Sore Hawks

[Holly]

Holly is a mini rex. I know they are prone to sore hawks.  She’s not over weight, but I know her padding is thing on her feet.  Since I got her in October, we have battled with this.  I’ve been putting Neosporin on them.  That is what her former owner told me to do.  Most of the time, it looks ok. Recently the fur has started to come back in and it looked better, Tonight however, when I was looking at them they looked a little red. They aren’t bleeding. She’s still very active and doing the things she should.  Is there anything else I can do?????

 

Thanks

[Holly]

Oh! Most of the time she is on carpet and wood.  There is some wire in her cage, but most of the time she’s off of it.

[Lisa_43]

Here is a web site that may help.

 

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sorehocks.shtml

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh Holly you are in the right place.  I battle sore hocks as well with my Daffodil as she is predisposed to it.  I use the Neosporin but have also had success with calendula cream too. Slick surfaces like wood or linoleum actually make it worse and abrasive things like synthetic carpet act like sandpaper on their feet.  What I’ve done is cover the carpet with fake sheepskin that I bought at my local fabric store.  I think it was about $7.50 a yard and I had a coupon.  It comes 36″ wide so you get a good deal out of it.  You can also use berber fur but the synthtic sheepskin offers more padding.  You’ll want to have this in the places where you bunny hangs out the most, especially kick off spots where they jump from one level to another.  Plain straw as flooring works well at padding the feet too.

Here are some articles posted on Charky & Ash’s Web Site: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#hocks

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

um…I’ve heard hemmorhoid cream….Have you tried this?

I have to admit I’ve been too embarassed to pick this up for my first aid kit!

[Holly]

We are going Ikea today anyway. Once I saw some fake sheep skin there. If I can, we’ll pick some up today. Hemmoroid cream. No can’t say that I have. When I was on the farm we used this stuff called blue cote. It seemed to work well, but it turned bunny purple and everything she touched purple too. I don’t want to do that especially with a house rabbit. When we had outside rabbits, it wasn’t much of a problem. Hubby would freak!!!!

[babybunsmum]

what exactly does the fake sheepskin look like?  i went to a fabric store yesterday and what they had was not at all what i was expecting.  it was like faux fur.  i didn’t buy any because i thought it’d be hard to clean & i was always thinking that people here meant the stuff that’s like what you dry your car off with.  i took a pic of my designated car one (it pretty dirty… normally yellowish color)… is this what you’re all talking about when you say fake sheepskin?

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[osprey]

I have purchased pieces of faux sheep skin at pet places, and it looks a lot like a real sheep skin, except the “fur” part is whiter and stiffer (I think it is plastic, nylon maybe) and the “skin” part is actually a rubber mat.  It was quite expensive, I’ll have to check the fabric store to see if they have a better alternative.  You just throw it in the wash when it gets peed on (not that my bunnies ever pee on anything, I have a friend who told me) and the rubber backing keeps it in place pretty well.

Another thing about sore hocks is that bunnies that thump alot are also more prone to it.  Curly Sue is a rex, and she is a big thumper, and she gets tiny red spots on her hocks from time to time, and she is never on wire.

 

[Scarlet_Rose]

Babybunsmum, what you are showing is a chamois (prnounced sham-me), not fake sheepskin.  A chamois traditionally is made from animal hide (most are synthetic now) and are used to wipe the excess water off of your car after rinsing.

Sheepskin does not have a “fur” texture it has the texture that mimicks what you would see on a sheep. The stuff you buy at the fabric store does not have a rubber backing.  They use it a LOT for pet beds like here:

This is fleece that looks like faux sheepskin:

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This is what it looks like in a natural color:

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There are some that are denser and softer than this that you find in the faux fur section at a fabric store and you buy it by the yard, and cut it however you want.  You can find it much cheaper and make your own pet beds too if you’re a sewer like me. 

 

[Sarita]

http://www.palacepet.com/

Here’s a great place for fake sheepskin.  I’ve seen it at Petsmart too.  But I prefer Palace Pet’s – they have a super duper thick one too.

 

[Sarita]

Another thing you want to do is to keep their back nails trimmed way down too.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh yes nail trimming, I do that every other week in hopes of also making the quick shorter as well and it seems to have worked.

[Author]

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