Oh no! Poor footie!

[MimzMum]

So I get home from my routine dental appointment today to check on Mimzy, Fiver and Pip. Mim is okay, but still going to vet on Thursday for possible tooth probs.

I bring Fiver out to play for a bit as I have bought him new comfy plush towels to lounge on. While he is running around, what do I see? *gasp* His right heel is still losing fur and there’s a dark pink area with a little scab on it! The left will soon go this way if I can’t find something soft (and bunny proof) for him to lay on.

Darn it! I had been trying so hard to keep his living quarters as soft as possible (put his little fake lamb’s wool cuddly cup in with him last night for him to sleep on, sadly he’s been licking at it all night and I find strings of pearls in his litterbox this morning and he’s hardly pooped all day) since he’s a mini-rex and I didn’t want him getting sore hock.

So I spend hours tying to corner him and put Neosporin (w/o pain reliever) on his foot and of course he is NOT cooperating. I had to wait till he’d pooped himself out with activity and flopped over, not watching me, so I could sneak up behind him and slurp some on as fast as I could. Then distract him with bunny cookie so he doesn’t lick it off.

Argh! What should I do now? I am dubious of leaving the cuddly cup in his pen because I don’t want him blocking his stomach up with the fuzz he licks off it. He turns over any other soft bedding I put in there or kicks away Carefresh and the towels already have holes in them.

 

Going to make sure he poops tonight because I am used to having to clean his litterbox twice a day and tonight it is hardly fouled at all except for a small wet area.

…

Maybe I should call my vet tomorrow and ask if I can bring him in too?

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ahh I know how you feel!! What about a pillow? He can sleep on that (referring to my other thread) as long as you don’t mind a little pee on it?

[TARM]

We gave Thumper a bed the ferrets don’t use any more. Her cage is soft, we keep a folded blanket in there so she has traction since she’s only got three working feet. As soon as we put the bed in there she hopped in it and didn’t move for over an hour. When she DID move it was to potty then go back to her bed. If I would have known she’d like the bed so much I would have given it to her sooner.

[Alicia Conklin]

What kind of a cage/pen is he in?  What kind of bottom does he have?

 

What I do is butterfly clip the soft stuff on top of the NIC grids.  This way she can’t move it.  

What you could do that is REALLY soft is get two panels of polar fleece..the thicker the better.  Then tie the ends together like a baby blanket.  (google tied fleece blanket or knotted fleece blanket and some should come up)  I did this for Tucker and it’s really soft.  Hers isn’t as thick as it could be but I think she has a cheaper fleece.  I made some for my kids with real nice polar fleece and those things are really thick and cuddly.  What I have found is awesome with these is that the knots hold it in place too.  Like if I put one end under the NIC grid pen she can’t move it out from there.  I put hers in her carpet hot spot because she can’t pull it from there to get to the carpet. 

[Sarita]

My standard rex has these callouses on both her heels. One very important thing is that you keep their area clean like you are. I find that the carefresh stays soggy and that’s not a good thing.

My only experience with true sorehocks was with Maxine (a large New Zealand rabbit) that I got from a shelter. Luckily the skin had not gone down to the bones and the vet thought much of the reason for her sorehocks was unsanitary conditions more than anything. We ended up just letting her hocks heal naturally and she still has the pink callouses.

I like the Silvadene which you can get from the vet to keep the callouses soft – you don’t want them to get dry and crusty so they crack.

[KatnipCrzy]

Losing the fur can be a warning sign of sore hocks.  But a true case of sore hocks is techincally called “ulcerative pododermatitis”.  And since there are no ulcers/sores- it sounds as though there is just hair loss or thin hair coat on that part of the foot.  So while it is good to be concerned and pro-active now it is not truly horrible and anything to lose sleep over yet.  What breed is Fiver?  I have seen the pics- but I can’t remember what breed or age. 

I also suggest trying fleece.  I have some fleece blankets that I use to line Cotton’s X-pen and a smaller piece of bulk fleece that I bought to cover her shelf with.  i don’t even use them as the “tied blanket” I just lay the fleece out.  I think by not tying the edges and leaving it flat it is less likely to attract his attention for chewing.  Cotton had some towels that she dug on and snagged the threads and they look horrible now- and I am sure there was a little chewing too.  But the fleece does not create thread when chewed- she occasionally nibbles on it and it created a hole like it does on a shirt.  One of the fleece blankets I used had a decorative stitching all the way around- and she just here and there nibbled it.  I am happy that I finally have a use for all those darn fleece blankets that we get for Christmas!  We have 5 cats, 2 dogs and 1 bunny of various colors and I have learned that fleece is not a good thing to WEAR or use as a blanket.  I don’t care that the blanket in Cotton’s cage shows her fur- but I could not stand to have that on my bed or couch.

Example

Me: “Wow, I really like this fleece jacket!”   My hubbys response “You will never even make it out of the house before it is covered in pet hair.”         Me: “That is so true, I will never be able to wear it.”

Our cats are specialy trained to detect when it is really important not to get anything hairy- and they will immediately pledge their lives to having a little cat nap on it.

[MimzMum]

lolz…Katnip, I can SO relate! I have had numerous cats over the years, and as such, have had numerous articles of clothing, bedding and carpeting completely decimated by claws, fur, vomit and other bodily functions. And yet, somehow, it seems to become more attractive to them that way with all that crud on it and so they keep it for themselves whether I wanted to clean it up and have it back or not.

I like the idea of polar fleece, I just worry that if he chews it (which he probably will) how safe is it for him to possibly swallow any of it?

I redid his pen toady. (It’s a Marchioro with the plastic bottom, I am hoping to upgrade soon.) I found these cute little kitty mats at PETCO with a checkerboard pattern on one side and a waterproof layer on the other. I tucked one of those into the corner he sleeps in, place the cuddly cup on top of that to hold it. (Yes, he did major bathroom stuff last night, so I am no longer worried that he has a blockage.) The litter box is just the right size on the other end to fit past the floor mat and all is secure. He is not slipping and sliding, which terrifies him, and he is currently squirreled up in his cuppy.

I was hoping I had bought a little flat lion plush like what K&K had, but when it got here I find it’s just a tiny dog toy stuffed to bursting with one of those obscene squeakers in it. Not at all what I wanted.
But I also found one of those Keel bunny pillow toys from England on Ebay the other day and it looks like it might be champion for him to cuddle with.

I haven’t gotten a good look at the heel yet today, but I did get a little more neosporin on it yesterday. I think with him being off that straw mat I had in there before putting in the softer bedding it might just help him to heal.

I’ll ask about the Silvadene when I go to the vet tomorrow. Is it a prescription?

Oh, and Fiver is a Mini-Rex, about a year old.

[Lightchick]

MimzMum, Fiver and Lizzy are conspiring against us to make us worry….Lizzy knows this results in extra raisins, the smarty-pants!

Good luck with poor Mimzy tooth and Fiver’s foot…

[Author]

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