Beginning sore hocks

[Maureen Las]

Hi,
I have 2 mini-rex 9 month old bonded brothers . Although I have had many rabbits over the years I have never owned this breed. I noticed yesterday that one of the boys is losing fur and just beginning to get a tiny callus on his heel and I am quite concerned where this could go. I know that it is important to keep nails trimmed. These Rabbits are indoors and live on fleece in a large fenced area where they can run. Dylan, his brother often lies with feet stretched outward, but Thomas does not lie this way often. if I had faux sheepskin in there area would this help? It is not a huge problem yet but know what could occur with this breed . Suggestions?
Thanks
Maureen

 

[BlackMiniRex]

Mini Rex's are prone to sore hocks, due too there thin fur on their hocks. My bunny (Andy) has only a little bit of fur on his hocks (you can start too see pink) its been that way for months, it never got worse. No matter how much fleece I put in his cage it doesn't get any better, but like I said it doesn't get worse. Just make sure, your rabbit isn't sitting on wire or hard floors for too long. If you'd like, you can by memory foam mats for them (I wouldn't if they like to chew a lot). If their hocks start to get red (and possibly bleed) then that could be a problem. some people wrap bandages around their hocks (but theirs a special way to do that, maybe someone else can help with that) if they do get worse (like I said. Red, bleeding etc.) Then you should take them to the vet, the vet will most likely tell you how to care for their hocks.
Just try to lay as much fleece/towels as you can and they should be fine.

 

[Aki]

Well, some breeds tend indeed to have a predisposition towards sore hocks and some rabbits seem to have bad posture which can induce the problem (I had a rabbit who had sore hocks and the vet said it was just because he was putting most of his weight on the back of his feet - there is nothing you can do ^^'). For now, I would do nothing. As BlackMiniRex said, it could very well stay that way and, when it comes to health, I'm a big advocate of 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it' ^^. I would keep an eye on his feet and if it ever become sore, then it will be time to act.
When it happened to me (my rabbit had real sore hocks - if your rabbit ever gets them, you'll know because he will jump weirdly to avoid hurting himself) I tried to bandage my rabbit's feet and it was driving him crazy so I stopped. I tried a lot of things, nothing worked, and in the end, a cortisone cream prescribed by a vet specialized in rabbits did the trick in a week or so (I had seen a regular vet before who prescribed other things which didn't work at all - the specialist didn't seem impressed when he was shown the previous treatment). The sores completely disappeared (it was an early stage), but the hair never grew back. My rabbit had bald patches under his feet until he died but the sore hocks never came back. So I just kept an eye on his feet.
My current rabbit has the inverse problem : he NEVER washes his feet and has a lot of fur, thus getting a ton of matted hair under his paws that I have to trim from time to time. I have been fearing sore hocks for the 3 years I've had him but, by some kind of miracle, he never got that (knocks on wood...).

 

[Maureen Las]

Well both these posts helped me a lot so "thank you" to both of you I had been reading about bandaging hocks and it looked difficult to do. Thomas is very difficult to handle and the thought of needing to bandage anything on him would seem close to impossible.
Aki, when you used the cortisone cream did he have to wear an e collar or did he leave it alone ???
I am going to just watch this closely but do nothing now. Thanks again !

 

[RavenousDragon]

One thing I did for my girl with horrid posture was to get her some memory foam pads (they are for dog kennels) for her cage. It has helped a TON and both my rabbits love to sleep on them! She was just losing fur, though- nothing serious yet.

 

[Maureen Las]

Thanks RD..I am going to look into foam pads

 

[Aki]

Well both these posts helped me a lot so "thank you" to both of you I had been reading about bandaging hocks and it looked difficult to do. Thomas is very difficult to handle and the thought of needing to bandage anything on him would seem close to impossible.
Aki, when you used the cortisone cream did he have to wear an e collar or did he leave it alone ???
I am going to just watch this closely but do nothing now. Thanks again !

No, he didn't wear an e collar. The cream was absorbed by the skin really quickly so I just massaged it well and kept the rabbit for a few minutes on my knees before releasing him. He licked it a bit, but most of the cream was already gone into the skin and it had no problematic side effects.