Stepped on bunny’s foot

[thassos]

Hello! I recently got a 2 month old bunny and today I was cleaning up her litter so I took her out. While I was cleaning, she was sniffing me from behind and I kinda jumped because I didn’t know she was behind me. I noticed she was moving rapidly and actually thought she was having a seizure or something. Turns out she was trying hard to free her foot and looked like in so much pain. I didn’t realize that I actually stepped on her! (I was also wearing shoes at the time). I felt really bad and really worried. I tried checking if she’s alright by touching her feet, and found out that whenever i touch one of her hind legs, she pulls away or jumps unlike with the others. But she seems to be doing fine, jumps around, and continues to binky. I can’t really say if she has a change in behavior (such as eating)because ever since we got her, she seems to not eat a lot and until now, which also led me to believe that she’s sick.

I’m just wondering if she’s actually alright or if she needs immediate help?

[joea64]

Ouch! I always worry about some such accident happening when I step into my own buns’ X-pen.

Does your bunny appear to be limping or favoring her hind foot (which one specifically, left or right) at all? Is she eating/drinking/toileting normally otherwise? The fact that she’s jumping and binkying normally is a very good sign. However, rabbits, being prey animals, take great pains to hide signs of illness or pain if they can, so as not to be noticed by predators. The best thing to do is to keep a close eye on her for the next while, and if she starts to act as if her leg is paining her or develops issues with eating, drinking or waste elimination, take her to a rabbit-experienced vet for a checkup.

[Luna]

I agree – I think she sounds fine unless she starts acting differently (ie. personality or physical limping) or eating less. Did she make any vocalizations when you accidentally stepped on her foot? Buns generally don’t like their feet touched, so I’m not surprised she is pulling away, even if she doesn’t appear to do so with the other legs. Once she calms down, try to see if there are any breaks in her nails too; her foot might be fine but she could have a piece of nail hanging loose.

As for eating less, are you saying she used to eat a lot but now she doesn’t? If she doesn’t eat a lot anymore, did that start happening before or after she freed her foot? What is her diet comprised of?

[thassos]

Thank you for your replies. She didn’t scream when I accidentally stepped on her foot. I’m still observing her but she doesn’t seem to be limping so I guess that’s a good sign.

As for her diet, it consists of mostly pellets because she doesn’t eat much hay.

When we first took her home she didn’t eat for hours until the next day. We had to force feed the pellets. Now she eats them without having to force feed it to her. So she’s actually eating less before the incident.

[sarahthegemini]

If she’s not eating much hay, you need to get to the bottom of it. Cut down the pellets (how much is she having? and try different types of hay such as Orchard, oat etc. You can also try and offer her hay in different ways, ie. Not just in a hay rack. It’s really important that she has a diet consisting of mainly hay so you must find a way to get her to eat more. 

[thassos]

Thanks so much for that! I always try to get her to eat hay (putting it in front of her face/mouth) Maybe she’s not used to it or just doesn’t like alfalfa.

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