Hi, I’m new here to the forums, but have used your forums for topic support since I first adopted my bunnies. It has been great, but I’m looking for a little more specialized support due to the unique situation.

Since I haven’t posted before, I’ll start from the top. I have two bunnies, Darwin and Emma. Darwin, a mini rex mix came into a shelter I was volunteering at as a stray, and he had a horribly broken foot at some point in his past. I adopted him almost immediately, and have spent quite a lot of effort trying to get him more normal. He did not hop when he first came in, due to his foot healing crooked, which threw off his whole balance. Instead, he did a weird walk that I have never seen before. By the time that I could afford X-Rays to see just what kind of damage was done, his back had degraded even farther due to the strain he was putting on it. Since then (over a year ago), he’s been receiving Adequan and physical therapy stretches, which has not only restored his hopping, but now he can sit up both assisted and on his own without support. 

My other bun, Emma is some sort of Holland LopxEnglish Spot mix. She came from a rabbit specific rescue just south of Eugene, and she was also a stray. She came in pretty aggressive, and still really hates it when I have to get her out of the cage. However, when she has free roam in my room, she will come over and nudge you, chew on your pants, etc. She’s a very spirited bunny. I believe part of her attitude comes from the fact that she, too, is injured. At my yearly vet check for her, my vet found a section of her back that produced a very pronounced “ouch” response. As a result, she, too, is on Adequan permenantly.

The reason for me posting is that despite the best efforts on my part, both of them have continual sore hocks, and I’m always worried that it will develop into an infection. Darwin’s sore hocks is a result of him having the broken foot and not bearing weight properly, and Emma’s is a result of the back pain. I should note, neither one of their sore hocks have been open wounds since I’ve had them. When Darwin was at the shelter, his broken foot had an open hock sore on it, but that’s long since healed up. Just reddened, furless patches that look irritated. One of Darwin’s (the broken foot) is callused over quite extensively and isn’t really red anymore. 

They currently live a very cushy life, in a 2x5x2 C&C cage (they are teeny buns, both are just a hair over 3lbs) with fleece on the bottom to keep their feet padded. Underneath the fleece is a thin layer of linoleum to ensure any accidents or water spills don’t go onto the carpet in my apartment, and underneath that are rubber floor mats to add extra cushion. 

At this point, I’m just not sure what else to do. My exotic savvy vet tried several things, including a silvadine treatment that was supposed to help heal the sore skin, but didn’t help much at all. While I don’t think either one of them will ever be permanently rid of the sore hocks, I just want them to irritate their feet less. Darwin’s sores are much more extensive than Emma’s, for obvious reasons. If anyone has any suggestions that might be doable for helping their feet heal up a bit, please let me know.

(Also, I tried to add pictures but I have no idea how to do that on these forums.)