Help?

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

What is it, and how can it be taken care of? She is one of the kits from the last mini rex litter. I keep in touch with the girl that bought her and her half sister. She texts me and is like "Belles feet are swollen. My dad says she might die"

 

[Zass]

Did they make sure there isn't something like wire, thread, or plastic (fishing line) wrapped around that foot?

 

[Nyctra]

Thanks to dang pasteurella, foot irritation from mild or brief exposure to urine and feces on resting mats around here could quickly lead to swollen puss-filled feet...that looked something like that.

But maybe she got bit by a spider or has an infection from a cut?

 

[Prisma]

What do the bottoms look like? Red, scabby or just irritated? Staph infection, sadly before a good culture can be done to know what is really effective against it (if that is what it is) is not likely. I hope, hope, hope that is just a pocket of infection from where a small cut got infected and hasn't been drained/treated (that can be a prone issue with MR depending up on cage set up and bedding plus general line as some tend to have more feet issues than others). It could be a small sliver of wood or even piece of wire caused the infection in her foot, unless that can be flushed out and cleaned up, it'll keep going and get worse. I've not had a rabbit with a foot infection that's bad enough to swell the whole foot/pad to survive...so should be prepared for the worst .

 

[Miss M]

Looks like she injured the foot, and now it's inflamed and/or infected.

Without being able to look into it further, if they can't do much in the way of treatment, I'd say they can treat it with Blue-Kote or Nu-Stock. If they can do more than that, I'd recommend that plus a 5 day course of PenG shots, preferably with some additional oral probiotics.

Blue-Kote is VERY purple, and will stain everything it comes into contact with (it can stain even when dry). Still, an excellent wound dressing.

Nu-Stock is messy and smells like pine oil mixed with sulphur (because that's what it is). But it helps things heal from the inside out.

Most feed stores should carry at least one of those. Either costs around $12 - $14.

I think, with the swelling, the antibiotics course is called for. Bottle of PenG at a feed store: about $10. Syringes and needles at a feed store: varies. I get mine for 25 cents per syringe with needle (make sure you are getting needles). Keep the PenG in the refrigerator. Don't worry about warming it before you shake and draw the dose. Just shake it very thoroughly. See Tegan's thread on How to give a Subcutaneous Injection.

It doesn't take much. Medirabbit has the info needed to make dosing calculations. My nearly 5 pound minilop took 1/4cc (or mL, same thing).

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

I told her to soak the foot in warm water and epsom salt... is that ok?

 

[Miss M]

I told her to soak the foot in warm water and epsom salt... is that ok?

Yes, absolutely.

It's possible that it is just inflamed from an injury (or bite). If so, epsom salt soaks and treatment with Nu-Stock may be all that's needed. I would still do the Nu-Stock.

The main reason for the antibiotics is that we don't know what is causing the swelling. Is it inflammation? Is it infection? We don't know. If we treat for inflammation (epsom salt soaks) only, then it can appear to do better while the infection is rooting itself deeper and becoming harder to effectively treat.

Nu-Stock is antibacterial, but it's only topical. It can't reach all in there where infection may be.