Suspected Broken Toe – Healing Time?

[Rhubarbcrumble]

I would really appreciate some advice (more reassurance really) about my dutch bunny Brabham.

Two weeks ago he zoomed around the back of the sofa after my other bunny was spooked at something in the garden and when he came back around, he wasn’t using is back left leg and was obviously in some pain.

We immediately rushed him to the emergency vet and since then he has seen two more vets over three more appointments.  They all had exactly the same advice, that they could find no obvious break and that the risk of an anesthetic for x-rays was not worthwhile as he is eating and drinking fine and there is very little if anything they can do with small fractures anyway. (our vet practice is very good).They  said on Monday that they were happy to stop the painkillers and just leave him to heal on his own and only to take him back if he deteriorates.

He has been slowly improving but he still holds his leg a bit gingerly at times and can’t balance on it for long when he is cleaning his ears. He is also sleepier than he was. (Eating, drinking, pooing and biting my bottom when I’m in the way is all back to normal).

Hopefully I am just expecting too much in two weeks but I am a HUGE worrier with my bunnies and I just wanted to see if anyone with experience of a similar injury could tell me how long it took to heal completely.

Thank you very much X.

[Bam]

I have no personal experience, but I think it’s resonable what your vets said. We have had a member whose bunny got a cast on his foot, but it made him very unhappy and he spent lots of energy trying to remove it, so in the end they decided that it was best to let it heal on it’s own. 

The most important thing now is of course that he eats and drinks and poops. If he stops, take him in, of course. Pain can make a bunny loose its appetite, but painkillers of NSAID type (like Metacam) can impair or slow down fracture-healing, so if he can do without it, it’s best avoided:

NSAIDs and fracture healing

I do think 2 weeks is a short time. 

[Author]

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