Broken Femur!! Advice please!!

[ahrat]

My best buddy of five years (although he's a little older than that) broke his femur sometime within the last two days.
We've been to our vet, who said it's definitely a break higher up in the femur. He said surgery is the obvious choice.
My boyfriend and I are scrambling to get 1000 together, most places I've called don't offer payment plans, only care credit, which both of us are not able to get approved for.
We have enough money to get an xray today, which will give us a better idea of the damage.

I have him in a small cage with all his stuff close to him. He is still eating, pooping, drinking, sleeping, throwing stuff around, getting too excited for treats. I'm surprised he's not moving much in the cage because before we caged him he was still free-ranging like nothing happened.
I was wondering how long we could keep him comfortable like this. My vet made it seem like if we couldn't get the surgery in the next 2 days, we need to put him down. But this seems very wrong to me considering he's still toughing it out. He had a dose of pain meds yesterday, and I'm going to get him some more when we get his xray.
We just need a few more days or so to get the other half of the 1000 together, and worse case scenerio, my tax refund comes in less than 2 weeks. I love my buddy, and just want him to heal, not have to put him down because I don't have the money right now but will very soon.

 

[Aki]

Considering you'll get the money in 2 weeks, can't the vet accept to be paid in installments or something? A lot of vets do it as they understand that emergencies can get really pricey, especially with clients they know (you can offer to leave something with him as a gage - I know a vet who does that with passports, don't know how legal it is though ^^'). Did you try explaining the situation to him?
I don't think a broken femur is a motive for euthanasia, especially if your rabbit is eating normally and doesn't seem to be very much in pain. In the worst case scenario, I've heard of rabbits who got amputated from a limb after a bad break and who lived long good lives afterwards. Animals are often a lot more resiliant than we gave them credit for so I wouldn't give up on your little guy yet.

 

[JBun]

Another option might be to find another good rabbit vet that doesn't charge as much.
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

And like Aki said, amputation is an option as well(certainly over pts), and might also be more affordable. No reason to put your bun down for just a broken limb. And if your vet is saying euthanasia is the next best option over amputation, makes me wonder how rabbit savvy this vet is.

As a last resort, if the xray shows the bone in the correct position, I've read of rabbits recovering fully with no surgical intervention and just restricting their movement for several weeks and maybe splinting the leg. But this probably won't be an option if it for sure ends up being the femur. Usually only if it's one of the smaller bones further down the leg.

 

[ahrat]

We got Hootie some xrays yesterday afternoon at a more high tech vet hospital, who also does surgery. My other vet is out of his home, and doesn't have help other than one assistant I rarely see.

So, the new vet confirmed, there's a clean break right below his hip joint. She gave us the options of amputation or surgery to place a pin. But did make us aware that he has a small heart murmur, she says it's not bad, but it's noticeable. Meaning surgery can always pose a risk, but has to happen either way in this situation, so there's no point in doing extra tests on the murmur.

Considering the amputation is a slightly easier or quicker procedure, according to the new vet, which lessens his time under anesthesia, I think that's what we're going for. She said the prices would be pretty much the same.

My guy also hates sitting around, he's doing it, but he's upset about. I think the amputation will have him up moving around quicker. And with the new knowledge of the heart murmur, stressing him with constant 25 minute drives to the vet's for revisits if we were to pin, just seems like more risk and stress for our dude.

Does anyone have advice for caring for him afterwards? I think he's going to adjust just fine, but any tips would be appreciated.