Shamrock – 10-years old, cancer, incontinence, sores on feet – struggles – how to clean & treat his feets?

[BunnymomKS]

Shamrock turned 10 on May 6th of this year. For all he’s been through – diagnosed with cancer back in December – he’s spirited and still enjoys his life.

However, he does have incontinence issues, and he has never much liked to be held for any kind of treatment he doesn’t like! He gets very upset. But it’s not that he doesn’t like to be held at all, because he looooves his snuggles!

Anyway, though, he has lost a significant amount of weight, and he’s elderly, so naturally he really does not want to be held. But his feet are getting urine stained despite my best efforts, and callused (probably not much fat on the bottoms of the feet, then the hair wears off leaving bald spots).

I have put the bed pads like they use in nursing homes to cover the bottom of his cage. I switched his litter to a very soft brand. His feet are not wet with pee, but yellowish. I need to medicate those sores and possibly give him antibiotics and Metacam, but how do I hold him without him kicking and struggling? I don’t even know if he’d go for the “burrito” method but I guess I’ll give it a try.

Don’t mean to sound like such a dummy – it’s just that he’s so old I don’t want to stress the remaining time he has if you see what I mean. But the sore feet are bothering him too.

Has anyone else dealt with anything like this?

I even wondered about getting something like infant Anbesol and rubbing it into his feet but I don’t know if that is okay for rabbits.

Any helpful advice much appreciated.

[jerseygirl]

Aw {{{Shamrock}}} !

I can understand your reluctance to handle him too much.

I think silverdene cream is said to be good for sore hocks. Are they actually sores now or just calluses? Calluses are not a bad thing.
If not broken skin, I know people have used liquid bandaid products to create another protective layer.

Is he getting pee holding in his fur on his legs? I really recommend a sanitary shave if so. I saw an improvement in a week after doing this for a 10+ yr old bunny. The urine was really effecting her skin but after taking the fur away, her skin came back to a healthy pink colour.

For handling for oral meds, maybe one of those soft dog carriers that look like a bag? I’ll try find a picture of what I mean.

[jerseygirl]

Something Luke this but smaller.

If you could hold him tightly in place, do you think that would work?

[BunnymomKS]

Thank you, jerseygirl, those are good suggestions. I was also pondering last night and remembered a cream called Panalog that I used to use for sore feet. It may be available at my local vet supply store. I also looked up some things on MediRabbit which is a great site. Here’s the one about sore hocks – http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Mechanical/Pod/Podo.htm

I can’t tell for sure if the callluses have cracked and bled and then healed over – nothing open or actively bleeding at the moment. The problem may be more than one thing. He’s a lot skinnier than he was in his prime and he may have no fat pads on his feet. And the vet thought he might have some osteoarthritis. Poor guy just has a time getting comfortable on his legs. He does better outdoors in the grass, and I try to give him as much time as I can out there now that it’s spring here.

I gave him the Metacam last night and thankfully he took it right out of the syringe without a fuss! So I didn’t have to pick him up.

I’m wondering if I took his soft blankie and wrapped him up with just the legs sticking out, maybe he would put up with that . . . at least long enough for me to get salve on.

Poor circulation and oxygenation of the tissues is likely with him as his cancer makes him anemic. I give him vitamin and iron supplement, and when he plays outside at least he’s moving around a little more and getting some circulation going.

[MoveDiagonally]

I have a rabbit with a sore hock issue. Our vet gave us Healx Soother Plus and it has worked wonders for our guy. It’s an antibiotic cream.
http://www.exoticdvm.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=healx.collection&parentGroup_id=82&productGroup_id=124

((( Vibes for Shamrock and you! )))

[BunnymomKS]

Thanks – saw Healx mentioned on MediRabbit today.

His foot seems better and I feel better knowing I’ll get him to the doc tomorrow. These crises always like to happen on evenings and weekends . . . why is that?!

[BunnymomKS]

Update – saw vet this afternoon. We have antibiotics and his pain meds. I figured out a couple of things – it was the sore front foot that bled onto the top of the back foot, which was confusing, as i could see no wound on the back foot. And when I rushed in and he seemed kind of on his side Saturday evening, he was probably just in an awkward position trying to clean himself, because I saw him do the same thing today. He was using the side of the cage to support his back – really a smart thing to do when you’re not a young bunny with strong muscles! He found a way to cope. So it wasn’t a scary collapse.

Sometimes it’s just a challenge to “connect the dots” as to what’s going on with these critters!

[LittlePuffyTail]

When a member is dealing with a bun with sore feet, I always recommend “Snoozy Pads”. They did wonders for my buns’ sore hocks. “Vet Bed” might make him nice and comfy too. They are really soft, cushy bed mats that are great for older/arthritic buns.

Just thought I’d offer some ways to keep your bun comfy.

[FlemishMom]

Sam was one of those hypersensitive rabbits who simply neurologically couldn’t handle much human handling all his life, for all he wanted the attention. He would get overexcited and needed to be put down to go to a corner or some other quiet place and calm down. I was really worried when he was temporarily incontinent with his seizure and arthritis. But as soon as he understood that I was going to relieve that uncomfortable urine burn and make him feel better, he learned to lie still. He still likes to have a mouthful of hay or carrots to gnaw on while I work on him.

I really like using chlorhexidine to remove the urine; it is also a disinfectant and has a pleasant odor and feel that seems to soothe rabbits. I have heard of using zinc oxide/Desitin on the bald spots and found it created some other problems. . . it dries very hard in existing hair and can cause painful, pulling tiny mats of its own.

If the skin on the hocks is actually broken, Preparation H helps the skin heal quite well and reduces pain by reducing throbbing capillaries. There is a really good way to wrap sore hocks. Ideally, at the baseof the wrapping use discarded fur so it’s as if they’re walking on what they normally would. Get a long strip of vet wrap and cut it like an H with legs longer than the top of the H. The crossbar of the H goes under the heel; the two smaller H arms wrap around the ankle and the two longer H legs wrap around the foot to hold sterile things near the foot and dirt away. Some rabbits will struggle to get this off but it is safe in that it does not cut off their criculation and many ultimately like it.

You are lucky if you can convince your rabbit to undergo some waterbathing/shampooong and gentle hairdryer drying. Such is not the case with Sam. But regularly washing him with chlorhexidine and doing my best just to brush that dry, plus clipping everything short, he felt a lot more comfortable and was very greatful. It was a wonderful step forward in our relationship. I did buy a lot of incontiencne pads as he can’t always stand up to pee but has learned that if he lifts his hips he can spray away from himself and have it absorbed elsewhere. . . . . . Hope that wasn’t too graphic and was some help.

[jerseygirl]

Im glad you worked out where the bleeding came from. I read about this in your other post and it sounded worrisome.
Continued {{{vibes}}} for Shamrock.

[RabbitPam]

Just an FYI: my vet recently prescribed Avi-X Soother Plus cream for Sammy’s sore hock. It worked very well, and my vet swears by it for many animals.

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By FlemishMom on 05/14/2013 04:31 PM

I really like using chlorhexidine to remove the urine; it is also a disinfectant and has a pleasant odor and feel that seems to soothe rabbits.  

My vet recommended this (bought it at the vets office) and it too worked well for my situation.  I had a bunny (Bailey) who I had to do butt baths for almost daily.   (she had more poopy butt issues and it got rid of the harder stuff too).  If you do use this, you only need to use a tiny bit as it suds up well, but if you use too much, you end up taking forever to make sure all of the soap is off.  You don’t want to leave residue as I can’t imagine that would be comfortable.   I used this for a cuople of years on Bailey and it did a great job and wasn’t too drying (especially for how often I had to use it!)

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