balding heel - any ideas? UD again..

I was grooming Stewie last night and turned him over to check his bum and feet and he has a small bald patch on his right heel. It's bigger than the normal bald spot, about 5 mm round. There isn't one on the other side, apart from the small dot they have. Being a Rex, I don't want this to turn into a sore hock problem, but is there anything I can do now to prevent it growing? I'm changing his litter every day because he drinks/wees so much, and will now start putting fresh hay on top of the litter in the afternoon as well.
At the mo, the patch isn't inflamed or sore, but it's weird that it's only on one side?

Any help would be appreciated

Sounds like he puts more pressure that side than the other... hmmmm would he tolerate a bandage?

You can make a pressure relieving bandage out of some cotton pads with a hole cut out over the affected area and then taped or bandaged over the hock but only certain rabbits will actually leave this alone.

Thank-you, I'll give it a go and see if he tolerates it.

Brian used to kick his back legs til they came off

I bet Stewie just goes into a corner and chews a big hole in it!!

Hope you get some kind of solution.

Good luck with the bandage. I would expect to wake up in the morning and find it in your breakfast bowl.

Seriously though I hope he is okay.

I'm not holding out much hope, but will wait and see. I'm geting the stuff tomorrow, so will let you know

I think this happened to thistle once, but it went rather quickly, rex fur seems to come off so easily for example his ears have been rubbing against his collar thingy and they've gone a bit bald bless him - they were all scabby but I got some tea tree rub from the pet shop to put on them and they healed up so quickly! I wander if something like this might help? Although, on the feet it may not be so practical

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/tea-tree-skin-cream-for-pets-by-johnson-s-36505

I got something similar to this, although not from pets at home, just a local pet shop. It smells nice too

Jay do you have carpet?

X

LilyGrace wrote:I think this happened to thistle once, but it went rather quickly, rex fur seems to come off so easily for example his ears have been rubbing against his collar thingy and they've gone a bit bald bless him - they were all scabby but I got some tea tree rub from the pet shop to put on them and they healed up so quickly! I wander if something like this might help? Although, on the feet it may not be so practical
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/tea-tree-skin-cream-for-pets-by-johnson-s-36505
I got something similar to this, although not from pets at home, just a local pet shop. It smells nice too

That's really helpful, thanks I had always thought that Tea tree was poisonous to buns, but having looked around, I can find none other than annecdotal evidence for it Has anyone else heard/knows this?

MissySJ wrote:Jay do you have carpet? X

yes and no. The two rooms he spends most time in are carpeted, but he spends most of his time there on the arm of a chair, although he does run around a lot in the lounge. He also spends a lot of time in the hall (floorboards) the kitchen (lino) and the balcony (tiles). There semms to be a lot of contradiction about surfaces and sore hocks, some say hard surfaces are bad, others carpet so it's a bit confusing. I guess it could depend on the fibre of the carpet? What's your take on it SJ?

MissySJ wrote:Jay do you have carpet? X

Jay wrote:yes and no. The two rooms he spends most time in are carpeted, but he spends most of his time there on the arm of a chair, although he does run around a lot in the lounge. He also spends a lot of time in the hall (floorboards) the kitchen (lino) and the balcony (tiles). There semms to be a lot of contradiction about surfaces and sore hocks, some say hard surfaces are bad, others carpet so it's a bit confusing. I guess it could depend on the fibre of the carpet? What's your take on it SJ?

I find it confusing too.

Paddy has a bald patch bigger than it should be on his heel, though it doesn't seem to be bothering him. Benji had sore hocks too and when we were through at the Vet Hospital in Edinburgh with him, Brigitte Lord (Reusch) told us that we should take him off the couple of layers of fleece we were using in his cage, and put hard matting in - like coir. The theory being that he wouldn't sink into it as much and the firmer surface would promote a more even distribution of weight along the foot.

We actually lost Benji very soon after that, so didn't try the coir matting. Paddy has been on a fairly firm surface (carpet with one layer of fleece on top - in his cage and his room) but still has developed a slight problem.

I know our vet always says carpet is not good for their feet - I'm guessing wool carpets may be better than nylon, but I don't really know. It's a difficult one.

Thanks Helen, that's really useful info He does have a hemp rug that he chews to pieces The thing is there's so many surfaces here it'd be hard to isolate which is causing the problem, and how to prevent it. he has a towel on the floor where he sleeps anyway. Admittedly, the carpet in the lounge is very old and was cheap, so I guess it could be the poly whatever fibres that are abrasive?

I'm a bit paranoid about sore hocks, with him being a Rex, so I've just put him a cotton pad on. I'm gonna get some megazorb this afternoon, and use that in his litter. He didn't arrive with this problem, so it's happened since he got here
When I put the pad on, the patch was bigger and redder than yesterday. So far the dressing hasn't bothered him too much, he's licked it a lot, rather than try to bite it off. If we can get the sore healed and some fur growing again, that would be great.
Anyone know how often to change the dressing - I was thinking once a day?

The reason I asked is because there is so much contradicting info out there, so I ended up learning alot of things first hand with peanut. I'll write more when I'm home and on my laptop, on my iPhone at the moment. X

Jay wrote: That's really helpful, thanks I had always thought that Tea tree was poisonous to buns, but having looked around, I can find none other than annecdotal evidence for it Has anyone else heard/knows this?

I had considered it before, because we use essential oils at home and wandered if it was okay for them...but it was fine for him, he even licked some of the cream off his cone because it rubbed off on to there and all was okay
I'm guessing in really weak doses it is probably okay

This is just what I experienced with Peanut Butter, Obviously all situations are different.

PB used to have a little sudocream one day, and then aloe vera gel the next, I dont know why but it worked that way for him and kept it soft so the skin didnt get dry and then flake. How big is the actual area Jay?

I changed his bandage once a day but i did have alot of conflicting advice with it, we did find that it healed better without it, so we would try the alternating aloe/sudocream, and then have the bandage off when i could supervise him.

The carpet debate I think has so many different opinions because all carpet is so different, I found it did make peanuts hocks worse, however when we bought a cheap rug, which was very soft they healed , so it depends on the texture. I know this sounds stupid, but the vet always told me to rub my elbows on whatever he was walking on and i would see how it felt! It sounds daft but it worked, it showed me how it felt to "rub" bald skin on different textures.

I would keep an eye on the towel because many towels are actually quite rough. One of the best things peanut had to sleep on was vetbed inside a pillow case, the softness but without the abrasive harshness the texture can give off.

I hope I havent been too confusing, and like i said this was only with PB, I expect its different with many buns.

Thanks SJ, that's all really useful info, and I understand the elbow-surface thing, it makes complete sense. I've been putting Sudocrem on the sore with each dressing and changing it once a day. By evening time, it's usually move to the underside of the foot, and the heel is exposed, but doesn't get the full weight because of the padding underneath it. I'm thinking this is a good thing, and based on what you've said, it sounds like it.
I mentioned it to Anne McB last night and she said 'Oh, bunny doing the 500 on a carpet then...' . He does do a lot of pelting around, so that makes sense. Since he's had the dressing on he hasn't done any 500's, so I'm hoping to see improvements thsi week, will let you know.

Thanks for all the input folks, it's been really helpful

Glad he is tolerating the bandage well! Bless him it is real sexy. I remember taking Bri to vets with this and they gave him a sexy pink bandage which didn't impress him at all

my carpet made barney's hocks worse - all ok now he lives on lino in the shed. I used aloe vera gel - i would rub it in twice and day and let it soak in a bit - no bandages as he either pulled them off or they were too tight to be comfortable.

Thanks Rachel, I did think about using Aloe, but it's poisonous isn't it? Did barney lick it off at all?

Nice to see you BTW

Hi Jay

Hazel doesn't seem to suffer with this luckily, she lives on the patio with carpet throughout the hutch (they live in luxury out there!!). I don't know if this helps prevent it but I read somewhere that rexs don't really suit carpet or lino so i'm not sure what they are supposed to live on really I did read somewhere that you can spray this 'stuff' on their baldy spots and it makes a second skin so the new fur can grow back. This might be easier than a bandage. Long term I don't know the solution, but I hope his foot doesn't get too sore, bless him.

Any idea what the spray stuff is Elaine? Wouldn't mind giving it a go, as although the spots are healing, they're getting bigger

I never heard of the spray, is it for animals or people? Maybe its a new thing, it wasnt available with peanuts problems.

Jay can you get a photo of the actual hock, i know its difficult to do. xx

I'll give it a go, I'm really trying to limit the time I have to keep him upside down as he goes proper mental for about 1/2 an hour afterwards, really stressed I gave him a day off the bandage, have put a cotton throw down in his room to cover the carpet, but will have to give him another bandage tomorrow. because this is a new one on me I may be over-reacting, but they have doubled in size over a week, so I'm worried where this will end.

This is a real pain in the butt and one of the only real downsides to Rexy bums