Treating a torn toe *UPDATE* - PICS

Nibbles hurt a toe the other day, and I've been watching it to see if it would heal up on its own (Pearl had one that did). I think her nail got caught or something... they do need clipping. But it looks like it may be starting to get infected, but I'm not sure. I want to slather it with antibiotic ointment and wrap it, but I don't know how to wrap it in such a way that she will leave it alone.

I'm going to put ointment on it tonight, and a gauze pad, and then I will wrap it with gauze and tape it (to itself). Is there anything else I should do?

__________ Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:04 am __________

Well, I treated it with lots of antibiotic ointment on a gauze pad, and then wrapped it with gauze and taped it. And... I ran out of tape before I could secure it as well as I wanted. So we put her back in the cage, and she had her foot out of the boot less than 5 minutes later.

I'm hoping maybe enough of the ointment stayed behind to do some good.

should.
She should heal up okay, most buns do.

just keep it clean and dry.

Dry? Does that mean I shouldn't put more ointment on? It looks like it's a bit swollen.

I wouldn't use ointment--in a cage environment it is a germ catcher. I would use something like hydrogen peroxide on it once. If it is truely infected, possibly daily, if it is weeping pus. But I would leave it alone, keep the cage as scrouplously clean as possible, and let the animal clean itself. A nice strong scab is better than any bandage you can devise in this case.

On a rabbit with a shredded ear, I didn't even clean it--it was bleeding hard, therefore it was already cleaner than I could make it. I considered trying to butterfly the pieces back together so that it would heal closed, but realistically decided that on a rabbit headed to freezer camp in 2 weeks, it wouldn't likely fully heal, would further stress and annoy the rabbit, and might introduce a place for infection to breed.

Ooooooh... Well, it isn't weeping pus. It's swollen, some of the surrounding fur on the toe has fallen out, and it appears the skin may have split a little on the top? I should try to take a picture. Thankfully, these two buns are nice and clean in their habits.

well, if the skin splits, then it will be weeping pus.

Some swelling is part of the healing process, but I don't like the hair falling out. Honestly, the ointment still isn't likely to help, as far as I know it wont travel through the skin to the infection site.

The infection needs a way out--like the split skin, or for the scab to come off, or for a vet to lance it. Then it needs to get cleaned out with hot soapy water or hydrogen peroxide or similar (bleeding would be good), and have a new scab re-formed around a clean wound.

Or watch and wait--if and when you see pus, rinse daily in hydrogen peroxide until the wound dries out. Just don't let the bunny drink the hydrogen peroxide, it is bad to consume...blot the paw dry with a towel. Other options would be betadine wash, rubbing alcohol, even castile soap and water--all better than neosporin in my opinion for drying out the wound.

Disclaimer: All this is gleaned from first aid on other mammal species...so if someone has a particualar experience with rabbits, listen to them.

How about soaking it in hot water and Epsom salts? I've always found it works well for drawing out infection. Never tried it on rabbits, but it seems to me we did use it on a goose once.

the warm water, epsom salt soak is a good idea--we did that with a lot of wildlife. Even a bit of vinegar in the water. Yes, vinegar is almost as good as chocolate for what ails ya! The hair falling out indicates a local infection. You can help reduce the swelling/inflammation with some of the aspirin naturals-- willow, aspen, etc. If the toe turns any darker than a bright red, you will need to lance it.If it gets to that point, let me know, I'll talk ya through it- you will need a very small syringe and needle.....

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate your advice on this! Now that I have looked at her to again, I'm not really sure it is actually infected. Here are a couple of pictures, very similar, just with slightly different light (one used flash), and I'll tell you about it:

I think this is the one with flash:




As you can see, you can't even see her other toes. They are well-hidden in all that black fur.

I felt her toe. It didn't feel hard, but it didn't feel squishy. It didn't feel "full" or hot. It bled a bit at first (which, yes, is good, since it cleans the wound out), but now it is nice and dry. It is bigger than her other toes.

I'm not sure how the injury came about... I had thought the skin was splitting on the top, indicating possible infection, but now that I look at it again, I wonder if maybe it's a scrape instead, and that the fur falling out is what caused me to see it.

She does not favor the foot. She uses it like she has no injury. She recoiled yesterday when I touched it, but I'm not sure if it was because it hurt, or because I touched her foot. I gently squeezed the toe today, and she didn't flinch at all.

What do y'all think, now that you can really see it? Should I proceed with peroxide, or epsom salts? Or leave it dry and watch it closely? Do you think it's actually infected? I really thought it was, but now I'm not so sure.

Terry, I will definitely call on you if it comes to the point of having to lance it. I would most definitely need help with that!

Leave it dry. Definitely, especially if she doesn't react to gently squeezing it, and it isn't hot or pink. Watch for pus, or red inflamed skin, or her favoring it.

i'd leave it completely alone. It should heal up just fine.

I agree... just leave it but keep an eye on it. Time enough for other treatments if it doesn't improve.

looks like a good clean wound. If her nail bed is okay, she won't lose the nail. The locations of the two 'holes' leads me to think she caught the toe in wire, and yanked it out. That would easily pull hair off-- rabbits lose hair (and skin) easily as a defense mechanism- leave part behind so one can get away.

Oh, like lizards and their tails! :lol:

Thank y'all so much! That's great to know that it looks good (as much as an injury can look good, anyway)! It also makes me feel better that there is time to take care of anything should it start taking a turn for the worse. I was really worried... Fluffy and Nibbles are like sisters. They have their little spats, but they're joined at the hip. If something happened to Nibbles, I think Fluffy would feel so lost!

Now that you mention her toe getting caught, Terry, this happened after I put the nestbox in for Fluffy, and Nibbles was all over it. She was so curious! With the wire at the bottom of that, over the wire at the floor of the cage, (and with Fluffy digging the generous amounts of hay I put in there out of it) she very easily could have caught her toe in there. Poor thing. Hopefully, next time, I can keep hay on the bottom of the nestbox a little easier. Maybe I'll check it more often.

I don't have that problem now that the kits have arrived. And she's like Aunt Nibbles now, constantly checking on the kits. :lol:

Thank you all again, and I'll holler if it starts looking worse.