Early sore hocks-at a loss!

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This topic has 19sd replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by Lyndsayp.

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- 11/24/2017 at 8:23 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  So I have a 7th month old Rex, whom I rescued from a breeder planning to cull him. He is a spunky energetic little guy but for the past two month we have been dealing with early signs of sore hocks. Now, I think they started due to me allowing him to run around on our coarse apartment carpet. But as soon as I realized what was happening I confined him to a large play pen with a soft squishy blanket over the carpet. wever, things are just not getting any better a month later. I’ve tried bag balm, I’ve tried coconut oil but those things seemed to make it worse. So i saw that people reccomended derma gel and have been applying that the last few days but it also seems to be making it worse as well! I’m at a loss. I don’t know if maybe I’m only thinking it is making it worse and need to keep with the treatments or if I should stop all together and let it heal/callous naturallly, or what?! His nails are trimmed as short as I can, his kennel has a snoozy mat bottom with a memory foam underneath. His litter box is compressed sawdust pellets which he doesn’t spend much time in. I need advice please! Here are what his heels look like tonight. No bleeding but redder than should be.
- 11/25/2017 at 5:44 AM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  Is he overweight? This can contribute to it.
  
  Sore hocks can be tricky because while the cause seems straightforward, it’s difficult to link what exact factors are causing each specific case. It’s helpful to think of how the hock is structured and put yourself in your rabbit’s place.
  
  Initially, people may compare a rabbit’s hocks to our heels: cushioned, having slightly rougher skin to tolerate holding our weight, and having a layer of fat between the heel bone and the skin surface itself. In reality, a rabbit’s hocks are identical to our elbow: direct bone to skin contact, no cushioning. Imagine resting on your elbows for a bit, and that gives a good picture of what sore hocks feels like to a rabbit.
  
  It comes down to how much time your rabbit spends putting weight on his hocks. The more lounging, leaning forward, running, etc. he does, the better.
  
  Although he’s energetic and runs, how often would you say he just sits? For example, when he spends time eating hay, is it placed in a way where he’s sitting upright when eating, rather than leaning forward?
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/25/2017 at 9:08 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17000 posts
  Sore hocks means there’s extensive inflanmmation or even infected wounds. That requires vet attention and often antibiotics. Slightly callused heels is another thing, though. Especially rex buns are prone to callused heels.
  
  I know forum leader Little Puffy Tail has had success with memory foam bathmats for two of her sore-hock-prone buns. She tried a lot of other things first, but memory foam was the best. It’s also important to not let the bun’s nails grow to long, because nail lenght affects how the rabbit puts pressure or its feet.
  
  I can’t find a picture attacjed to your post. If you’re having trouble uploading a pic, it might be too big. If that’s the case, you can upload to an external source like imgur, Flickr or Google Drive and link to the picture in your post.
- 11/25/2017 at 11:08 AM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  Bam is correct in that I’ve had great success from good quality Memory Foam Bath Mats. I buy the really good ones at Bed Bath & Beyond (they are expensive but I wait till I get a coupon. ) .
  
  How is his weight? Rex’s often tend to be a bit on the pudgy side. That can affect the pressure put on his hocks as well.
  
  My Big Bunny (he’s like 11lbs) currently has 1 heel that is completely bald and dark pink. But it’s a hard callous so I just monitor it and keep his nails as short as possible.
- 11/25/2017 at 11:24 AM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Thank you eveyone! The pics are too big to attach so I’ll upload them to an external source and get a link posted later today. The hocks I guess aren’t necessarily “sore” to the point where they are cracked or bleeding. But they are reddish and he hates me touching them because I assume it doesn’t feel too good. He is acting completely normal. I think his weight is normal, though I haven’t gotten him weighed since his neuter which was probably 3 months ago, he was 5 lbs at that point.
  I feel like he doesn’t spend too much time on his heels. When in his cage he lounges a lot. Though I have noticed he tends to just naturally put weight on his heels, bad posture I assume because his nails are not too long that I can tell. when eating from his hay feeder or sitting down it seems he just naturally leans back which I’m sure is contributing to this.
  
  When he is in his play pen I put a soft fluffy microfiber blanket. So when he binkys and runs he isn’t on the coarse carpet.
  
  I feel so bad because nothing I do is helping and I’m terrified of making it worse I’m super worried about it every day mow, constantly checking it. I feel like a bad bunny mom. I’m sure it’s stressing him out me bugging him all the time to check his heels.
  
  I have a memory foam mat under his snoozy mat, but maybe I need a better one. Could it possibly be I have too much cushion with both?
  
  Thanks for all the help guys. Will post a pic on my lunch break.
- 11/25/2017 at 11:36 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17000 posts
  It actually is possible to give a sore-hock-prone bunny too cushy flooring. They need some traction. You’ll probably need to experiment a bit to find out what suits your bunny better.
- 11/25/2017 at 12:02 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Pictures from today and yesterday. I moved the fur on the one where his heel is most exposed.
  
  How bad are these considered?
  http://s38.photobucket.com/user/lyndsaywatson/library/?view=recent&page=1
  
  Thanks again everyone, I appreciate all the help so much.
  
  I’m thinking maybe the memory foam is too much under the snoozy maybe I should try the snoozy mat alone for a few days.
- 11/25/2017 at 12:02 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Pictures from today and yesterday. I moved the fur on the one where his heel is most exposed.
  
  How bad are these considered?
  http://s38.photobucket.com/user/lyndsaywatson/library/?view=recent&page=1
  
  Thanks again everyone, I appreciate all the help so much.
  
  I’m thinking maybe the memory foam is too much under the snoozy maybe I should try the snoozy mat alone for a few days.
- 11/26/2017 at 9:38 AM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  This is what his hocks looked like last night. Not getting any better. Any opinions on how bad these are? Is this sore hocks or more callous?
  
  http://s38.photobucket.com/user/lyndsaywatson/media/20171125_183234-1_zps6y1rks0s.jpg.html?filters[user]=146958175&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
- 11/26/2017 at 11:05 AM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  That seems like sore hocks, but also it’s odd because the position is slightly off from where it usually is I feel, from pictures I’ve seen of sore hocks. It could be a sign of uneven flooring.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/26/2017 at 11:09 AM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  Honestly, that looks fine to me. If the pink spots feel hard, like a callous, that doesn’t require treatment, just monitoring. I have my buns on a schedule where I check their hocks about every 2 weeks. My little Bridge Mini Rex’s hocks looked like that most of his life. They never progressed to anything further. Strange because we always hear Rex’s are more prone but it was my 2 other mixed breed buns that had the hocks that required treatment.
  
  So, my advice. Relax…… And just monitor and keep nails short. And if you have a good quality memory foam mat, I suggest leaving it uncovered. Memory foam mats are great because they mimick the “hocks sinking into the soft dirt and grass” that a rabbit would feel in the wild and that keeps their feet healthy.
- 11/26/2017 at 11:17 AM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  I kind of thought it was an odd position too. Could it be from his posture possibly? He was a runt of the litter so I wouldn’t be surprised if he had some bad genetics and has some defects, the breeder I rescued him from was about to cull him for the reason of he wasn’t good enough for breeding she bred for show rabbits. He is my first rabbit so I am not exactly sure what that means in terms of what to look for as not normal in that regard.
  
  He doesn’t have uneven flooring in his cage nor in the areas he runs on. However with the squishy flooring I have him on it may be that it’s too soft and therefore making him sit uneven?
  
  Took out memory foam last night and have just a snoozy mat. How do you guys reccomend I treat these? Everything I put on them I feel makes them worse because it moves the hair.
- 11/26/2017 at 11:23 AM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Thank you so much! I will just monitor and try to relax. I love this little guy and it’s my first rabbit I’ve owned so when something started going wrong I kind of started panicking. I will take you advice of putting memory foam mats uncovered in his cage. I think I’ll check bed bath and beyond for some like you suggested as the one I have is squishy but not exactly as soft as I think he needs. What kind of material are the mats you use? Microfiber or something more plushy? Thanks again!
- 11/27/2017 at 11:44 AM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  I think that one of this heels definitely is “sore” as when I touch it he goes crazy and it is not hard like a callous. The other seems better however.
  
  Still not bleeding or open.has anybody ever had an success with liquid bandage? Or baby socks? I just want to cover that poor little heel of his. Maybe baby socks with a cotton ball at the bottom for cushion?
- 11/27/2017 at 11:57 AM
  Wick & Fable
  Moderator
  5820 posts
  There’s instructions to find how to make a rabbit booty I believe, but unsure if that’s necessary or not. I’m not experienced with sore hocks unfortunately, so I cannot offer too much advice without them being just guesses.
  
  I will say Wick is a fan of the comfort Chef mat I have in front of my stove. It could also be because that’s where he goes when he’s waiting for veggies (right next to the refrigerator), but he does lounge on it willingly without food cues, so I think he likes it.
  
  Also, Wick enjoys sleeping on a cardboard box that has a small towel draped over it, as well as on top of my wooden dresser where there’s a folded shirt I leave up there for him to lay on, so I imagine those are comfy for him as well. They are hard surfaces (cardboard, wood) that have a soft fabric over them, so they provide solid footing with comfort, without being too cushion-y.
  
  The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.
- 11/28/2017 at 2:21 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Okay, it seems like I’ll have to experiment with different surfaces for sure. I bought a new softer fabric memory foam mat yesterday so well see if maybe that helps. I’ll hold off on the bandages for now as I assume it’s probably good for the skin to breathe and the skin isn’t broken.
  
  Hocks are so frustrating. From the day I got him and found out he was prone to them I’ve took precautions to prevent them and yet here I am worrying about them. The skin doesn’t look any worse but it’s still more red than I would like to see and he is very sensitive when it is touched. Trying prep-h today to see of that helps soothe the skin and reduce any inflammation on the one that seems to be bugging him. I just wish the hair would grow back and protect those little heels.
- 11/28/2017 at 2:33 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  I know, sore hocks are very frustrating. I’ve dealt with them with 2 bunnies and they lived in super plush, comfy condos. Even the most pampered buns can get them, unfortunately.
- 11/28/2017 at 3:01 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  apparently he has developed a new habbit of eating the foam out of his memory foam mat! Not sure if memory foam is gonna work for him
- 11/28/2017 at 5:47 PM
  LittlePuffyTail
  Moderator
  18092 posts
  Oh no! That’s definitely not something you want to happen! Maybe you will have to leave them covered.
- 11/30/2017 at 10:00 PM
  Lyndsayp
  Participant
  12 posts
  Posted By LittlePuffyTail on 11/28/2017 5:47 PM
  Oh no! That’s definitely not something you want to happen! Maybe you will have to leave them covered.
  
  I fixed the problem by hot gluing a blanket to the back of the memory foam mat that he was eating. I hope this helps. Is there anything else I should be doing? They seem to just stay red. I’m torn between leaving them be if trying to continue bag balm, derma gel or prep h.
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