sore feet and ears, and a feeding question

[JessicaR]

As you may have seen in my I am Bad post we got 3 new rabbits. I have some questions on their care.

Q1. Butterscotch, aka mrs piggy, the flemish, 6 weeks old, eats a LOT! How much food should she be eating or should I just let her free feed? I have her in the same cage with the tri buck Cinnamon, 10 weeks old. I am afraid Cinn isnt going to get enough food if I dont keep the bowl filled at all times. I dont want to seperate them yet as they really seem to enjoy each others company, they snuggle up togather.

Q2. Mocha Latte, has some pretty sore feet. She was kept in wire cage with no resting board. So all four feet are bad. The hocks are the worst and the one was even bleeding some, but even her front paws were sore and missing fur. I trimmed her Freddy Kruger claws and cleaned the sores with peroxide. What else should I do for them (already gave her a board to sit on) She seems to be pretty uncomfortable.

Q3. Mocha also has an ear infection in both ears. The woman I got her from runs the 4H club for troubled inner city kids and one of the youths poured water into the ears of the 2 bunnies he was taking care of. S. took the bunnies from the kid and caught the ear infection in the one, but not in Mocha, she said she didnt know her ears got infected too. So I have been cleaning them with Epi-Otic that I had when my dog had an ear infection. They seem to be doing better just in the 2 times i have cleaned them, but do you think it would be ok to put in some of the leftover antibiotic ear drops that I have? Its for the dog but that shouldnt matter right?

Is there anything eles I should do for her? I have been giving her extra alfalfa since she is a little underweight.

 

[ladysown]

i can't tell you about the dog meds and rabbits as i simply have no clue...you might need to call a dog vet to ask. find out what the active ingredients are. you might then be able to google it and see if there are known issues.

For the sore feet I'd layer straw in her cage just to make her more comfortable.. or put resting boards EVERYWHERE in her cage.

I have no clue what flemmies kits eat.. but I'd have no issues free feeding them for a good spell.

 

[JessicaR]

I am going to call the vet but I am sure he will say bring her in, they got to get that office call in somewhere :roll: The epi-otic is safe for puppies and kittens so I figure that wont hurt to use, the other stuff is an antibiotic cream you put in the ears, and I believe they use it in cats too so it probably wouldnt hurt to use but i just want to be safe not sorry.

 

[MaggieJ]

Flemmies are bound to eat more.. They have all that heavy bone to build. She should be free-fed anyway at that age and indeed until she makes her growth.

When you say Mocha has an ear infection, do you mean a bacterial infection inside the workings of the ear or do you mean ear mites? If the external ears are crusted with yucky crusty gunk, it would be ear mites. Easily treatable with olive or mineral oil squirted into the ear to suffocate the mites. I was unclear why the 4Her put water in the ears... Just clueless or in an attempt to wash out mites?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

When you say "ear infection" what exactly do you mean? Can you post pictures? (hehehe, Maggie beat me to that question!) For the sore hocks, you can clean them, apply some kind of ointment like Bag Balm or antibiotic ointment and then use that stretchy horse wrap (coban is what it is called for humans)with some fur to pad the feet. If you google it, there are instructions on how to make "booties" to help them heal...

For the drops, you can check this site: http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rx/drugcalc.html to see if it is listed and how much to give.

I have a Mocha Latte too! I hope yours feels better soon!<br /><br />__________ Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:15 am __________<br /><br />We free feed our youngsters that age and YES, Flemmies eat alot! Or at least that is what I have heard...

 

[JessicaR]

Her ears are getting better with just 3 cleanings I no longer get gunk out of them.

I am not sure what it is but it was down inside the ears and they were also red. I cleaned them with q-tips and was getting all kinds of brownish colored gunk, and a little blood from where she had scratch herself. Could just be ear mites now that I think about it, they didnt have that nasty yeasty smell. The other 2 have clean ears. So I have her in double quarintine (away from my mine and the 2 she came with) This is the stuff I am using to clean her ears http://www.amazon.com/Epi-Otic-Ear-Clea ... B000GE7S1O I just assumed infection since the other one had one.

The 4H kids she works with are troubled youth so who knows, it could have been an attempt to clean the ears or just for meaness, she didnt say. SHe just said the were removed from his care.

Looks like i need to run out to TSC to get some wrap and balm for her feet. They are starting to scab over now, I just hope the fur grows back on her feet.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi Jessica,

I am pretty new to breeding rabbits, but have a lot of experience with other animals and some of it transfers quite well to bunnies.

Q1: I have Standard Rex and I free feed the kits pellets. With large breed dogs you don't want them to grow too fast and stress the joints- they can suffer from "shifting leg lameness" when they grow quickly. The same may apply to giant breed rabbits, but this is pure speculation on my part. Instead of free feeding pellets you may want to offer low protein hay instead and and a set amount of pellets.

Q2: I had a young buck that had sores on his hocks, and used Vetricin spray on them daily, also providing a place to rest off of the wire. The nice thing about the Vetricin is it comes as a spray, so you can even squirt it through the wire floor onto the wounds so as not to stress him by constantly taking him out and flipping him to treat the feet. I would caution against repeated applications of peroxide- it has been found that it destroys the delicate new cells that are forming. I still use it occasionally to disinfect wounds initially, but most often I use betadine.

Q3: Do the ears smell like dirty socks? If so, yeast is probably the culprit. There may also be bacteria present. Dogs that enjoy swimming often suffer from this. I like to use natural remedies whenever possible, and found a recipe to treat my JRT's ears. He doesn't like water, but drop eared dogs often get the same condition since air flow into the ears is inhibited.

Mix a solution of 1/2 cup water, 1 cup white vinegar and 1/2 tablespoon of Rubbing Alcohol. Some people recommend distilled water, which is probably best since the minerals have been removed. The vinegar changes the ph of the ear which inhibits growth of yeast and bacteria. The alcohol helps to dissolve wax and has an evaporative effect. I like to pour some solution into a small squirt bottle (I use the little bottles sold for toiletries for travel) so I can warm the solution up prior to using it- it is more comfortable for the animal and probably helps soften the wax.

Fill the ear canal with the solution, squeeze the base of the ear shut, and agitate it back and forth- you'll hear a sloshing sound. This will help loosen debris. If buns are like dogs, when you let go it will immediately shake its head, flinging fluid everywhere! Dogs and rabbits have an "L" shaped ear canal so you can dig around in their ears with a cotton swab to remove wax and not worry about puncturing the ear drum. Sometimes I push some cotton down into the ear a bit while I clean the other ear to soak up more fluid.

I always moisten the swabs with the solution so they are not as abrasive. If the ears are really bad, sometimes the tissue is so inflamed that you may cause bleeding- if that is the case, I wouldn't be too determined to remove the wax, just be happy with what gets flung out on its own for the first few treatments. The important thing is to change the ph of the ear.

As for the cream, I would do a search of the active ingredient to see if it is safe for rabbits. Even though the drug may have been tested on rabbits, it may not actually be labeled for their use- so you might try searching "Terramycin LD50 rabbits" for example.

If yeast is the problem, the antibiotic wont help- but it would probably kill the bacteria, and if the ears are abraded it could help prevent secondary infection.

Hope some of that may help you! Good luck with all the newbies!

I see lots of people have responded already, but I'll post my two cents worth anyway!

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Her ears are getting better with just 3 cleanings I no longer get gunk out of them.

I am not sure what it is but it was down inside the ears and they were also red. I cleaned them with q-tips and was getting all kinds of brownish colored gunk, and a little blood from where she had scratch herself. Could just be ear mites now that I think about it, they didnt have that nasty yeasty smell. The other 2 have clean ears. So I have her in double quarintine (away from my mine and the 2 she came with) This is the stuff I am using to clean her ears http://www.amazon.com/Epi-Otic-Ear-Clea ... B000GE7S1O I just assumed infection since the other one had one.

Sounds like ear mites...try some oil to smother them.

Looks like i need to run out to TSC to get some wrap and balm for her feet. They are starting to scab over now, I just hope the fur grows back on her feet.

Yup, that is where I got mine. Once they start to heal, the fur will grow back. Just watch to make sure they don't get infected, ie. swollen, hot, squishy feeling (indicates abcess and may need to be drained).

 

[Bramble Hedge]

Sorry to hear your buns have a few ailments hope they clear up quickly.