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tracie123

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I got a california doe and her feet are raw and 2 of them are very swollen around the toes, what can I do to help her, I have been cleaning her feet ( all 4) changed her cage and put a rest pad in for her. The guy I bought her from said that her feet have always been this way and she will be fine,but I cant. Please tell me what I can do to help her...
Thank you.
 
My immediate guess would be that she may have sore hocks. A rest pad should help but I have one that I finally had to take out of the wire cage altogether and keep her in one of those plastic bottom house cages toget her feet to finally start healing. Try Vasoline on the sores to keep the skin moist - I actually use triple antibiotic on my rabbits' feet once or twice a day. Some rabbits get this worse than others - maybe because they have less fur on the bottom of their feet?
 
and it is hereditary, you can breed for thicker fur on the feet to prevent sore hocks. i have the problem with most of my does, even with a rest board, which they seldom use. mine's came from the breeder that way, and I thought it was a thing that can't be helped until I was told otherwise.
 
Feet are easily overlooked when checking out a rabbit to buy unless the problem is severe. The thickness of the hair pad is easy to forget but it is important. You don't forget once you've gone through the difficulty of sore hocks.
 
Can you post pics? Since all four feet are affected, something else may be going on. Do her feet smell like dirty socks? That would indicate a yeast infection. It could also be fungal or bacterial in nature. Products marketed for livestock such as Blu-Kote and Nu-stock are effective against both bacterial and fungal infections, and both promote healing. You will find them at a feed store.
 
If it is simply caused by stamping and wire stress, I have used preparation H on the hocks with excellent success. Be sure to limit the amount of wire the rabbit stands on, while it is healing, but if it is a choice between wet standing boards or wire, wire is better.
If it is both front and back feet, and between the toes, I would bet it is some type of fungal infection. The vet can probably prescribe an antibiotic that will clear it right up.
 
Products marketed for athlete's foot/jock itch will work if you don't have a feed store nearby. Human products are always more expensive than those marketed for animals though.
 
Mamasheepdog- it wont let me up load photos so going to email them to you.<br /><br />__________ Fri Jul 27, 2012 5:42 pm __________<br /><br />I can not get it to even upload to email you sorry.
Not sure if i am doing this rite or not.
 
Wont let me post pictures on this post but can upload to my gallery, please look at them and let me know what to do????<br /><br />__________ Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:07 pm __________<br /><br />
 
Wow, that is bad! Hopefully someone else will take a look too, because other than a little hairloss, I haven't had any problems, and I have never seen the front feet involved.

I noticed that the sides of the cage were made with 1/2" hardware cloth- is the floor made of that also? If so, that may be the problem, because the wire is so thin it sometimes irritates their feet. I see that the other cages have 1/2" x 1" floor wire.

Have you tried any of the suggestions mentioned already? The perimeter of the sore area looks very dry, so at this point I think any type of ointment would help just to soften the dry areas. I would still use an anti fungal like Nu-stock- it uses sulfur as an active ingredient, so is safe even if ingested.
 
I will post a picture in the gallery og her cage and tou can tell me cause I dont really know?<br /><br />__________ Sat Aug 04, 2012 7:25 pm __________<br /><br />Yes I have tried everything that all said to try, the hemorid cream dryed them out really bad, going to try silvadine burn cream, dont know what else to do.
 
I looked, but the pic is too small, even when I clicked on it. But if it is the small squares like you have on the sides of the one cage made with wood, that could be your problem. The black and white rabbit and the Harlequin have 1/2" x 1" wire on their floors- if you look at it, the wire is much bigger around and gives more support.

You might want to cover most of the floor with cardboard or straw except for the corners where the rabbit pees and poops.
 
MSD- The bottom wire is the same in all cages. As of rite now i have hay in the bottom of her cage and shavings in the nesting box, she seems to like staying in her nesting box, she is due to have her kits this wednesday. As for now I am just letting her do her own thing untill she has her babys, then will try the flad thick rubber mats and just drill holes in it, I just have to try everything before I give up.

__________ Sun Aug 05, 2012 12:01 pm __________

My neighbor is a nose ear throat Dr, so I carred cotton candy over for him to look at her. He cleaned her feet up took all the scabes off, soaked them in Johnson and Johnsons baby shampoo and then he applyed clotrimazole to her feet and wrapped them said to leave wraps on till noon tomorrow, cotton candy seems to be sooooo MUCH better as of now, running all over her cage as if she was a 10 week old. Thanks for all the input and help.
Tracie<br /><br />__________ Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:35 pm __________<br /><br />I guess she just couldnt take it any more with her feet, they would get better then they would flair up REALLY bad to the point she would cry out when just touching them . Even after all the work and time trying to help her it didnt work so from here on out I know to cull them and not let them suffer, but I had to try and help her.
Tracie :(
 
Poor bunny. I am sorry that your care and treatment didn't help her. You gave her a chance at least. It sounds like she had poorly furred feet and that is not something that you can effectively treat.

Sorry for your loss- I know that you can get even more attached when fighting a medical problem with an animal. :( ((Hugs))
 
Piper~ no, she was breed tho.
MSD~she is in alot better place now thats for sure. I now know to LOOK at feet when getting another rabbit. That will be the 1st thing I look at.
 
Oh, Tracie,

I am so sorry. It is hard to try to help and have it still not be enough in the end. I am sort of going through that with the old man about culling for pasteurella ... he doesn't seem to understand that a prey animal like a rabbit either has the robust immune system to keep it at bay, or it doesn't and if it does get a foothold, it WILL NOT go away. I have my last junior angora with a weepy eye and he want's to "wait and see" thinking it is an allergic reaction to being in the hot, dry, dusty days we just had. <sigh> And, now my only senior doe is showing a bit of weepy eye too ... if I have to put her down, he is paying for her replacement!
 
AnnClaire, I think that is what is going on here with 1of my rabbits not sure tho yet, from what I have been reading on here there is NO cure for pasteurella, none of my rabbits have showed any signs of it either, but we have been getting alot of rain here so it is very possible that it was blown in here with all the rain and BAD winds we have been having.
MSD, thank you for the advice.
Tracie
 

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