Hi everyone,
We just got Chocolate back from the vet. We had been noticing some discomfort for the past month and weren’t able to pinpoint what exactly his problem was (he wasn’t as mobile, seemed to sit uncomfortably, and lost interest in clicker training). We just assumed that he was getting old, or whatever it was might just be temporary and fix itself. But he didn’t get better, and he began to show a pronounced limp in his right back foot. He would walk tip-toe and wouldn’t put his entire right foot on the ground and mostly relied on his left back foot for propulsion. Since he would keep his feet mostly underneath his body, it was difficult to examine him, but eventually his right back foot peeked out. The heel of his right back foot had developed a large white colored callous.
The vet removed the callous and some dead tissue and it revealed no infection underneath. We even had an x ray done on the foot, and it was determined that the bone was not damaged in any way.
However, we were still not sure why exactly Chocolate had this problem. I thought that sore hocks only happened to rabbits constantly standing on wire. But we decided that the condition was brought on by several different factors:
#1 He is a little overweight, (by about 1/4 of a pound, he weighs 4 and 1/4 pounds) and we will have to cut back on pellets.
#2 The carpet rug in his pen area is too hard on his feet. The carpet is very short, which we initially thought was desirable because Chocolate would rip out long carpet and because its easy to clean. But they suggested that we change to softer bedding for his pen area, such as fleece or straw.
#3 His nails were too long. I am too meek with handling Chocolate and it is an ordeal to clip his claws and other basic things such as picking him up, do to some scaring experiences for both of us (he jumped out of my arms once, and I once hit his quick while trimming his claws).
Chocolate’s right foot is now wrapped up in a handsome blue bandage. They gave us some antibiotics and painkilling medication, which we will have to deliver by syringe. I’m sort of uncomfortable about this, but they showed us how to pick him up and how to wrap him up as a “bunny burrito” to keep him secure, so I’ll give it a shot. With the bandage on only for a few hours he is much more mobile.
If anyone can give some advice on how to make his life a little easier and certainly some advice on bedding for his pen would be very much appreciated.
Brown Hare & Chocolate