Sore hocks!

My vet is going to love me (money wise) and think I'm a hypercondriac bunny mum

Noticed yesterday while Shadow was in his run lay flat out that he had red bald patches on the elbow part on his back legs! Its odd though as the fur covers it but if you move it to one side its bald. I'm a little confused how this could have happened as he is only ever on soft ground. He was in the house a little more than usual last week so could it have been the carpet? I know Rexes have this problem more than other buns but what can I do to stop this happening again? I'd like him to be in the house more but if it's the carpet what could I do? I did put a little sudocreme on them last night and made sure there was plenty of soft hay in his hutch.

He's rather jumpy with me today, literally jumped away from me when I went to give him his breakfast this morning, then when I went back to freshen up his water he was ready to make a run for it!
Not sure if he got a bit freaked yesterday in the garden, as when I went to bring him in there was a cat just jumping over the fence and as I carried him back to his hutch he leapt out my arms onto the floor and then started rubbing his face, wondered if he'd banged his face! I feel like a really bad mummy!

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Emma x

All buns have little bald spots on the heels of their back feet, some more obvious than others. So long as they aren't firey red or inflamed, they should be ok

Thank you Lynda,

I've never noticed them before, they are quite red so maybe thats why I saw them.

Popped him down to the vet in case (I'm going away next week so didn't want to take any chances) he said they look like pressure sores, he clipped his nails and gave his legs a once over and said just to keep him on soft surfaces as much as possible. He's outside in his run now can't get any softer than grass

Emma x

hope they heal quickly xx

Good for you for dealing with it so swiftly. Hope he is better soon.

Aww, poor Shadow Sudocream is good for sore Hocks. And sometimes it's the fibres in the carpet that can set it off, if they're abrasive. You will need to keep a check on them if he's prone to it though.

Thank you, I put some sudocream on when I first saw it.
All my carpets are wool so maybe he is going to prone to it, I'll have to get him some little leg warmers to cover that part of his leg

Actually my little girl has these... store.babylegs.com/catalog/Girl wonder if they would work

Emma x

Barney, my rex, had sore hocks caused by the carpet. he is now on lino in his shed which has totally transformed them. i used aloe vera gel and sudocrem on his hocks.

Thank you, I'll try some aloe vera gel too!
I really would like him to be more of house rabbit, so how would I get round the carpet problem? Any suggestions?

Emma x

mmm, not sure. Is he gonna have the run of the house of will be limited to a room or two? If he has a limited space, then you could put down something for him to be on when indoors. As Rachel suggested, Lino, with some grip on it will help, and natural fibre rugs might work. Berts has a hemp rug that we got for a fiva from B&Q, it was in a bargain bin, and that's brilliant. They do some others and bamboo ones too.

There's a sea grass one for a fiva Clicky

Thank you Jay, those are something I will most certainly look at getting.

He'd have the run of the house, which is mainly wool carpet although we also have some stripped wood floors too. I could get lots of those natural fibre runners and put them down for when he's inside.

Thank you again.
Emma x