Whimper. Broken Toe?

[SamLM5511]

I’ve been away for my final semester of college and my parents have been taking care of my rabbit. It’s been about a month since I was last home and I finally came home this weekend. I went to do a deep clean on his cage and love on him a bit. I decided to go ahead and trim his nails as they had grown faster than usual. Even though there were a few fidgets/escape attempts, he had done exceptionally well (probably the best nail trim experience I’ve ever had with him). But he kept acting up about one of his legs. It was the last one so I figured he was just fed up. But something didn’t look quite right and when I went to hold his toe he freaked out and leaped out of my lap. I tried again and this time when I let him go he actually started whimpering and gave me the saddest/most hurt/betrayed look I have  ever seen. The most noise he has ever made was an annoyed grunt. But he hasn’t even done that to me in quite some time. I calmed him down the best I could and slowly/gently looked at his foot. The toenail appeared to be turned the wrong direction. For the time being I left him be and gave him lots of love. I will be calling the vet first thing in the morning to get him checked out. But I was hoping for advice/suggestion in the meantime. He has shown no changes in behavior according to my parents and from what I’ve seen (aside from the episode after I discovered the toe). He’s been eating less hay on and off for a few months (but that’s not unusual for him, he’s quite picky). I also hadn’t noticed anything like this when I trimmed his nails the last time I was home. I feel so bad and have no idea what to do for him. He didn’t even act this when he managed to rip the nail of a dewclaw completely off (maybe a year and half to two years ago). Any advice for my poor Petey bun is greatly appreciated.

Also, he is in a wooden hutch and is let out into a pen with carpet flooring. There are no wire/mesh/holey bottoms on anything. He is also still eating very well and is otherwise playful and alert.

[Bam]

Something like that must’ve happened to my Bam before I got him, because he has a claw that’s turned in the opposite direction. It always grows out the wrong way and the vet who initially checked him over way back when I got him almost 6 years ago, said that since he doesn’t seem bothered by it, it’s not a problem.

A broken toe in a bun isn’t sth you do much about, it just has to heal on its own. Splinters and casts on the foot are often stressful on a bun, but they’re needed if a broken bone needs to be kept aligned. A vet can give a painkiller (Metacam). If the nail needs extracting, that should of course be done as well.

[Dface]

Like Bam, my girl has really bad feet, she has some claws going up and some going sideways.
It makes nail clipping a night mare because she hates the irregular nails being done, but other than that it doesn’t bother her, and I just have to keep an eye on her hocks to make sure she isn’t adjusting too much and making them sore (but I doubt one toe will make that big a difference!)

[SamLM5511]

UPDATE:

My sassy bunny was quite proud of himself as he played and lounged the whole car ride back. Long story short, nothing is wrong and he most likely was frustrated, pulled something when he jumped out of my lap, or was just talking to me.

The vet was kind enough to squeeze us in in between appointments. His toenail does have a slight curve to the side but nothing else. He also has another toe (that I asked the vet to check while we were there) that appears to have been broken at some point, but isn’t causing any problems. They helped me by finishing trimming his last foot and giving him a full check while we were there. Everything is perfectly fine and he is a perfectly healthy bunny. The little booger…. Well at least I got some extra bunny cuddle time.

[Bam]

I’m glad to hear it! And now he’s been declared perfectly healthy, that’s so great =) I bet he is proud of himself, scaring the living daylights out of his hoomin =)

[Author]

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