should I pts this doe?

[akane]

I have the worst luck with pointed white american sables. The first pw doe I got went through 4 litters without raising a kit. She didn't even pull fur on the first 2 and trampled the 3rd. The 5th she died without passing a kit. I got a 2nd pw doe from the same breeder and within the first week she dislocated her paw somehow so she's walking on the side of it. She was doing fine and not showing signs of pain so we left her that way for the past few months without issue. Now today she has a torn dewlap. There's a huge chunk hanging off with fat tissue showing but the edges are all dried up so it's not bleeding. I don't know what to do with her now. Should I try to cut it off? leave it to hopefully fall off as it dries up while keeping the open area disinfected? Take a $10 rabbit to the farm vet for him to remove it under local anesthetic for probably about $30? or put her down?

I hate to ask the breeder for yet another pw doe. He keeps giving me his best and talking them up then I never get offspring from the darn things.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I'm sorry your having such bad luck with pws. Is she a nervous nelly and thats why she keeps hurting herself?
I'd probably disinfect tonite but its hard to say without seeing it. I'm sorry I can't be more help. [[HUGS]]

 

[Secuono]

I agree, hard to say without seeing the rabbit in person. You can attempt to ice it and trim off the dead tissue and then use skin glue to reattach it. idk...

 

[akane]

We tried to get a pic but low barn lighting, a phone, and a white rabbit did not make it come out the clearest.



You can see the yellow fat and below the extra fluff is a dead skin flap. It's pretty much a circle.


She is a bit of a nervous rabbit. We think she dislocated her paw by panicking and trying to climb in her hayloft because it had a zip tie broken and was tilted at an angle. We took it out because she kept trying to get in it. Then 2 days before we found this injury we moved a lot of rabbits around sorting to give away to people and while she was left in a mostly empty colony the other one and the pen were full of rabbits getting to know each other. There was much running about and occasionally mass panic for no reason. One of the netherland does would go racing around if the top american sable doe just looked at her without even giving chase. So there was a bit of chaos. I have no idea how she injured it though.

 

[Miss M]

I agree with Secuono... I think I'd try disinfecting it (Betadyne or something), and then gluing it with super glue.

Carefully. You don't want to glue yourself to the rabbit.

 

[akane]

The skin flap is dead. It's not going to close the wound. Is there enough blood flow in that area to grow new skin over the hole?

 

[PSFAngoras]

I would assume so, as all bodies are designed to heal themselves, but an area that large will take a while. I would leave the flap alone for now, until you can distinguish what is completely dead and what isn't. You don't want to go cutting into good tissue, poor girl has been through enough.

Hope she gets better for you.

 

[akane]

The risk of cutting in to live tissue is why I didn't go ahead and remove the flap of skin yesterday. Also why I was considering have the vet trim it up and clean the wound with pain killers. I might call them monday and see if I can get an approximate cost quote. She's a very nice doe with a sweet personality even if a little nervous. She's eating and drinking but a bit lethargic. I can scoop her up in the colony without her attempting to get away at all. She just sits there.

 

[Miss M]

Right, I didn't catch that the flap was dead.

If I had a similar situation to treat... since I don't do vets for rabbits, I would do Betadyne, cut off the dead tissue, scarify where I did not have to cut, Betadyne again, let sit a few minutes, mop with fresh gauze, and then glue.

I can't say that this course of treatment would work or would be best, but that is likely what I would try as an at-home treatment.

 

[akane]

since I don't do vets for rabbits

Normally I don't but the farm vet a town over charges next to nothing and this is a rare breed that I don't have a lot of pointed whites to work with. My sables have thrown 1 buck and that's it. She's also original stock unrelated to the rest. So if it costs me $20 plus gas and time to replace her with a 12week old or $30 to have the vet treat her it could be worth it.

 

[Miss M]

since I don't do vets for rabbits

Normally I don't but the farm vet a town over charges next to nothing and this is a rare breed that I don't have a lot of pointed whites to work with. My sables have thrown 1 buck and that's it. She's also original stock unrelated to the rest. So if it costs me $20 plus gas and time to replace her with a 12week old or $30 to have the vet treat her it could be worth it.

Ah, absolutely, then... I don't have any rare breeds. If I did, I'd be considering the vet.

And actually, I should amend my post above to say that that is what I would try... after much research, if the research did not show me a better way, and I did not decide to cull.

 

[akane]

The skin flap fell off and the wound scabbed over. I opened it up a little looking for infection and I think only saw internal skin layers and fat but the doe feels warm. She's also still lethargic but was eating when I picked her up. I'm thinking of leaving the wound alone to close and doing penicillin injections instead of applying something directly to the wound every day. Rinsing it won't do any good without breaking it open every time. I was also thinking of trying to get some baby aspirin down her for the fever and pain. How much do you give a ~6lb rabbit?

 

[Miss M]

If I recall correctly, you can give 1/2 baby aspirin up to 3 times per day.

Hopefully, your bun actually likes them, unlike SOME bunnies we know (Pinto)...