Lump on Hock? *Pics in thread*

[Kipcha]

We were letting Peace run around tonight and noticed a large lump on his hock. Itdoesn't seem to be bothering himand he lets us touch it. It isn't necessarily hard or liquid, it just feels like flesh. It's maybe a little warm but not hot or anything... Is it sore hocks? Abcess? I know Belgian Hares are prone to sore hocks so is that possibly what it is? That was our first thought, but it is in such an odd place, it doesn't seem like there would be a lot of pressure there, but I don't know how much it taks to make it sore...

One of our rabbit friends recommended polysporin and vet wrap to bandage it up... WOuld this be a good method?

 

[I_heart_Fraggles]

All I can say is that must be painful. Rabbits being prey animals are very good at hiding pain. I would take him to the vet.

 

[Kipcha]

It is the plan to have a vet see him, but at 10:30 at night that really isn't much of an option... I just want some information on what it is...

I honestly do not believe he is in pain, though. When we were letting him run around before we noticed, he was binkying everywhere and I have never seen a rabbit in pain binky...

 

[Flick]

It looks like he may have bruised or damaged his Calcaneal tuber bone. Diagram of the foot can be found in the video link below at about the 2:13 time code.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/user/FastUpOnRabbitCare#p/u/2/SDuHQ1nDebk[/ame]

I wouldn't wrap it since we don't know what's causing the swelling. That's a weird little bone there and if it is broken or bruised wrapping might make it worse. However, I would put some triple action antibiotics (like Neosporin) on the sores.

Please keep us updated. Fingers crossed that it's just a bruise from exuberant binkies.

 

[pamnock]

We had the same problem with a couple of our hares and it progressed into very serious infections in all 4 legs. You can wrap it - just be careful not to wrap too tight.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

That sure is strange on that bone area. Did you get to a vet? How do they look now?

 

[karenladd]

Hoping you have found out what it is. It looks like an abcess to me. I had a couple of rabbit who got abcesses on their ankles....and one who had one on his foot. It felt like flesh...but made a lump. One of the rabbits had pasturella and suffered from abcesses for much of his life, but the first one was on his leg. He had some surgically removed, and was on Baytril on a regular basis. Even with pasturella, he lived for 7 years after he was diagnosed. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree that it looks abscessed. Pam, was it a bone injury or garden-variety abscessed sore hock in your Hares? I would of course have a vet look at it and for the meantime put triple antibiotic and no wrapping on it.

 

[pamnock]

It was neither a bone injury nor a classic sore hock. In my unprofessional opinion (the vet didn't specify) it appeared tobe more of an autoimmune disease of the joints thatwas probablyhereditary (we had a doe and her daughter with it)- possibly something like septic arthritis. The infection cropped up in all 4 legs/feet causing necrosis of tissue surrounding the joints.

 

[naturestee]

My tan had an abscess in that same location. Prior to the abscess, it had problems with popping out of joint. After surgical drainage and a course of penicillin, she healed up just fine and has had no problems with recurrence or joint dislocation in over a year.

You have to be really careful with wrapping, if you do it. My vet thought he did the post-surgical wrapping loosely but it cut off circulation and caused her foot to swell. Just keep her home as clean as possible and disinfect often until it heals.

Pam- do you have any more information on that arthritic problem your hares had? That was Heart, right? I remember her. The vet found only minor arthritic changes in Guinness when she first started having problems with her joint dislocating, but she was only 1-2 years old.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

ray:

 

[gentle giants]

Looks like an abcess to me too, I had one of my Flemmies get one right there. Antibiotics cleared it up fine. Just get to a bunny-savvy vet as soon as you are able to.

 

[Kipcha]

Sorry for not really being on much, things have been busy here.

We called and the vet we wanted to talk to wasn't back until today, so we just kept an eye on it and put polysporin on it a few times a day until she got back. It got a bit bigger and seemed to almost get a whitish head to it under the skin.

So we took him to the vet we've gone to a few times and she confirmed it was an abcess (Apparently she has a lot of experience with them and the Humane Society here takes a lot of their rabbits with them to her) so we booked an appointment for him to go in tomorrow and have it taken care of. She mentioned something about a core on the inside (I'm not sure of her exact wording, I was at work during the vet appointment) that she would have to put him under to remove. She could have lanced it and drained it tonight, but said that unless she removed to whole thing it would keep coming back, so my Mom decided to go with the procedure and get his nueter done at the same time so this is all going to work out to a surgery around $400. Honestly, she was more concered about getting him nuetered though.

The vet believes he'll pull through it just fine but we're still really concerned as the entire reason he hasn't been nuetered yet is because we're afraid that he won't do well under anesthesia, being what we consider to be a more fragile breed. Has anyone had any experience with Belgian Hares going under anethesia? I mean, we have faith in this vet, she's done hundreds of rabbits and has only lost 2, but still, we're pretty paranoid over him...

Anyways, just keep Peace in your thoughts as he goes in tomorrow! Here's to hoping all goes well!

 

[gentle giants]

ray: for your guy as he goes through his surgery. Make sure you have some Critical Care on hand for afterwards in case he doesn't feel like eating, the double surgery will be a little more stressful recovery wise. You are doing the right thing though, the abscess is a lot less likely to come back with the vet taking it out in one piece rather than draining it.

BTW, once he has recovered I would love to see pics of him, I love Belgians! :inlove:

 

[Kipcha]

We have some Critical Care here, we always have some on hand just in case something should go wrong and we can't get to a vet right away, let's just hope he won't need it! It was a pain getting him to sit still just putting some polysporin on it, let alone the antibitiotics and pain meds he's going to need afterwards without that on top of it! He's generally not a very patient boy.

Ask and you shall recieve! I'll be sure to also keep posting them as he recovers afterwards...

We have plenty more where those came from, but I'll save the majority for the time after his surgery and giving updates on him

I know I'm going to be a nervous wreck tomorrow though, Mom is dropping him off after I get to work and getting the update from the vet and picking him up before I get off, I wonder if I'll even be able to focus properly... Especially considering I'm not allowed to take calls on the job... But I think they won't notice me answering my phone a few times through the day...

 

[Pet_Bunny]

ray:

 

[Kipcha]

Well, so far it's been good news! He made it through the surgery and woke up from the anesthetic alright, we're going to be able to go pick him up in a bit. Hopefully he stays stable and we make it through this alright!

 

[Kipcha]

So we got him home and he's chilling out in his cage now. We haven't seen him eat yet but we're not panicking yet because he's only been home for half an hour and he's still a little dopey. Anyone have tips for encouraging them to eat?

One of the nurses actually took photos during the procedure, so we got some pics of his testicles after they were removed. One was up inside his abdomen so they had to make another incision, so the poor guy had pretty much three surgeries today...

His abcess when they opened it...

Poor little man with all his soon to be scars...

Hopefully he'll start eating before bed so we don't have to forcefeed him. His bandage comes off in three days and after that we have to flush it out at leastonce a day. We also are to give him 0.5 ml of Metacam a day for pain and 1.4 ml of Baytril a day, so we're gonna have our work cut out for us since Peace isn't exactly what I would call cooperative, but it's worth it!

 

[tonyshuman]

He should at least drink tonight--if he doesn't eat, don't worry. He should eat tomorrow. Poor little dude!

 

[Kipcha]

We actually got him to eat a few sprigs of parsley (We were holding it up to him and I think we were making him mad so he was biting it out of frustration, but when he got it into his mouth he would finish it so hopefully that helps a bit), but he really hasn't been drinking... I'm hoping we're just missing it, but I doubt it since we're watching him so close... Any tips on getting him to drink?