fractured femur

[Karis]

Hi everyone,

I am posting about my english lop, Eeyore. I adopted him in August. He was rescued from a breeder and had coccidia, pin worms and an URI. Those issues have all been cured. 

On Monday, when I got home from work, I noticed he was limping. I rushed him to the 24 hour vet (Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in NJ) and an x-ray showed he had a closed, complete, spiral fracture in the lower third of his femur. They kept him overnight and he had surgery the following afternoon. The orthopedist placed an intramedullary pin, plate/screws and cerciage wires on/in the bone. He stayed in the hospital for another 2 nights after the surgery. When i picked him up, it had appeared that the pin had already migrated and was visible under the skin. Later that night, the pin broke through his skin and they had to remove it. The vet said that it wasn’t the most important piece of hardware keeping the bone together but it did decrease the chances of healing by a bit. 

I do believe this is a very good vet. I’ve brought all my other pets here and bunnies to both exotics specialists. She did not recommend letting it heal on its own and her recommendation was internal fixation, but warned me about the risk of it not working since bunnies hop and all. 

So I guess what I am seeking is some reassurance that I made the right choice and maybe some suggestions on how I can help him during the recovery process. The vet made it clear that restricting his movements was vital. He is a big bunny and is currently in an extra large rabbit cage (42 x 20 inches), which I’m sure he hates as he is a house bunny. I have no idea how this happened, he lives in my bedroom, which I thought I had completely bunny proofed. My bed is very low and I normally find him resting there when I get home from work. 

Here are some of my questions:

Do you think that the cage size/set up is good?

Are there any veggies/herbs that support bone healing?

Do you think the pin coming out is a reflection of the skill of the surgeon? Does this happen often?

What do you think the odds are of this working without the pin? Has anyone had a fully bunny recover from this kind of surgery?

That’s all I can think of right now, any other suggestions would be very helpful!

Here is a link to some pics—> https://imgur.com/a/SSj6E

Thanks for reading,

Karis

[Sirius&Luna]

I’m afraid I don’t have any experience with this, but you sound like a very caring owner, and I’m wishing your bunny all the best!

Can you give him some mental challenges while he’s in the small cage? eg. things where he has to pick lids off to get to treats etc.

[Karis]

Posted By Sirius&Luna on 11/20/2017 7:48 AM

I’m afraid I don’t have any experience with this, but you sound like a very caring owner, and I’m wishing your bunny all the best!

Can you give him some mental challenges while he’s in the small cage? eg. things where he has to pick lids off to get to treats etc.

That may be a very good idea as I just got home from work and he made a huge mess in his cage–his litter box was backwards and on its side, his ceramic food bowl was inside his water bowl (how on earth did he manage to do that?!). I had a baby monitor app on him all day, so I could check in with him while I was working, and every time I checked it just looked like he was relaxing.

I think he’s mad!

[Sirius&Luna]

Poor thing, it must be very frustrating for him, but you’re definitely doing whats best for him!

Also I only just looked at the photos. Those are the most magnificent bunny ears I’ve ever seen!

I’m linking to a couple of other threads with bunnies who have recovered from broken legs:

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/154277/afpg/2/Default.aspx

https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/149126/Default.aspx

[Bam]

Broken legs in bunnies often heal well. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a bunny here that has had their leg pinned though. I remember one case where a bunny were about to get its femur pinned, but it started healing up on its own so they didn’t have to do it. In your case I think it was a must though. On the picture it looks like it’d have good support even without the pin.

Could he have a bit of osteoporosis? It seems he wasn’t very well cared for before you got him.

Rabbits absorb all calcium they eat regardless of whether there’s vitamin D present or not. Veggies high in calcium are alfalfa hay, kale, black kale and spinach. Spoinach shouldn’t be fed every day. Alfalfa hay could be a good idea perhaps, because it has extra protein as well as lots of calcium. Bone is made up of collagen (=protein) and calcium.

[Karis]

Posted By bam on 11/21/2017 4:16 AM

Broken legs in bunnies often heal well. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a bunny here that has had their leg pinned though. I remember one case where a bunny were about to get its femur pinned, but it started healing up on its own so they didn’t have to do it. In your case I think it was a must though. On the picture it looks like it’d have good support even without the pin.

Could he have a bit of osteoporosis? It seems he wasn’t very well cared for before you got him.

Rabbits absorb all calcium they eat regardless of whether there’s vitamin D present or not. Veggies high in calcium are alfalfa hay, kale, black kale and spinach. Spoinach shouldn’t be fed every day. Alfalfa hay could be a good idea perhaps, because it has extra protein as well as lots of calcium. Bone is made up of collagen (=protein) and calcium.

Thanks! He likes kale, so I will go out and buy some. Maybe ill stay away from spinach for a bit until he is off some of his meds, just to be safe. 

The vet said the bone looked okay (as far as cancer or something like that is concerned) when they opened him up. I wonder if you can see osteoporosis…but that’s a really good point. He definitely wasn’t well taken care of at all. He was underweight, had a slew of parasites, scars on his ears, and a pretty bad uri (it sounded like he was oinking like a pig!). There were 13 other bunnies rescued with him and they all had parasites and URI’s. I’m sure he was fed some cheap feed, no veggies and probably not much hay 🙁

He seems to be doing well. He puts some weight on the leg, but for the most part, he rests it a little out to the side. 

I swear, he think’s he is a puppy.

[Bam]

He might not have osteoporosis at all but weak muscles/too little muscle mass to support him. That would absolutely be reasonable given his history. You will change that with a good diet and exercise. Exercise is important, but not until his femur has healed.

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