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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Please help my disabled rabbit

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    • OverthinkingBun
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        One of my rabbits (three years old) is badly disabled and cannot stand up or hop anymore.  She is permanently on one side, and scoots around.  She is EC positive, but the very competent, rabbit expert vet said that she is not following the normal course of the disease.  She also has some disc degeneration.   We are not fully sure what has caused her condition but we have tried a wide range of treatments from EC treatment to experimental horse medications to accupuncture.  Just so you know, I haven’t been neglecting her, but the best care is failing.

        This next part is probably a bit upsetting, not everyone will want to read it.

        She lives in an x-pen with soft faux-sheepskin cushions, but I used to let her out for exercise with her bonded partner.  She developed a slight sore on her side from scooting around, and then she proceeded to pick it open until it was a wound.  I took her to the ER vet, where they gave her antibiotics and a cone.  She is supposed to wear the cone 24/7 until the wound healed, but it’s been a month now.  When I leave it off a bit for her to have some peace and groom herself, she immediately picks at her wound.  Unfortunately, she also picks at the cone and is sometimes able to get it off.  Tonight she just destroyed her most recent cone and although I have a backup, I’m devastated because she did a lot of damage to herself in the meantime.  I also bought her recovery suits that cover the affected area, as an alternative to the cones, but she won’t wear them.  She can wriggle free from them very easily.

        She is currently taking pain medication twice a day to keep her comfortable, but I worry it’s not enough.  I don’t know what to do with her or how to help a rabbit who self-harms.  I’m feeling miserable because I know she must be feeling awful in that horrible cone, but I don’t know what else to do with her.

        Oh and btw, she manages to still eat her cecatropes most of the time by turning around and grabbing them off the ground.  I am aware of this being an issue with her cone, but it’s not her biggest problem right now.

        Thank you for any advice you can give.

         


      • LBJ10
        Moderator
        17109 posts Send Private Message

          What about one of those neck rolls instead of a traditional cone?

          I imagine she is picking at it because it itches or her fur is stuck in the scab and it pulls. This will make them want to mess with it. Where is the wound exactly? I’m wondering if there is a way to keep it moist so it isn’t itchy. Or maybe the vet can shave around it so her fur doesn’t get stuck in it?


        • Meg
          Participant
          560 posts Send Private Message

            I’m so sorry!  It sounds like you are taking wonderful care of her.

            My Teddy couldn’t use a traditional wheelchair and I heard about something called (I hate this name) “drag bags” which are designed to help with scooting while preventing injury — I don’t know if they’d be helpful for her?  She sounds like an expert-level wriggler so I don’t know if they would stay on?

            There’s also an antimicrobial saline spray called Vetericyn Plus that helped Teddy’s skin a lot.  Maybe that might help your bunny’s wound be less itchy?

            Finally, Teddy was always on one side too and after a lot of trial and error, we ended up having good luck with the kind of cat beds that have high (but soft) walls, like this (just replace the [dot]: amazon[dot]com/gp/product/B017NT47I6.  We’d use microfiber towels with Sheepette over them as a washable bedding that we’d change when he peed (I don’t know if yours needs this).

            I’m so sorry, and I’m here if you want to talk more.  Teddy had advanced arthritis, rather than EC, but maybe some of the challenges are overlapping.


          • DanaNM
            Moderator
            9064 posts Send Private Message

              I’m sorry you are dealing with this 🙁

              If you haven’t found them already, there is a Disabled Rabbits group on Facebook that may be able to give you some suggestions, there are lots of people there with EC buns.

              I’m wondering if she should be confined to a smaller area while she heals, even though I know that will be hard with a younger energetic bun.

              I use faux sheepskin with my bun and it’s soft, but I’m wondering if you could look for something even softer. There are some puppy blankets out there that are very soft and less likely to cause an friction. There’s a trade-off between traction for the bun and softness, but for the area that she moves around in the most, having something really really soft will help. A good test is to rub your inner wrist on it and see if it starts to burn at all.

              What pain meds is she on? And just to confirm, she has done at least a 28 day course of fenbendazole/Panacur?

              Where exactly is the sore? I wonder if there would be a way to wrap it and pad the area with some shed fur (that’s the ideal way to wrap a sore hock).

              . . . 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.  


            • Meg
              Participant
              560 posts Send Private Message

                These are great suggestions from Dana!  Regarding the friction, that made me want to add that for a while when Teddy had a sore hock issue we got these super soft blankets and put them down over his rugs, tucking the edges of the blanket under the rugs to keep them in place.  They are sure to pass the inner-wrist test.  I won’t paste another link but if you search for “B07YQ1Z356” on Amazon you’ll see the kind we got, in case this is helpful.

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            Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Please help my disabled rabbit