Sore hocks?

[Alicia Conklin]

I’m a little confused about sore hocks and how buns get them.  Our daily litter box changing is going well but I think that we maybe waste a lot of hay by them peeing on it.  So I was thinking of maybe getting some wire or something and putting the newspaper under the wire so that the pee goes down and is kept away from them.  But then I know that I hear a lot about sore hocks and wire.   Would this be something that would happen for buns who just use their litter boxes as well..litter boxes?  They don’t spend a lot of time in there..well Tucker does in her top one but I wouldn’t do this in that one..she treats that one as her bed and doesn’t even go in it.  So if this was just a place where they hop in, do their business and eat some hay would this be a possible sore hocks causer? 

If it would then I definitely won’t do it.  It’s not like our way is so horrible or anything, I just am always thinking about ways to improve their layouts and stuff to make things better for them and easier for me. 

They’re a dwarf and a mini lop if that matters.  I know some breeds are more prone to sore hocks then others. 

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The prob with grids causing sore hocks are if they can’t get off the grids, like in breeder cages where the whole cage has a grid bottom. If it’s just in the litter box, especially for a breed not prone (like rex) then it should be totally fine, especially if you put hay on top! You could watch their hocks weekly when you start to enusre and have peace of mind, but i’m confident it’d be fine and much cleaner

[Sarita]

Wet bedding and housing can also cause sore hocks.

[Alicia Conklin]

Ok so then the grids might even help them to NOT get sore hocks then since then they wouldn’t be touching anything wet ever.  I think I’ll see what I can find and try that out then this weekend.  Because they definitely would have plenty have space to get away from..they have four levels!!

Now I just need to figure out how to make the edges not sharp….

[Sarita]

Are you wanting to put a grate over the litter in the litter box? I don’t see how that is a problem unless they spend a huge amount of time in the litter box. You just don’t want them to be on the grate 100% of the time.

I have a grate in on of my digger’s litter boxes and we don’t have any problems with her and sore hocks.

[Alicia Conklin]

Right just in the litter box.  I change their litter daily and we use newspaper so I just want to have a grid over it.

I just have to figure out how to make the grid so that it’s not going to be sharp on the edges from using the wire grid.  I have seen though cat litter boxes that have grids so maybe I’ll just get one of those.

[Sarita]

I’ve used the cat litter boxes w/grids many times. You only need to use one grid at a time on the box – so you can switch out clean with dirty and hopefully since you clean their litter boxes daily the grid won’t be too much of a pain to clean – sometimes the poops get stuck in the grid so it can be a challenge to clean the grid.

[Tami]

We have several of these:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752717

and just LOVE them !!  They work wonderfully and they come in two sizes, small & large.  We have both sizes and will be ordering more within the next month or so

It put an immediate stop to litter digging and the gawd-awful mess that it left.  So, for us, they’re priceless

[Alicia Conklin]

Yea I’ve seen those but I don’t know if they’d be big enough for my guys.  One of mine is about 7lbs and the other is only 3.8 but she’s a diva bun and requires a large spacious bathroom

[Tami]

I thought the same thing, too, but when we got the large one, I couldn’t believe how big it was !  My Mopsey is the one that got it and she’s a little over 8 lbs. and has plenty of room :o))

[KatnipCrzy]

I had wondered how this box might work….the Feline Pine Box

I don’t really care if the poos do not fall thru- I am more concerned about the urine.  I dislike when bunnies have yellow urine-stained feet.  It just seems cleaner to let the urine pass thru.  Anyone tried this box?  I wonder if the poos will stick in the holes?  If they fell thru or stayed on top that would not be so bad- but getting stuck would be inconvenient.

http://www.felinepinelitterbox.com/

[Alicia Conklin]

Hmm that’d be perfect, I just don’t want to pay 20.00 each for a litter box.  I’m gonna see if i can make something like that though..kind of of what jerseygirl did…

[Alicia Conklin]

Tami, I think I’ve seen those big corner ones and they MIGHT work for my big guy but my little diva..it’s not about whether she can fit it’s about if it’s big enough for her divaness.  She likes BIG boxes and if I put one in that’s not big enough she’ll just poop and pee all over the floor surrounding that box.  As if to say “If you had given me a bigger box I would have made it”

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