hurt baby, is it terminal?

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portia

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I went out yesterday to feed everyone and noticed that one of my 6 week old kits was limping. I got her out and in her own cage (she has already been weaned), but I am wondering what her prognosis might be. Her right front foot is folded over and she doesn't want to put any weight on it. She is still moving around her cage and is eating and drinking, but it obviously hurts. I think she must have gotten it caught in the wire floor and tweaked it :( .
Should I let her be and hope it improves? Do things like this improve? Or should I put her out of her misery? DH says (hopefully) that it is just a sprain and he sure as hell hopes I don't put him "out of his misery" the next time he gets a sprained ankle. He has a hard time with the idea of killing the cute babies "but they're so fluffy!" it's only when they get a bit older that he starts to see them as dinner on the hoof so to speak. :lol:
I don't know what to do for her.
 
Stuff like this can improve. If you can find where it is hurt, you could even splint it between a couple of stiff coffee stirrers or popsicle sticks.

Without knowing what the injury is, though, it's hard to say whether or not it is likely to improve.
 
I'm sorry about your little kit. :(

Miss M is right- animals do have amazing healing abilities, but it depends on the injury.

I had a mama doe with a litter jump out of her cage and break her back leg, and since she had kits and didn't seem to be in pain I decided to "give her a chance". Her leg healed, albeit crookedly, but she was able to move around fine and even had another litter.

I also had a little kit that had a back leg that got damaged and the hock stuck out to the side, and dragged on the wire. It was okay for a while, but as it grew and got heavier the fur got worn away and it developed a sore. I knew that it would never improve, so decided to cull it.

If you have access to any willow trees you could give her a small branch with leaves so she can self medicate. Willow contains salicylic acid which is the natural form of aspirin. But I would watch her closely for teeth grinding, which is a sign that she is in severe pain, and humanely dispatch her at that point.

Also, if she is unable to get her foot off of the floor within a couple of days, even without any outward signs of pain, I would cull her so she doesn't linger on and have the same outcome as my little kit.

If you could post a picture it would help. There might be someone that has had a similar injury in their rabbitry and they could let you know the outcome in their case.
 
I had a crazy rex doe once. She caught herself in the wire cage ceiling trying to leap upwards out of the cage. She was literally hanging by the back paw for a second before I freed her. (Part of the reason why I don't use pet-store cages anymore) She limped for a few days and was well after that. All I could figure at the time was that it must have been something like a sprain.
 
I will give her a willow branch tomorrow and try to splint it, thanks for the suggestions. I will let you know how she does. I hate that she got hurt, it makes me feel like a bad bunny owner/farmer!
 
My accident prone doe managed to dislocate her paw and we couldn't fix it. She wasn't worth vet bills so we waited. She didn't act in pain and learned to move on 3 legs just fine. When I put her down in the colony I was worried but she used the side of the paw to run a bit when necessary. Eventually I did get tired of her talent at injuring herself.

If she's eating, drinking, and moving around with minimal to no signs of pain then you can leave her. Baby aspirin is safe for animals but I don't have the rabbit dose on hand. I'm not sure you can overdose through willow branches. In these acute situations I prefer to give a concentrated, well measured medication. I can compare the amount they are getting to average and maximum dosages in order to rate pain for decisions on care.
 
I've thrown huge amounts of willow branches into my colony with no ill effects. I would note, however, that my rabbits are raised on a natural diet that contains a lot of green feed so they are accustomed to it. Willow is a safe food for rabbits, quite high in protein.
 
Just as an update. After feeding willow and splinting for a couple of days (which she did not like) the kit is doing really well with no visible limp. I moved her back in with some of her siblings this morning and later caught them napping in a huge bunny pile which is great because I wondered if there would be any weirdness upon reintroduction.
 

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