Sore Hocks

any thoughts on non-medication ways to help a rabbit recover from sore hocks?

have a new to me rabbit with a badly infected hock. (squishy to touch and crusted over).

I don't know if you consider Bag Balm to be medication or not, we use it on nearly every creature in the barn. Works great! Slather that gunk on the heel and it'll heal right up!

No pun intended

maybe not if it is already abcessed? I think you need to disinfect it first, soak the crust off and maybe hydrogen peroxide? It'll hurt though. Then the bag balm? It's gotta drain first if it is squishy.

eco2pia":25qejkc6 said:

maybe not if it is already abcessed? I think you need to disinfect it first, soak the crust off and maybe hydrogen peroxide? It'll hurt though. Then the bag balm? It's gotta drain first if it is squishy.

Click to expand...

*shrug* I've never done any of that, we always just slathered on the Bag Balm.

well, I sure can't argue with experience! I've never had sore hocks on a rabbit, just thinking of other kinds of abcesses--horses, cat, tooth....

is bag balm the same stateside that is in Canada? Anyone know? She's a decent doe, previous owner didn't realize it was a bad as it was...and I can understand how that can happen. I just want to get better.<br /><br />__________ Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:36 am __________<br /><br />My plan is tomorrow morning as today is rather busy, to bring her inside. Set her in the tub to soak to get crusties loose, and then peroxide her (with hubby's help), and then dose with some iodine (she WON"T thank me for that) and if I can find it, bag balm her in the evening. She should get better. She's a big strong doe.

I wouldn't suggest bag balm - you want the wound to breathe and that will seal it up. Triple antibiotic ointment would be better. Or just bathe it, peroxide and leave it to dry on its own.

I won't even use bag balm on my goats!

eco2pia":22kh9b9v said:

well, I sure can't argue with experience! I've never had sore hocks on a rabbit, just thinking of other kinds of abcesses--horses, cat, tooth....

Click to expand...

You're probably right lol, it makes sense. I was just sayin', it's what we do and works on a lot of things, we go through Bag Balm like candy! lol

gotcha, no bag balm, just clean it, peroxide it and keep her clean. I can do that. home earlier than anticipated...perhaps I'll have time to do her tonight....

Preperation H

The hemorrhoid cream,
anything that is going to 'help' does it one of three ways, protects the foot (this would be vet wrap (Co-Ban) and padding)
Prevents infection, Antibiotics
Promotes healing, such as lotions, ointments etc.

So, what do you mean by Drugs cause if it works it's a drug, white petroleum jelly (Vaseline) is a DRUG, it has a NDC number, and in used as a skin protectant and laxative...<br /><br />__________ Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:29 pm __________<br /><br />OK, yer an ....
that wound is infected...
and now would be the time to use the basics of wound care

It's squishy, so squish it (find the head, open the abscess and DRAIN THE WOUND)
then use IODINE or a DILUTE peroxide/saline (salt and water)

To help it drain, you can soak the foot in warm Epsom salt.

Then you make sure the wound can't close, it has to heal from the bottom
keep it clean, in a clean WIRE bottom cage (and not hardware cloth, the wire should be bigger than 1/16 inch or .6mm
keeping it clean means wrapping it so the rabbit can pull it off
and you will need to wash it twice a day and reapply the antibiotic ointment, and the rabbit won't eat it BECAUSE YOU WILL KEEP THE FOOT WRAPPED...

Oh and it will always have a problem with sorehocks, sorry, if you don't want to do this, cull it now and save the poor thing misery.

I had a fav doe come down with this over a year ago. I tried bag balm, resting boards, creams--nothing worked. She got worse adn I had to put her down. She was one of our original does, so I hated to do it. Frankly, if you have a lot of rabbits, it will be impossible to spend teh time needed to heal her; if you are seeing some results, pls consider putting her down to prevent suffering...

I Just bought the doe, so I'm not wasting the dollars I spent purchasing her. Going to try to get her better, get a litter and then I can look at culling her. and YES I know, I should have examined her closely before purchasing. Didn't because it was a bitterly cold day and I didn't want to subject the rabbit to harsh cold winds as well as I trusted the breeder as we've done business before. It just slipped past both of us. So now for now I will attempt to get her better. Time will tell.

You may have already done this, but get her a board to sit on. Or tile, that is what I use 'cause then they don't eat them. And/or get the floor mats for the bottom of her cage. Last doe I had with this took about a month to heal with the mats. Use a sterile solution for cleaning a couple times daily and then like others said, iodine or some such. I was told to never use peroxide as it kills the new growth cells and hinders the healing process.
Good Luck!
Renee
S CA

If it's infected hocks caused by bacteria dousing the feet with Listerine will kill the bacteria, then some ointment will help it heal up.

Peroxide is useful for debrieding a wound, as in opening up and cleaning it, Iodine will also slow the healing, a little bit. But for the first cleaning Peroxide is ok, it's overdoing it that gets you in trouble.

Peroxide is not a very good standard disinfectant for wounds. Great for removing debris or disinfecting inanimate objects but it's the worst at promoting good healing and the best at causing granulated tissue. The only thing I use it for anymore is mouthwash. Betadine or chlorhexadine are the best. Studies showed wounds healed the fastest with the least scar tissue when one of those were used over iodine, peroxide, and saline. I prefer betadine. It also doesn't sting so it's not difficult to apply which is especially useful since the critters I normally apply it to are 800-1000lbs.

Yeah, noting like pissing off the patient with a little bubbly.....
In this case, as I have worked on 2 rabbits with rather bad sore hocks, I would soak with Epsom salt (just fill the Rubbermaid tub about 2-3" and drop her in till it cools,

then scrape what you can off, then bubble, repeat until it opens up, flush the would with saline or betadine (saline is easy to make from boiled water and table salt)
and fill with ointment and wrap, tuck a piece of gauge into the opening so it wont shut. Repeat until it's healed.

I followed advice given.
Got some of the scabbing off, got the wound cleansed.
The part looked to be healing.
last night didn't eat her oats.

So watched her today, she's been looking peaky...hasn't been other days. Just today so I knew something wasn't right with her.

Tonight found her bleeding copious amounts.
The bleeding came from UNDER the scab that was left.

Hubby who HATES culling animals and doesn't discuss it checked her over with me and said "hun you have GOT to let her go".

Culled her. Will be tossing the corpse as I don't trust that infection isn't throughout her system and what I won't eat, I won't feed.

this all just bites. But one needs to do what one needs to do.

Poor girl. But you probably made the most humane decision. Sorry things didn't turn out better.

Ladysown,
I believe that given the situation you did the right thing.
Better to lose one rabbit than to risk the health of others.
All the best with the rest of the herd.
Ottersatin. ldtimer: