Sore hocks solution?

[Acacia-Berry]

So far I've been lucky to keep Akina (my mini-rex) un-opened. She tends to sit in her pee and I'm forever changing her litter (newspaper).. Her vet told me to get her off Yesterday's News bc the hard pellets were upsetting the infection and also to keep hay off the litter instead use a hay rack bc splinters from bending hay were also re-opening the wounds. So far, on plain newspaper her hocks have improved and have calloused to an agreeable degree. Vet said just to keep bathing her as it gets bad :/

 

[Jenk]

Acacia-Berry wrote:

So far I've been lucky to keep Akina (my mini-rex) un-opened. She tends to sit in her pee and I'm forever changing her litter (newspaper).. Her vet told me to get her off Yesterday's News bc the hard pellets were upsetting the infection and also to keep hay off the litter instead use a hay rack bc splinters from bending hay were also re-opening the wounds. So far, on plain newspaper her hocks have improved and have calloused to an agreeable degree. Vet said just to keep bathing her as it gets bad :/

I'd consider newspaper, but our girl will consume it in sizeable quantities. (She doesn't just tear it; she tears it and sucks it into her face!) Plus, we don't get a newspaper and don't really want to pay for one just to have another form of litter.

I'm glad that you mentioned the hay factor; I hadn't considered the possibility that stiff hay pieces could be re-irritating/-opening our girl's skin. Per our vet's suggestion (for other digestive issues), I think we'll be switching back to Oxbow hay, which tends to be 2nd-cut, most of the time. So maybe once our girl stands on softer hay, that will help, as well. (I can't do just the hay rack above her litter box because her grate--actually a flourescent light grid panel--would cause much irritation if left uncovered.)

 

[Acacia-Berry]

Oh! Luckily neither of my girls eats the newspaper and while I was working at my last job I was collecting old flyers and papers to be thrown out. I guess Ill have to get a supplier or ask my old co-workers to save them :/ It is good that the hay will be softer but isnt it A LOT of money to be spending on hay just to cover the pan with? I know I would never be able to afford that and thats why I got the racks!

 

[Jenk]

Acacia-Berry wrote:

...Isnt it A LOT of money to be spending on hay just to cover the pan with? I know I would never be able to afford that and thats why I got the racks!

My hubby fills the bunnies' litter boxes each night (since I have contact dermatitis) and is pretty accurate at gauging how much they'll eat in a 24-hour period. I sometimes have to add a a little extra hay to their boxes, if they've eaten down so much at night that their hocks are resting directly on their grate. Remember, though: the hay isn't acting as litter; they have a grate that sits atop wood-stove pellets.

When our girls ate hay directly from a manger, they still wasted quite a bitof it. (Whatever fellbehind their NIC-panel wall, theyrefused to eat later.)

 

[tonyshuman]

Acacia-Berry, there may be another reason your girl sits in her pee. That's pretty abnormal for a bunny, since they're normally really picky about keeping themselves clean. It's something you may want to ask your vet about. The reasons a bunny will sit in their own pee include lots of pain, a urinary tract infection, kidney/bladder stones or sludge, or other changes in urine composition like shedding the spores of e cuniculi, a protozoan parasite of bunnies that is shed via the urine. I would have it checked out.