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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Broken Nail – a little blood on the floor

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    • Royce&Abby
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        My hollan lop, Royce, is one medication to clear up an ear infection.  I always give him his ear drops in the kitchen to keep things consistent and away from his cage area.  He hates his ear drops and he has learned what being taken to the kitchen means.  Last night, he must have gotten his nail caught on the tile floor.  I noticed a bit of blood (smaller than a dime) on the floor.  I found him in the living room and picked him up to inspect where on his body the blood came from.  I noticed that his nail on his right foot was broken and the quick was exposed. It wasn’t bleeding. He twitched when I touched it but other than that didn’t seem to be fine.  He was ran into his cage from and didn’t appear limping or anything.  If you didn’t know that he had hurt his nail, you wouldn’t be able to tell.  I cleaned out his litter box and put a fresh sheet on the bottom of his cage to make sure it was as clean as possible to prevent it getting infected. He hopped into his litter box and took a good poop and groomed himself a bit. 

        This morning I went to check on him and there was pee by the water bowl.  I’m not sure if it was Royce or his bonded buddy, Abby.  I suspect that it was Abby since the sheet that I used she previously had an accident on (but it was washed, can they still smell a old pee spot after it’s been washed out?) I picked Royce up to inspect his nail.  The broken nail had fallen off.  The quick was exposed but there was a bit of nail around the “root” of it.  He squirmed and ran away.  I herded him back to his cage, he did a little stomp and ducked into his cardboard house.  Then I noticed that there was still food in the dish.  I normally give them food in the morning (1/2 cup in one communal bowl) and the food will be almost totally eaten by the next morning.  This morning there was still food in the dish.  We gave them a bit of greens and Royce ate it without hesitation. 

        As can be expected, I’m worried.  I’m not sure what to do.  There was no blood in his cage this morning. Will it just heal up on its own? What should I do about the pellet situation?


      • Sarita
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          The nail should grow back – I do suspect that the area is tender though where the nail broke off.

          I would just continue to observe today about the food situation – hopefully the tenderness will go away soon and he will begin eating normally again.


        • KatnipCrzy
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            You have great instinct for what you need to do!  Basically keeping his feet as clean as possible during the time that it is healing is important- so cleaning the litterbox often and keeping other areas clean will help with this.

            I would continue to keep an eye on him- see if he shows any pain, etc.  And monitor the buns to see if not eating all the pellets this morning as a coincidence or not.  I would not think a broken toe nail would be enough to stop him from eating- and he still ate greens for you which is a good thing.

            I am not sure there will be much else to do to treat it- bunnies don’t do well with bandages- so I would not even bother to try, and I don’t think Neosporin will have much affect.  Once the nail starts to toughen up and regrow it won’t be painful- and that should happen pretty quickly.

            I would give your vet a call and see if he recommends anything different.  Do you have a follow up appt scheduled for his ears?  maybe the vet can take a peek at it then?


          • Royce&Abby
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              He actually just had his follow up appointment for his ear infection on Monday.  He just has a little bit left in one ear but it’s a LOT better than they were so I just have to continue the medication for a week to get rid of the last bit.  I gave him a bit of banana to cheer him up last night before I went to bed.

              Perhaps the food wasn’t touched because of the big pee spot that was right next to the bowls? Although, I’ve never seen a rabbit really care too much.  He actually stood on it and was digging for 20 seconds.

              I feel somewhat relieved! I can’t wait to get home later to see how things are going.


            • Royce&Abby
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                I just wanted to write an update in case someone else has this problem down the road.

                When I came home last night, both rabbits were fine and cuddling with eachother.  The food looked somewhat untouched so I dumped it out and put fresh food in it.  It was 75% gone this morning.  I gave some veggies and those were also gone. I noticed that although Royce was moving around fine, he was not his usual self.  When he finally started hopping around in the living room, he ran away from me as I walked past him.  I attempted to pet him and he didn’t mind. He actually pushed his head against my hand.  Abby didn’t like this.  she started digging at my hands.  I think that Royce is still a bit sore from his nail and was a bit skiddish around me thinking that I was going to take him back to the kitchen – Abby was probably just trying to protect him because she saw that he was in pain yesterday after we carried him away.  She won’t let us touch her but I know in a few days they’ll be fine again.

                Thanks everyone for all your advice.


              • bunnyfofo
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                  One of my first jobs was working at a vet clinic taking care of the animals in the kennel and helping out the techs. We saw alot of dogs come in who broke off their nail and the quick was exposed. In a dog we would put some Neosporin on it and wrap it for a day or two and it would heal up just fine. The nail is usually very tender for a couple of wks but he should be ok.


                • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                    Yeh I was going to suggest that you can put neosporin or polysporin (not the plus kind) on the nail to stave off infection. But sounds like it’s going well!


                  • bunny13<3
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                       Help!!!! I am new to this forum site and I am not sure how it works yet but I need advice!

                       

                      I just found that my rabbits nail broke off pretty close to the base, but there is still some nail left. It has already stopped bleeding but my concern is will it get infected? Should I take her to the vet? 

                       

                      Thanks!!!


                    • jerseygirl
                      Moderator
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                        Welcome. You can begin a new thread for a question like this. Or any future ones. That way it’s more likely to get seen. : )

                        You shouldn’t need to visit the vet. Just check on it and keep the bunny habitat clean and dry. The bun should keep the nail area clean itself.
                        Do keep an eye on how your rabbit is getting around to watch for any other injury it may have sustained though.


                      • bunnyfriend
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                        2368 posts Send Private Message

                          Do you have styptic powder or flour? You can put that on the nail to stop the bleeding.

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                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Broken Nail – a little blood on the floor