of a dime. Mostly raw, but with what looked like scabs around the edge. These parts were hidden with fur when I took the pictures. After I rinsed the area, I swabbed it with a bit of triple antibiotic ointment.
I looked at the area with a magnifier, and could not see a splinter or anything like that.

My question is, should I be rushing her in to the vet?
I could maybe get her in tomorrow morning. (Though last time I needed a vet on a Saturday, both bunny vets were off. :X)

Her activity, appetite, and output are normal.

Photos. Sorry these don't show the surface of the wound, my camera is rubbish with close-ups.

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In my condos, I use binder clips to hold the floors into the condo, and to hold grassy mats onto the floors for traction.
I am not wondering if maybe she cut her food on one of the binder clips? Wouldn't account for the large sore area, though. Maybe she groomed the cut area too much?

:tears2:
 
It looks more like a sore hock/pododermatitis than a cut to me. If it's calloused and raw, it would be a sore hock. i'd put some triple antibiotic ointment on it, whether it's a sore hock or a cut. Wash it with Betadine and put the ointment on it daily. I'd hold her still for a little bit so the ointment can soak in before she runs off and licks the rest off. If you have udder creme that's good for sore hocks too. I have also heard of using non-staining iodine (not sure what that is, but I think it's a livestock thing) for sore hocks.
 
Thanks, Claire.
What could be the cause of the sore hock? Tobi eats her rugs, so she can't have soft rugs to rest on like the other bunnies. She recently got one rug to cover a hole she'd chewed in her old linoleum flooring, and she's started eating that, but it's a rougher material (sisal). In her condo, she has chewed up the grassy mats I put up there for comfort, so that's bare plywood.

Could the hard surfaces be the problem? If so, I am curious as to why this would only be on one foot and not the other.


I have switched her flooring to Coroplast, which seems to be "softer" under foot than the old linoleum-covered plywood.
I have also recently taken over the one rabbit-chore my husband was responsible for, which is cleaning litter boxes. When we moved, he somehow decided that the boxes only need to be cleaned out once a week. I started doing the boxes last week, because they were disgusting with rejected hay, and Tobi's had a lot of urine-soaked hay in one corner. Could this also contribute? Boxes are now cleaned 2-3 times per week.


I would like to prevent this from happening again.
I feel so bad!
 
Sore hocks are mostly due to the way the rabbit puts pressure on their foot. Is she a rex? That also predisposes them to it. They can get them being on carpet as well. The urine soaked hay could definitely contribute. I know that the little ones get sore hocks when the bf isn't as fastidious about cleaning urine soaked litter. I like to put a grate over the litter to keep their feet out of it. I only clean once a week, but I use the plastic canvas and my guys are fine. The boyfriend's bunnies are better now that we use the plastic canvas as well.
 
Also. I don't have any Betadine, but I'll get some tomorrow. I also trimmed Tobi's nails tonight after putting the triple antibiotic ointment on, so hopefully some soaked in.
 
tonyshuman wrote:
Sore hocks are mostly due to the way the rabbit puts pressure on their foot. Is she a rex? That also predisposes them to it. They can get them being on carpet as well. The urine soaked hay could definitely contribute. I know that the little ones get sore hocks when the bf isn't as fastidious about cleaning urine soaked litter. I like to put a grate over the litter to keep their feet out of it. I only clean once a week, but I use the plastic canvas and my guys are fine. The boyfriend's bunnies are better now that we use the plastic canvas as well.
Click to expand...
OK. My litter boxes have built-in grates, so they're never standing directly on soiled litter. However. I sprinkle hay lightly over the top of the clean boxes, and they also accumulated discarded hay from hay bins.
Tobi always pees in one corner of the box, so there's usually a pile of urine-soaked hay in that one corner.

I just reminded the husband that the boxes HAVE to be cleaned more frequently. Tobi is his favorite, so this might get him on board with it.

Tobi is a mix. She isn't rex-shaped, and she doesn't have rex fur, but it's possible there is some rex in there somewhere. (She's the color of an American Sable, but only 4 lbs.)
 
Sometimes sore hocks are caused by nails being too long. Nails being too long throw the weight of the rabbit onto the back of the foot .
Beau also has sore hocks whichI have been treating for awhile. He has to eat his sloppy gruel on a flat surface because of his teeth ( he eats in a strange manner) soI think that he got it from standing in his food.
I just try to keep everything as dry as possible.

it's fairly common for rabbits to develop them so don't blame yourself. it is important , however, to keep them from deteriorating any further . AfterI wash and rinse with diluted betadineand apply neosporin I pull a cut off finger from a cotton glove over the joint and it sort of protects the area. I wash and reuse the cut off fingers

I could bandage it butI doubt if he would tolerate that ..would get it off.

if you go to a vet you may be able to get a better ointment or protectant than neopsporin ; Randy has mentioned different products
and so has kathy Smith is one of her books, however they can be obtained from vets only.
 
I will get betadine tomorrow, and treat with that and the neosporin. How many days before I could see some improvement? I will take her to the vet if she doesn't start improving with the home treatment, but I don't want to wait too long.


Also, Tobi's nails are always strange looking. They are fairly stubby since she's on the harder surface, but tonight they had a longer needle-like tip. This is probably unlikely, but they looked like she'd been chewing on them. Dewclaws were normal size/shape. They've been like this in the past, as well. Weird.
 
I always forget about nails being a cause! Thanks angieluv. I have had the best luck with Udderly Smooth on sore hocks--that stuff is amazing. It seems to have antibiotic stuff in it as well as being moisturizing. I also use it daily on my hands, elbows, etc. You can also cover the area with New Skin if you like--I don't really like that product because it stings so much when I put it on myself, but some people have had good success with it and not causing lots of pain for the bunny.
 
The sore area on Tobi's foot is no longer red and raw looking. The skin is now pink, and appears shiny. (Except for a small area on one edge that still looks red.)
Is the shininess normal when the skin is healing?

Tobi is quite aggressive and excitable, so it's been difficult to treat the foot daily. I've been aiming for every other day. Couldn't find Udderly Smooth cream locally, so I've just been using the Neosporin.


 
I found something at the store the other day that reminded me of bunny feet but I forgot which thread it applied to. They sell little cloth things to put on your finger if it's hurt, called "finger cots" I think. They're just like Maureen's glove fingers but you don't have to cut up a glove to get them. I found them at Walgreens. Glad it's doing better! Must have been a doozy of a sore hock!
 
somebody on Etherbun uses tiny infant socks; i have to check out walgreens for those cloth finger cots; Beau's feet are betterso I haven't been doingtreatments for awhile but the glove fingers are worn out.
 
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