I think he broke his leg!

[BC Belgians]

Sorry to always be asking questions and not contributing much, yet. I guess that is the nature of a beginner.

I turned my 12 wks old junior Belgian Hare buck out for a run in the garden - as I do as often as possible and since he was 4 wks old - and shortly after I found him crouched, grinding his teeth, and one hind leg limb. This sort of exercise isn't new for him, he is not a hutch bunny, and he is well conditioned.

I have since located the injury site to be at the site of the tarsal/metatarsal, and the area is swollen. He is now confined to indoors on soft bedding and does hop around on three legs to eat and drink, but is obviously in pain.

X-ray and Vet care would cost HUNDREDS! This is a very nice rabbit I had retained as future breeder, but I am very sorry to have to say that I can not justify spending hundreds of dollars to diagnose the injury - never mind treat it, if it is broken.

Could it be a sprain? Do rabbits sprain their joints occasionally? If it it a fracture, can this heal on its own?

 

[akane]

It might heal on its own. The important thing will be pain management. If you can't get prescription pain killers you can give aspirin and hopefully it's enough. The dose varies but I usually rely on http://www.morfz.com/rx/drugcalc.html . Make sure he keeps eating and drinking.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I had a doe jump out of her cage and break her leg. She had kits and wasn't grinding her teeth, so I decided to give her a chance.

I tried splinting it, but she kept removing the wrappings, so I just left it alone. The leg did heal, albeit crookedly, but she went on to raise another litter for me.

I also have a friend that has a young buck that suffered a compound fracture of the leg, and like you, she wanted him as part of her breeding program. We sprayed Blu-Kote on the open wound, and it eventually healed, although there was a little spur of bone protruding from the skin that we needed to trim off after the wound had closed.

If you have access to any willow trees, you can give him twigs and branches to chew. They contain salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient in aspirin.

Do watch for heat and swelling at the break, as this would indicate infection. You may have to put him on antibiotics in that case.

If the leg heals you will need to make sure that he doesn't get sores if he is forced to drag the leg around.

If you can't manage his pain to at least the extent that he continues to eat and drink, I think it would be kindest to end his suffering.

 

[MaggieJ]

Akane and MamaSheepdog have given you good advice and I don't think I have much to add to it.

If you can find a willow, give him a branch and let him eat the bark. The nice thing about willow is that the rabbit can self-medicate as needed. I've fed huge amount of willow branches to my rabbits with no ill effects. It is very bitter (I chewed some inner bark myself once when I was out of aspirin) but rabbits seem to really like it, so it may be useful to help keep him eating.

 

[BC Belgians]

Thank you very much for everyone's reply.

To put everyone's minds at ease, he is not dragging the leg and even puts some weight on it. There is no open wound; just swelling around the joint of the heal. However, he is not active and takes all weight off the leg when resting. He is eating and drinking and I am going to pick willow branches now.

I will read about using Aspirin. Has anyone used Buprenorphine for their rabbits? I don't have Metacam at hand.

Geee ... he is such a nice boy. What a strike of bad luck for this happy fellow. We just started training for Rabbit Agility and he was already completely at ease with the harness and leash.

 

[MaggieJ]

That doesn't sound too bad to me. If you can manage his pain, I would think he has a good chance. Personally, I would not give him aspirin if he already has willow bark. With the bark he has a choice--with aspirin administered directly, he does not. Just my feelings on the subject.

 

[akane]

I had a doe twist her paw sideways. I don't know if she got caught on a hayrack(we moved them to the outside of the cages) or just got scared and bashed in to the side of the cage wrong. She never showed much pain. No teeth grinding, was eating and drinking, and still interactive. We waited it out and while the paw was permanently sideways she even learned to run around colony on it. That doe had nice type but she was a train wreck. Shortly after that her dewlap got torn open. I can only guess at the cause again and figured it was a rather aggressive buck that wasn't around much longer. She got an abscess on another leg that I gave penicillin for. Never did get a litter and sold her off as unproductive but still young enough someone wanted to try. Hopefully in solid cages with no obstacles and nothing scary around. That is an example of a rabbit you don't put in colony despite the fact I never actually saw her fight, chase, or be chased by anyone.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

he is not dragging the leg and even puts some weight on it.

Well, that sounds promising! :bouncy: He may have just torn a ligament or sprained it. Hopefully he will feel better soon! :clover: