Rabbit Swelling in Leg no broken bones

[Nyqmex]

Hi guys!

I’m a bit new here but wanted to post this up to see if I can get some tips or help. This past Saturday a guest over at my house bumped into my running Bunny Geoffrey and I noticed his left front leg was swollen above the paw. I rushed him to the nearest Vet who is not the vet I usually take him to. He was a bit worried about the swelling and decided to take X rays. He found nothing wrong, no broken bones, fractures etc. he advices me to keep him as is for now and see. His swelling went down but not by a lot and in fact it wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone but me that it did. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and he still Binkys, eats, poops and of course pees. But I’m worried as to how long it will take for the selling to subside. He definitely still uses the leg and bears weight on it as well as uses it to clean himself and stand/walk on it. Am I correct to worry? Or an I being too paranoid on this? I guess my question is how long should it take for the swelling to go down? In due for a follow up with the same vet this Saturday. He didn’t preset I’ve Metacam initially but I pushed for it and I have yet to give it to him as he 1) does not cooperate in taking it and 2) doesn’t seem to be behaving oddly.

[Stickerbunny]

It’s probably just a bruise or sprain, in which case it should heal up in a week or two. Could you get the x-rays sent to your regular vet so they could have a look, just so you could get an opinion from your normal trusted rabbit vet (in case the first one missed something)? If nothing is broken and he’s showing no signs of pain I wouldn’t give the metacam.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!
So glad you got an x-ray, it’s really great you could rule out a break. Will the follow up be with your regular vet or the same vet you saw? If it’s your regular vet, have the xrays sent to your vet so he can see. Soft tissue injuries often show up on xrays so your vet may be able to glean more info possibly.

I would try to keep your bunny on cage rest if possible, or just even shortening his ‘out’ time so he doesn’t do too much physical activity. Binkying with an injury probably isn’t helping it heal quickly. .

Also if you can give the metacam, I would; give it with food so it doesn’t upset his tummy. But it’s an anti-inflammatory so it will likely do good things for the injury aside from just being a pain reliever.

Other then rest and the metacam, I think waiting to the follow up appt is fine, as your bunny obviously isn’t stressed about the injury and it will take time; and it hasn’t worsened.

Keep us posted on how it’s going!

[LBJ10]

I don’t know, the Metacam could still help since it is anti-inflammatory too. It might help with the swelling. As for the injury, it could be a soft tissue injury of some sort. Like Stickerbunny said, you could have your regular vet look at the x-rays just to be sure.

[Nyqmex]

Thanks for the replies!

The follow up will be with the same Vet i visited Saturday (not my regular Vet). I live near NYC and my regular Vet is in the city but due to my recent car loss i am not able to take the trip too far. And with the swelling, i wasn’t going to take the risk of a long trip via Subway. I got him to take some Metacam just now by applying it to some Banana Slices (it’s Banana flavored). Will definitely keep my eye on him, and will try to restrict his out time as well then.

The swelling had me worried, i’m always so paranoid with him since he had sore hocks three years ago. The minute i saw swelling i rushed him out to the Vet, though it rang up quite the bill. I’m a bit of a worrier when it comes to my Bunny so this kind of thing has me on alert now. He does seem to be acting normal though. Has anyone had experience with this kind of thing before? I guess a sprain is what it is really. It’d be great to know how long it took for the swelling to go away, I guess i should have restricted him to his room the minute we returned from the vet, he just wasn’t showing signs of pain. Thanks for the tips! will keep posting back here.

[Nyqmex]

Hey guys!

I took him to the follow up and the Vet told me it doesn’t seem any worse than the previous week but it also didn’t go down too much. I got an answer from his regular vet as well and they say it may be days or weeks for a soft tissue injury to fully heal. This is his fourth day on metacam now and the swelling seems to have gone down just a little if any. My regular Vet asks me to watch him for the next two weeks and if he’s not better by then to go in for another check up. I’m still a bit concerned that the Metacam hasn’t shrunken the swelling too much.

[Elrohwen]

Soft tissue injuries can take a really long time to heal – weeks or months. It sounds like your vet is on top of it and I’d agree not to worry too much until you see how it is in a couple weeks. It’s great that you could rule out a break or more serious injury with xrays and it sounds like now it’s about letting him heal.

[Nyqmex]

Posted By Elrohwen on 12/02/2013 02:04 PM
Soft tissue injuries can take a really long time to heal – weeks or months. It sounds like your vet is on top of it and I’d agree not to worry too much until you see how it is in a couple weeks. It’s great that you could rule out a break or more serious injury with xrays and it sounds like now it’s about letting him heal.

Yes, it’s a bit of a worry for me as I’ve never dealt with this before so seeing the swollen bump not going down too much worried me initially. However I do continue to be told that this kind of injury may take a while. He was bumped pretty hard. He does however not cooperate in keeping still. I guess I’ve spoiled him in giving him full range around our home.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Wishing your bun a ((((Speedy Recovery))))))

[Nyqmex]

Hi guys!

I wanted to update here. It’s been a little over two weeks or so since the incident. I’m still seeing the small bump of swelling but he’s acting just fine and it hasn’t gotten any worse. Has anyone had experience here with soft tissue injuries? I know it’s only been two weeks or so but the small bump still being there after a week of metacam is a little bothersome. My vet says it may take some time. But I wanted to see I anyone has had similar issues. Any advice would be great! Thanks.

[Author]

Messages