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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A How to treat a small injury?

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    • melrohner
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        Hi!  I’m so sorry if this has been asked or covered elsewhere (as I’m sure it has) but I just noticed a significant scrape on the top of my (sort of) rabbit’s back foot.  I’m honestly freaking out a bit, but I’ll try to stay as coherent with my questions here as I can.  First off, it is just a scrape, I don’t think it’s reason for a vet visit right now.  She is acting completely normal, walking and eating fine.  

        But my first question is what is the best thing to treat a rabbit injury with?  In searching online I’m seeing iodine solution, but I don’t have that on hand, and this bunny actually belongs to the youth group I work with, so I am currently at work and am not able to just run out and buy some.  So what else is safe to treat her with?  I am seeing online that triple antibiotic ointment is safe, but I just want to double-check, as I do have that available.  Are there any changes I need to make in her cage to be sure it does not get infected?  

        One of my biggest concerns is that I absolutely cannot figure out how the injury happened.  She does have a room that she has free run of, and although we try to keep it rabbit friendly it is possible that she scraped it on one of our tables or chairs in there.  However, she was just spayed about two weeks ago, so I’ve been limiting her free time in order to allow her incision to heal.  I know for a fact that the last time she was out of her cage, I was the one who put her away, and I didn’t notice the scrape then, so I am almost positive it happened in her cage, but I am not finding anything that looks like it might be dangerous.  The only thing she has that is new is a ceramic hay-holder, but it hangs from the top so I’m not sure how her foot might have gotten up there.  Nevertheless, I have taken it out for now.

        The only other thing I can think of is that she might have injured herself.  I hope this is not the case, although as I said above, she has had much more limited freedom lately than she is used to.  How common is self-mutilation in rabbits?  If this is the problem, what do I do about it?  Again, I’m sure this has all been covered, and I apologize for a repeated question, but honestly alot of this I’m just now thinking about (like the self-mutilation).  Thanks SO much from me and Cleo – we appreciate it!


      • tobyluv
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          You can use Neosporin or other antibiotic creams on a rabbit, it just has to be the plain kind, not any with pain relievers added.

          Watch out for any redness or irritation or swelling. If any of those occurred, a vet visit would be in order. Hopefully it just was a scrape which will heal with the antibiotic cream. If this was something that the rabbit did to herself, it would look more like a chewed area and not like a scrape. It sounds like she scraped her foot against the cage bars somehow.


        • Luna
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            I don’t know how to treat the injury, but as to the possible source of the injury I would run your hands along the bars of her cage and check for any sharp points. Are there any toys in her cage? Wood/plastic that could have splintered into a sharp edge/point? To help prevent infection, keep her cage and litter box extra clean until the injury heals.


          • melrohner
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              Thanks for the help! For now, I just patted the area with a wet paper towel – plain water. I will probably buy some betadine tonight. I applied a little bit of triple antibiotic ointment. I have felt around her cage and can’t find anything that seems sharp or dangerous. She doesn’t even have her little house, because they recommended that I take it out after her spay. I guess it isn’t impossible that she scraped it while outside of her cage, but I just feel like I would have noticed it. I did take a picture of the wound and will try to post it here for opinions when I can figure out how – currently I’m leaving to pick up kids from school, so she is back in her cage, and I gave her some new chew toys to hopefully keep her entertained just in case it is self-mutilation.


            • melrohner
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                Okay, what do you guys think?  Scrape or self-mutilation?


              • Luna
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                  Ouch! I’m glad you posted a pic because beforehand when you said “scrape” I imagined it was like a thin-lined cut going across her foot, but now I’m thinking it could be self-mutilation or something else.


                • melrohner
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                    Thanks Luna. I’m really afraid of self-mutilation because I know it is a hard behavior to stop. But my first thought when I saw her was that she had scraped the top of her foot across something. Now I’m not so sure, especially since I can’t find any obviously unsafe thing she could have scraped it on or any signs of blood anywhere.


                  • blubudgie
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                      I would definitely go to the vet before putting anything on that, that looks like more than a scrape
                      Vet would be able to clean it thoroughly and possibly bandage it to prevent your bun from picking at it.
                      They might also want to put her on some antibiotics, infection would be bad.


                    • tobyluv
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                        That looks a lot different than the scrape I was envisioning. I agree that she should see a vet. There have been a few other threads here regarding leg trauma after surgery, if the leg was where an IV was inserted. It may be that the foot/leg is bothering her or feels different and she did chew at it.


                      • melrohner
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                          You know, I didn’t even think about it being related to the spay. It was two weeks ago today exactly, so I would think if it were going to be a problem it would have been before today, but I could be wrong. I’m sure the vet is closed by now, but I will call them tomorrow morning and see if they think it’s related and if she needs to be seen.


                        • vanessa
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                            Ouch. The missing hair cold b from where they shaved to insert a needle. I would try a DRY gauze bandage and wrap it, to keep it clean and dry while getting a vet appointment asap. Im afraid if u leave it alone it will get infected. Common first aid includes clean, disinfect, dry wrap. Only if it is oozing and u want to dry it out, do u leave it open. Message banditthecamp & get her opinion too. I believe she was an army corpsman.


                          • melrohner
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                              I will email this photo to the vet that spayed her and give them a call in the morning. If infection is that much of a concern, I will re-apply the triple antibiotic ointment tonight before I go home, hopefully that will help at least a little.


                            • melrohner
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                                I just wanted to give an update, for those who commented and also if anyone is searching for something similar and might find this helpful. I called several vets – it is a little bit of a complicated situation, but Cleo the bunny technically belongs to my work, and I live about an hour away from my workplace. So I called vets close to my home, and those close to my workplace, and also the vet who did her spay which is not really close to either (but they offered a low-cost spay so it was worth the commute). I had advice both ways, with some saying bring her in and some saying it would probably be fine without a vet visit as long as I didn’t see any signs of infection. The vet that did the spay confirmed that there was not an IV in that leg, so that wouldn’t have been the reason for the problem. So I went with my first instinct and have not taken her to a vet as of right now. I have been taking her home with me at night so that I can constantly monitor the scrape, and it appears to be healing up very well and very quickly. Per the vet’s advice(over the phone), I have not been putting anything on it – she said that I could clean it out with water if needed, but it seems to be clean and healing well. I see her licking it as part of her regular grooming, but she doesn’t seem to be chewing or over-grooming that spot. We have also been giving her lots of out-of-cage time, so if it was self-inflicted due to boredom maybe that is helping. There has never been a time since I noticed the scrape that she has acted any differently – she has been eating, running, hopping, and everything else completely normally. If there is any sign of infection I will take her to a vet, but for now (fingers crossed) I think she is going to be fine. If anyone wants to see a new picture of the wound I can definitely post one. And, if nothing else, this experience has definitely made me familiar with ALL the rabbit vets in my area! If there’s ever a problem I will have several options for seeking help. I want to say again, thank you all so much for your help and advice! This forum is an invaluable resource!


                              • vanessa
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                                  I’m glad to hear she is doing better 🙂


                                • melrohner
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                                    Thanks! Cleo has been doing really well, the injury was healing and scabbing over nicely, until today. I had to be away from her for several hours, and when I returned home she has re-opened it. I still can’t find anything that could injure her in her cage, so I’m now pretty sure she is chewing on herself because of boredom. She’s pretty smart – I know I had at least two rabbits as pets when I was younger, and I don’t remember thinking either of them were particularly smart, but this bunny is! So I think she’s getting bored easily. I’ve found a reasonable price on dog playpens, and I’m probably going to buy one (or maybe even two) so that she can get some outside time when she’s at my house. I’m also thinking of keeping her cage inside of one, with the door open, all the time, as a way to expand her living area during the times when she’s not able to run free. She will likely be at my house for at least a few weeks while we are closed for the summer, and I just don’t have the ability to have a “rabbit room” setup like we do at work where she lives most of the time. This whole thing has me pretty upset – I’ve gotten attached to this little bunny pretty quickly, and with her not actually belonging to me, treating issues like this are sort of complicated.


                                  • vanessa
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                                      An x-pen is a good idea. She does need more exercise and social time.


                                    • Luna
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                                        I agree, the xpen should help. Try not to feel so upset – you’ve done a lot to take care of Cleo, and you’ve done so even though she is not your bun. I’m sure she really appreciates it .


                                      • melrohner
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                                          Thanks Luna! I just worry because after not even a full day of confinement to her cage, she had injured herself. I don’t have the time or the space or the resources to ALWAYS give her out-of-cage time. Even more worrisome is the fact that these next few weeks at work we are going to be off-schedule and super busy – the most important week of our year is coming up in early June – so it’s just really bad timing. There’s just no way during that time that Cleo can be my priority. But, we are looking at a few options. Most important, I think, is a new cage. Hers is on the small side, and we have a nice-sized cabinet that I think could be converted into a much nicer cage for her. I’ve got my fingers crossed that our maintenance department at work has the tools and the know-how to make the changes I have in mind. That would be a HUGE improvement. I’ve also ordered several bird toy parts (wooden) so that we can make her some low-cost toys that will hopefully keep her interest. So, I’m trying to come up with some solutions and just hoping they will work.


                                        • vanessa
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                                            You could give her cardboard boxes. Rabbits love those. Get an empty storage box or something that a packge came in- that is big enough for her to sit in and turn around in. Cut two doors into the box. She’ll love it. Give her a dish rag or an old ratty towel. They love tossing them around and rearranging them. A cage attached to an x-pen so she always had a larger amount of play space would be great.

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                                        Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A How to treat a small injury?