Lesson Learned- May Cost Me a Good Doe.

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MamaSheepdog

MamaSheepdog

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I have doors that swing up and in on my cages, and for convenience sake I have been leaving them unlatched during the day so as I collect weeds from the garden, I can quickly pop them into the cages.

Well... my luck ran out today. Jasper, a lovely black doe, managed to get out. She was on the second tier, and must have broken her hind leg jumping to the pavers below. I found her in Queenpup's garden. The leg has swollen already.

I am about to give her some arnica... I don't know if I am going to splint the leg or not- I have to get a good look at it, but I think it is broken above the knee. She is moving around okay- she even hopped into her bunnybucket- but the leg is useless. If she starts grinding her teeth, I will put her down. She has a litter of kits that are a couple of days shy of four weeks, so they will be fine either way.

As you can imagine, I have given myself a sound scolding on responsible husbandry, and the foolishness of taking chances. Ol' Murphy strikes again. I am so angry with myself right now... poor Jasper didn't deserve this. :cry:
 
Heck, some of mine have popped their doors open like magic.
Is the leg wiggling all free willy like? If not, it might not be broken, but just fractured or sprained.
 
So sorry that happened. I think most of us at some point have left a door open for a moment thinking that the rabbit won't jump out so we can just grab this or that.

I hope she recovers ok. I think if you are sure it is broken, I would try a splint so it has a chance to heal correctly. Thinking good thoughts for Jasper and you.
 
Poor doe :( I hope that leg heals up! It'll build character into your herd. ;)
 
Sorry to hear about Jasper MSD. I hope she heals.

I did the same thing only I was lucky and the rabbit didn't get injured. I think just about everyone probably leaves the doors open at times.
 
The same thing happened to me and only 3 day after buying my $130 8 week old English angora from my avatar...he was missuing for 3 days running through the woods. Thankfully a neighbor found him. He gave him a haircut cause he had all kinds of leaves and twig stuck in his hair. His name is now Lucky.
 
Oh, MSD, sorry about the injury! And, don't be too hard on yourself ... we have all done it, some are just luckier than others about whether a tragedy occurred or not.

I have my cage door open up and out and my EA buck stuck his head out and got it stuck between the cage door bottom and the iron grating that supports the bottom of the cages ... I was right there and saw him do it, and I was so afraid it would break his neck getting him out of that predicament!
 
Did it after reading your thread. Forgot to cover up the j-feeder hole in my kit cage. DH and I were on a kit scavenger hunt all morning. Luckily found them all, but the babies were all pretty dehydrated.
 
Kit jumped from a 4 foot high cage into the welcoming mouth of one of my german shepherds. Good thing it screamed, he was on his way to his crate, if he had made it there that kit would have been a goner. That was several months ago, I still don't know which kit it was, but all three of the castor kits are still alive somewhere, I did expect some type of internal injury.
 
Awe, I'm so sorry MSD! Sending positive thoughts for Jasper.
 
Well, surprisingly, Jasper seems to be doing very well. She was such a good patient when we splinted her leg, and as soon as she was back in her cage, she eagerly ate the apple slice I gave her. I really can't believe it... I keep expecting to find her dead, but she is bright eyed and alert.

Hopefully she will be okay, but I can't bring myself to believe that she will be. Rabbits are such frail creatures, and she is being so stoic, it just boggles my mind!

I have hesitated posting about her, not wanting to jinx her recovery... but now the cat is out of the bag, as it were, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for her!
 

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