Senior bunny with broken hind legs

[Cocoa_26]

Hi everyone,
I hope you can help me with some of advice. Last Monday I woke up to find my bunny Cocoa limping on his hind leg 😔. I took him to the vet and he has fractures on both of his hind legs, mainly his toes. I feel so bad for him. We have no idea how it happened!! He’s a rescue so I’m not sure how old he really is but we’ve had him to about 11 years. Luckily, the vet said he doesn’t seem to need surgery but both of his legs were bandaged and will need to stay like this for about 6 weeks. We have to keep him caged up so he doesn’t move and Cocoa is a free roam rabbit so you can imagine how he must be feeling. I came home after the vet and placed him inside his cage and realized since both legs are wrapped up he can’t really move anywhere. He’s struggling to even lift his upper body and he puts his front legs towards the back which doesn’t look right to me but this is my first time going through this so I’m so lost. On top of that, his hay eating has decreased a lot. He still eats greens and drinks water but I have to feed him critical care just in case. On top of that, the past two days I’ve been waking up to clean his area and he has a poopy butt from cacetropes that come out in small lumps. The vet said it’s normal and can be bc of the pain meds, stress and his lack of hay. I’ve been having to constantly clean his butt from pop and urine and and I’m afraid I’m going to end up hurting him. Can  anyone please give me any advice on their experience with any of this? How was the healing process? Anything I should be doing for his poop to stop doing that? How do I keep him from getting depressed?
I think it hurts me more than it hurts him to see him like this. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[Bam]

I’m sorry your bun is going through this. His capacity to clean his rear end  eat his cecotropes as they emerge from his anus is dimished due to his legs being bandaged. You will probably need to help him with his personal hygiene until the bandages can come off. As your vet says, sticky cecos are likely a result of changes to his eating habits and lack of exercise, plus stress and meds. You can try giving him a probiotic (for example benebac) to help his tummy. It’s very good that you’re giving him critical care, it’s very important that he gets all the nutrients his body needs to heal the broken bones.

Rabbit bones as a rule heal well, but since he is older, healing may need extra time.

The website Disabled Rabbits has many tips for how to best care for  disabled rabbits. Your bun is hopefully only temporarily disabled, but many of the tips on the website could still be useful:

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/

[Wick & Fable]

I’m sorry to hear about what both you and your rabbit are going through. My Wick recently broke a finger on his front paw, and being a free-roam rabbit, yes, it is upsetting for us owners to keep them on cage rest, but Wick is now healed up and good to go over a month later.

Some things I did to help Wick (though arguably he seemed totally fine and maybe it was more me) was working in the same room as his pen, which was easy due to remote work. I also always did a good cuddle session with him in his pen before going to bed.

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.

[Cocoa_26]

Thank you guys. I will definitely follow your advice. Thank you Bam for that website, I’m already getting some good information.

[Author]

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