Sores/crusted areas on back of neck and hind legs

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Hoosier

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The skinny doe I posted about has sores on both hind legs below her hocks. Though I am brand new to the rabbit world, I wonder if these are caused by the wire cage. The sores have been there awhile and are thickened with scabs. I can tell they hurt her by the way she sits attempting to keep pressure off the areas by bringing her legs far under her body. They are about 1" long and 1/2" wide. The previous owner had small rubber pads in the cages. Since we do not have any yet, there is hay for them to rest on. How should I treat these areas? Should I put hay over the entire cage floor and change it daily? Should I put newspaper or paper feed bags on the cage floor? This doe has started eating. I trimmed her toenails today and they were very long and some had started to curl up. I nearly cried when I saw them and along with feeling her ribs. This doe is bright and alert otherwise. I thought it may be possible that there is a relationship b/w these sores and her long toenails.
She and the other 2 does and buck have tiny crusted areas on their necks that I noticed when petting them. I don't know what these are. I am proud to say that I trimmed everyone's nails today by myself and the rabbits were quite agreeable :) . I appreciated their patience and cooperation since they were dealing with a newbie (but a gentle newbie). Some of their nails were so long. When speaking to the young man at Rural King last night, let's just say that the previous owner's husbandry practices aren't the best so I don't know if that has anything to do with the sores on the neck or not.
 
First, the foot issue is called "sore hocks", and it can be caused by improper floor wire, or by long, untrimmed nails (which you said she had) or it can be genetic (they just have poorly furred feet.) Treat it with BluKote, twice a week for two weeks. BluKote kills bacteria and fungi, and make sure to wear gloves or your fingers will be purple for days.

The scabs on the back of the neck are fur mites. I would treat this with Ivermectin, 1% injectable. You weigh the rabbit, and give .018cc (or ml) per lb of weight, so a 10lb rabbit gets .18cc. You can drop this on the back of the neck, just like flea medicine on a dog or cat. Repeat in 10 days.
 
A plastic cutting board will work as a rest mat, so will a 9x9 piece from a sheet of wood but with her sore hocks the wood will likely become a reservoir for infection.
 
Are they scabs or calluses? Most of mine who are 2+ years get calluses...is there any way to post pictures?

A resting mat will help and in the meantime, hay or a hunk of cardboard. :)
 
I am pretty sure they are not callouses. I know she is pretty particular when she sits and I believe it is due to pain. Yeah, I know pain in the back or hips could cause 'sitting' issues, but she seems to move in a natural way to my untrained eye. I'll try to take a pic w/ my phone and post it though I haven't ever done that before :) . Put part of a paper grocery sack on the floor of her cage. Put about 10 pieces of the Manna Pro on there and she gobbled it up!!!!!!
I spent about an hour just sitting in the stall today and once they seemed at ease with my presence, moved forward to doing a complete hay change, trimming nails, feeling all over their body with my hands, etc. Had my upper body in the cage with them to clean out the back corners. Have no close neighbors so I wasn't any entertainment value for anyone, LOL. Just gotta say it was quite a special feeling when they smelled my arms and even my face. Haven't held any of them yet, but will do once I think both of us are ready. They are reacting less when being touched and not tensing up as much. It honestly saddens me for them to act this way as if they haven't really been touched before. It doese sadden me when I find the long toenails that I did and the ribs that I felt today :( . At first, I thought the skinny doe had some sort of a growth on her until I felt the other side and realized it was her ribs. Thank you for all of your help!!!! Will try to get the Blu-kote and Ivomec tomorrow. Is there anything natural that can be used also?
 
Kyle, I didn't think calluses should be painful. I am trying to be a good owner. And you are right, I care a lot about these rabbits. I will tell ya' when it comes time to dispatch/process the babies for meat, I won't be a part of it. I have no problem killing a deer or obtaining one from the police that has been hit by a car and then processing it, but domestic animals that I have cared for are a different story. I don't have anything against those that do it. I just know I can't handle it.
 
I hope these pictures post. Hard to tell from the picture, but on the left foot near the bottom it is reddened.
 

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Wow, those feet look terrible. :( Poor doe.

I think she my have a secondary fungal infection going on, which is causing the yellow flakes. Blu-kote will take care of that, but I don't know if her hocks will ever truly heal up. Make sure to keep her nails trimmed, and see how it goes.

Hoosier":cckb9omq said:
Will try to get the Blu-kote and Ivomec tomorrow. Is there anything natural that can be used also?
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Honey has great healing properties, but I don't know if it is anti-fungal. Blu-kote or Nu-Stock would be my choices for treatment at this stage since they are both anti-fungal. Vetericyn spray is another option, and will help with general healing.

As for the mites, I have had a few cases and I simply treated with food grade Diatomaceous Earth. (The type used for pool filtration is toxic due to the heat processing it undergoes. It will poison your animals, so make sure to buy food grade!) One application of about a teaspoon rubbed into the fur is all that was necessary for me. The fur started growing back within a week. As a precautionary measure, I dusted all of the rabbits with it in case they had a mild infestation with no symptoms showing at the time.
 
We have a few hives so getting true, pure honey is not a problem. I just thought of something else, what about tea tree oil? I wonder if vinegar would work.
There aren't to many crusted areas on their necks. The two does that are sisters are the ones that have them. I have some DE, but I don't think it is food grade. I'll go look at the bag. It was bought at the organic garden supply place in Louisville called Fresh Start Growers Supply. We didn't go to town last night so I haven't bought anything as of yet. We are trying to go more natural around here. Used a mixture of vinegar, water and tea tree oil to treat a fungal infection (scratches from morning dew) on one of our horse's legs and it worked well.<br /><br />__________ Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:55 pm __________<br /><br />Update. Put a piece of cardboard and a piece of grocer/paper bag so most of the floor is covered. Noticed improvement with just doing that alone. Had to go to a few stores to get the Blu-kote and applied it and the DE (food grade) today. A couple of days ago, the flakes were gone from the areas and I am assuming the doe did that herself because us humans did not. Unfortunately, I noticed a very, very small bit of blood on her cardboard. I knock off any poop that is lying on the paper or cardboard several times a day. She is pretty good about keeping the cardboard out of her pee corner. I did get a cutting board too and haven't used it. Thanks for your help everyone.
 
I would clean it daily with Veterycin spray and reapply the blukote weekly till they heal up.
 
Hoosier":ws8s1fer said:
We are trying to go more natural around here. Used a mixture of vinegar, water and tea tree oil to treat a fungal infection (scratches from morning dew) on one of our horse's legs and it worked well.

__________ Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:55 pm __________

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Rabbits are very sensitive to Tea Tree Oil, I would avoid using it on them at all.
 
Read where someone used tea tree oil to clean cages and rabbits died so we didn't use it. The Vetricyn was quite pricey like $29.00 for a small bottle and the list of ingredients included bleach and salt which are two things that we felt would cause pain to this doe so we didn't buy any. We will continue to use the blue stuff. Hubby was concerned about the honey being messy and her consuming too much of it by licking so he didn't want to use it. I am very happy to report that she ate ALL of her pellets last night and a good amount of oats, oat groats, barley, and BOSS
 

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