Rabbit limping and licking front paw

[CuriousBinky]

Hi guys, I noticed that last night when I got home from work my rabbit seemed less energetic. I didn’t think anything of it until now that I see that his front paw is wet cus if him licking it so much. I checked it out and nothing seems to be visibly wrong with it? Nails are good nothing broken or anything?? All he does is sit around/lay putting barely any pressure on it so it must hurt but he does still stand on it he doesn’t lift it up so much. Whenever I put him on my bed or on me he digs fine and doesn’t seem like it hurts him that much for him to be doing that. He also runs when I call him but does slightly run weird. Should I be worried at all? He was fine on Monday. I’m considering taking him to the vet but I’ve seen that sometimes they get injured and go back to normal. Can you let me know your thoughts? Here’s a picture where his paw is a little off.

 

[John Wick]

At the minimum, yes, it would be wise to go to the vet so he can at least get some pain medication to feel better. The fact that he is licking it a lot is a sign of discomfort/pain. It could be a sprain or a fracture, and that's something that cannot be determined without an x-ray. While the treatment for both in many cases is the same (cage rest and pain meds), it can be very important to understand the exact nature of the injury to know if other precautions need to be taken, like antibiotics to prevent bone infection for fractures.

Yes there are cases where it seems to just "go away" or resolve on its own, but there's no way for you or us to know whether this is minor or major without veterinary assessment at this time. Of note, one of my rabbits broke a toe (literally two bone pieces; complete fracture), and he would still dig with the paw because why not? How they present is not a great indicator of how they feel considering they are prey animals and are programmed to hide their pain.

 

[JBun]

If he's not back to normal tomorrow and/or is showing a reduced appetite due to pain, it would be advisable to get him checked out right away.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

 

[CuriousBinky]

If he's not back to normal tomorrow and/or is showing a reduced appetite due to pain, it would be advisable to get him checked out right away.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

All late but yes the day after he was all good!! sorry if I worried anyone but Louie is fine <3