Sparty Limping/Swollen Foot

[brook]

Well we noticed that Sparty was limping a little last night, I pulled him out of his cage and looked at his back paw and it is super swollen!  He is eating and drinking fine and seems content, other than him favoring that leg and not really wanting to move around much, I’m sure it hurts.  My boyfriend slept on the couch with his cage right next to him all night, he seemed to love the attention.  He has a vet appt at 3:30 today, just wondering if anyone else has had any experience in this area.  I’m hoping he did not break anything, him and the cat run around and play pretty hard, but I didnt notice anything until he was back in his cage.  We do have Berber carpet and the cat gets her claw stuck in it from time to time, but never noticed him having any trouble…..  We lost a rabbit in one day about a year ago from a tooth abscess, and I know how sensitive these little guys are, so I am totally freaking out!  He on the other hand, seems content and knows that we are aware of his issue, so funny how they have such a keen sense on these things.

[KatnipCrzy]

Good luck at the vet, and hopefully it is something that rest and pain meds can fix.  Please keep us updated, I will be thinking about Sparty!  Hopefully it is just a sprain!  I am sure the vet will have a better idea when they look at it and maybe take an x-ray.  No matter what they think it is- make sure they give you pain meds to take home unless they have a better pain control plan.  Seems like some vets (not all) overlook a bunny’s pain since they are not vocal like a dog or cat.

Julie

[brook]

yes, poor little thing, I feel so bad because he can’t let us know what is going on!  Like I said he does not seem to be in a lot of discomfort, but is definitely responding to the extra attention!  He is quite a little licker when he’s being affectionate, so I keep putting my face up to the cage and letting him go to town on my forehead!  It freaks me out though because I am always watching him for ANY signs of anything wrong, especially after losing the other rabbit, and I just freak when I think about people who leave their bunny in cages and don’t pay them much attention, how would they ever know if something was wrong until it’s too late.   Makes me wanna go out and buy every bunny out there so the wrong person does not end up with them!

[Beka27]

oh no! i hope the vet can help you figure out what’s going on!

(((((((((Sparty!)))))))))

[RachelF]

I hope everything works out, I’ll be thinking of little Sparty. That was sweet of your boyfriend to sleep next to him.

They can most definitely go downhill quickly, so it is good of you to make an immediate appt. Let us know how it goes.

[brook]

Yes after we lost the last rabbit (little Bomber died in his arms, he stayed up all night with him and held him), he is very close to Sparty.  I woke up this morning and he was asleep on the couch with his hand inside his cage touching him!!  It was SSSOOOOOOO Sweet!

[bunnytowne]

keep us updated on your little bunny friend

 

[bunnyluvr]

Any updates? How’s little Sparty this morning?

[brook]

Well things are ok, i guess…  Went to the vet and it was horrible, there for 2 hours!!  They immediately thought it was broke, maybe some bones across the top of his foot behind his toes.  So they did x rays and thought they might have to splint it.  Well the x rays came back and there were no breaks just a lot of infection causing the swelling.  And they mentioned “abscess” which I freaked out because we lost our last rabbit to a tooth abscess!  But the vet said he would rather see the abscess instead of the break because antibiotics should take care of it.  Most likely cause…  a puncture wound from a cat bite!! AAAHHH!!  They are best friends, she would not bite him, but they shaved his leg to get a better look and there are no actual bite marks, so she did not bite him, but could have slightly punctured the skin during play, which i guess rabbits can easily get an infection from this.  But at least I know she did not bite hard, but will definitely have to monitor all play from now on.  So they gave him Baytril (antibiotic), Rimadyl (pain) and shot him with Lidocaine while we were in there so that they could cut into the abscess to try to get some puss out, but it was mostly dispursed so they really didnt get anything out.  They sent us home with the baytril and rimadyl and if swelling goes down and he continues to act ok then we do not have to return, thank goodness.  That visit cost us $217 dollars!  Yuck!  But I would have paid $1000 to know he was ok.  He is still eating and drinking fine and acting pretty good, considering…  He does not like taking the meds, but he definitely knows that we are only trying to help.  Oh and the vet said that we can try soaking the foot in some warm water and epsom salts to help clear things up and take down some swelling, not sure if this will work, he does not like to be held much unless it’s on his terms, and nothing is on his terms this week!  Anyone have any experience or suggestions on how to soak the foot?  I am going to try to attach a photo of the x ray, his poor foot is so swollen!  Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, looks like things are looking up!

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[Beka27]

oh wow! that xray is so neat. thanks for posting it! well, it sounds like your vet is very confident, which is great. i’m glad they were so thorough. keep us posted on how he does. when do you need to go back to the vet?

as far as the soaking… can one of you hold him upright and the other submerge the foot in a cup or deep bowl of warm water? i wouldn’t try and involve the bathtub or sink for an area so small… i don’t have experience personally with soaking body parts like that… just a suggestion.

edit:  i love the little tail bones in the xray…

[brook]

Yeah thats kind of what I was thinking on the soaking.  And the vet said he does not need to see him back as long as the swelling is gone in a week or so and he is eating right and nothing flares up again.

[brook]

Here is a more recent picture of sparty, he is a little bigger now, weighing in at 5 1/2 pound yesterday!  They said thats a good weight though and he did not feel overweight at all.

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[Beka27]

i adore white lops!

[Sarita]

What a cutie. I cannot imagine it would be easy to soak his back leg without a struggle but if you try then I would use the sink and just hold him while his foot soaks – I’m not certain how effective it will be but that’s what I would try.

That’s not a bad price for the x-ray and the med’s but yeah, I know how you mean about unexpected bills there.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh I agree-great price! I paid 275 for an xray alone!

Sounds like your vet is great, thurough and experienced! We do soak horses with epsom salts and it does seem to work (horses and rabbits are similar in many surprising ways.) If I were going to try it, I’d fill the sink partially with warm water, towel on the bottom for traction, add salts and put bunnies back feet in there. If he struggles though, I wouldn’t force it; Exerting the leg probably won’t help the healing!

Keep us posted! {VIBES}

[bunnyluvr]

Oh my – he is a cute one! Glad to hear he’s on the mend!

[RachelF]

Glad to hear everything is working out and he’s on his way to being better. He is an adorable little thing, I love the white with touches of grey in the fur. Very pretty.

The x-ray is always neat to see(but scary).

[LittlePuffyTail]

What a cutie! Glad he didn’t have a fracture! I love white lops too!

I know how you feel about vet bills!!! My white lop has been costing me a lot of $ but I agree with you, I’d gladly pay $1000.00 to keep him healthy! I’d sell everything of value I own to pay vet bills if I had to.

Sparty sure is lucky to have such a great mom and dad!

I got to see an abdomen x-ray of Bindi the other day when he had GI Statis. It’s interesting but strange and sort of scary to see your bun from that point of view.

[KatnipCrzy]

If you do an Epsom salt soak make sure to rinse the area well with clean, warm water!  Epsom salts are also used as a “laxative” (there are direction on the box usually)- so make sure you rinse all the salty water off the skin and fur otherwise bunny might ingest some while cleaning himself.

If I had to soak a bunny foot/leg- I guess I try a bowl like a dog water bowl- med to large size.  Fill with bowl with warm water and add Epsom salts until you can no longer get the salts to dissolve- it is most effective in my experience to have the water super-saturated with Epsom salt.  And then do a modified bunny burrito with only the bunnys hind leg (or if needed) both hind legs sticking out.- and them place his foot into the water bowl.  the towel will probably end up getting wet also.  So soak.  And then maybe when you are ready to rinse- take wet burrito’s bunny over to the sink and use the sink sprayer to thoroughly rinse the skin and fur- or have a bucket of warm water on standby and keep him in the burrito and poor cups of warm water over the area to rinse.  After rinsed transfer to a clean dry towel to wrap him in to get most of the water off.  Maybe since he eyes will be covered through the soak and rinse he won’t associate you with the process.

Even though your vet did not see a cat bite- there was likely a wound that caused the infection.  Bite wounds are puncture wounds and when they heal closed at the surface but there is bacteria trapped in the leg/tissue/muscle- that is when an abscess or generalized area of infection starts.  Who knows if it was a cat bite or not- but the original wound could have happened at least weeks ago- and you would not have seen anything or had any way to know!

Thanks for posting the x-ray!  And thank you for the update- I hope others read this and are better prepared for their bun in case of a swollen leg!

 

[MooBunnay]

I’m glad to hear that Sparty is on his way to healing I’ve never seen a bunny xray before – I hope his little foot is back to the right size soon!

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Good to know he’s healing well.

I am incredibly fascinated by that x-ray – I’ve never seen one of a bun! The tail bones are really neat!

[brook]

Yes things are on the mend.  Swelling has gone down by at least half. He is putting more weight on it also, and eating and drinking pretty well back to normal.  he absolutely hates the meds, we have to wrap him in a towel and pretty much pry his jaw open with our hands to get him to open up, squirt a little in and then sit him up a little so he will swallow it, AAAHHH!! Can’t wait til this is over, I count down the hours to when we have to do it!

[BinkyBunny]

Oh, good news though that it was something that could be easily treated and his on the mend. Healing vibes!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ah yes, I had quite the arguments with Pacino giving him Baytril Metacam they usually love though!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh forgot to add, I found adding a small amount of juice to the dose of baytrill helped

[hooty22]

Okay, I finally had to say something, but that xray is probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. One giant foot and a little squirmy tail! Haha oh man!

Glad he’s feeling better!

[brook]

Yes, it is quite hilarious, well now that he is doing better anyway!!  His swelling is almost gone, just a little puffiness.  He is doing so much better at taking his meds also, he knows when I pull him out of the cage that it’s gonna happen, we have mastered the method of wrapping him in a towel, but I’m pretty sure for several months if he sees a white towel in his presence he will run!  I do feel bad though because we have been leaving his cage open more and when he comes out he seems scared that maybe we are going to give his meds and runs back in quite often.  But last night he did come out for a good 20 minutes to chew on one of my artificial plants, as usual!  But things are looking well, only one more time to give him the rimadyl tonight and 3 more days of the baytril!  I cant wait til it’s over!

[brook]

Oh and he even did a little binky while he was out last night!  He is putting so much more pressure on the foot now, not 100% but very close!

[BinkyBunny]

I know what you mean about not being a bunny’s best friend during treatment. But It’s great that he’s feeling better! Yeah!

[brook]

Well we finished the meds and were lookin good for a week then the swelling came back, and was very large puss pocket.  So we dropped him off at the vet this morning and they say we need to do surgery.  They wanna put him asleep so they can get in there and lancet and put a drain tube in!  Yuck!  We get to pick him up tomorrow afternoon.   Gonna be about $225, so it brings our grand total in less than 3 weeks to $450!  Im so sad he wont be home tonight!  But it makes no sense to pick him up and bring him home only to do it all over again in the morning, they are at least not charging us for him to stay the night.

[KatnipCrzy]

Poor Sparty- at least with surgery and a drain put in it should resolve the problem and put all this behind him.

Good luck Sparty!

[MimzMum]

Aw, poor Sparty! I shall send along some healing vibes from me and my three bunnies as well! Feel better, Sparty! (((((((hugs)))))))

[xParadise]

I’m sorry to hear the problem’s come back but it’s good you got him to the vet right away. Hopefully this will be the end of it! Poor Sparty, good luck!

[jerseygirl]

((Sparty))

[brook]

Well things are looking up.  Sparty went through the surgery very well and was very happy to get home!  He was a little tired, but they said to expect that and within a day or two he will be back to his usual self.  We have a TON of medicine to give him now.  We have to flush the area with a solution they gave us twice a day.  They put him on a new antibiotic for 10 days.  And more Rimadyl for pain/inflamation for 7 days.  Also got another pain med that we only had to give him last night and this morning (said it’s a little more of a narcotic med for right after surgery), and also gave him a medicine for 3 days to keep his GI tract moving.  But he was eating/drinking/pooping normally, right after surgery.  So, he is back to not liking us when we pull him out of the cage, but he does very well.  It really stinks giving him 4 syringes!  But after this morning we will be down to 3 and after sunday we will be down to two.  Thanks for all of your comments and prayers!  I am going to try to attach a pic of his legs!

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[xParadise]

Glad to hear the surgery went well! This has been tough on both you and Sparty, I’m sure. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

By the way, Sparty looks a lot like my Nixon, but with floppy ears. Such a gorgeous bun!

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Awww that poor little booger!! That looks really good (although I was eating hehehe ) and healthy pink skin Vet sounds very great. It’s too bad it didn’t heal originally but good quality care-he’ll be great {{HEALING}} 

xParadise…does Sparty remind you of anyone?

 

 

edited to add: I guess he does!! We must have posted at the same time  I was thinking-gosh that really looks like somebunny I know!

[KatnipCrzy]

aww…. Sparty looks a lot like my bunny Cotton.  I have a foster dog right now that had knee surgery so his whole leg is shaved- and my husband and I tease him and tell him he has a “naked chicken leg”.  So poor Sparty has a half naked chicken leg!

He looks like he has super soft dense fur like Cotton does.  So at least you will have a little less shedding for awhile.  It took forever for Cotton’s fur to grow back after her spay- the incision fur healed back right away- but the surrounding sterile prep shave area took over 6months to grow back.  I wonder it Sparty’s fur will take a while to grow back?  I would love to know.  My theory is that the body recognizes the “wound” and regrows hair after an incision/cut, etc but the shaved areas are not triggered by the body to grow back until the next normal regrowth.

When I adopted Penny she had been spayed 5 months prior and she had the same pattern of regrowth on her belly.  But maybe since it is Sparty’s foot the body will be triggered to expend the energy to regrow the hair sooner.

[brook]

yeah you really don’t notice that it’s shaved unless you pick him up because his body fur covers his back legs!  I’m so happy that we even noticed his limp because unless he is doing a binky it’s hard to see his back leg.

[Sarita]

Continued healing vibes to Sparty.

[BinkyBunny]

Awe, Sparty! What a cutie though. What a great vet to comp the overnight stay, I know vet bills especially the overnight care can really add up quickly! But what caring humans he has and it sounds like he is getting good care all around from the vet and you.

Healing vibes from me too!

[MimzMum]

WHOA! >_< Talk about pix that will make your cheeks suck up! (and I don't mean the ones on my face!) <.<

Poor little Sparty! Sending TONS of hugs and healing waves and ‘please-take-your-meds-like-a-good-little-bun’ vibes. ((((((Sparty))))))

P.S. …He’s still the cutest little thing, I wasn’t trying to disparage his overall adorableness..but *OUCH* those surgery areas…! 0_o

[MooBunnay]

Awww poor little guy – its a good thing you are such a vigilant bunny owner that noticed right away when something was wrong with him. I know it stinks to give them all those syringe meds, but I’ve often heard from bunny owners that medicating bunnies actually strengthens your bond with them, I think that despite his disapproval, Sparty probably knows that you are just taking care of him

[Author]

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