balding heel - any ideas? UD again..

Poor Stewie, hope your vet can shed some light on it soon. Looks like you've got some good idea's from everyone.

LilyGrace wrote:Ahh, well they looked a bit sore, kinda dark pinkish/red and our carpet is pretty rough...so I put some of the tea tree cream on it. Do you think putting this on every few days will prevent it becoming a problem?
Thanks for putting my mind at rest!! I've been worrying since last night haha, I'd never looked that closely at his feet before so didn't realise it was meant to be there
edit : I think I'm just being an overly worried bunny mum now Sometimes noticing the slightest thing can set me off into panicking! I'm sure you all know what I mean

x

My Shadow is a rex too and he has the little bald patches on his "heels" too, I worried about it when I first saw them but it's nothing to worry about as long as they don't appear too red or inflamed and broken like SJ said. Shadow's are a pale pink and kinda look like callous's I'll try and get a photo in the daylight to compare, if you like.

E xx

Thanks guys, vet's have just called and the savvy vet is off sick, I really want to see her, so have re-booked for Thursday

Oh how annoying! obviously it can't be helped but i hate it when you feel you're going to get answers and then you have to put it off! Hope the lovely Stewie is feeling better today

Hugs for Stewie's heel

I'm really frustrated by it TBH. This morning they were glowing pink, and looked much worse. I've sudocrem'd, Aloe'd and dressed them every day for the last 2 weeks, I've put throws down to cover the carpets, and he hasn't been doing the 500 nearly as much cos of the dressings, but still, little improvement. Somedays they look Ok , then the next day back to awful

AprilGirl wrote:Poor Stewie, hope your vet can shed some light on it soon. Looks like you've got some good idea's from everyone.
My Shadow is a rex too and he has the little bald patches on his "heels" too, I worried about it when I first saw them but it's nothing to worry about as long as they don't appear too red or inflamed and broken like SJ said. Shadow's are a pale pink and kinda look like callous's I'll try and get a photo in the daylight to compare, if you like.

Thanks Emma, Bertie's were always Ok, so I know how they should look, and this is definately not it

I'm hoping that the vet will let me have proper dressings, cos the things I'm using at the mo aren't great, and once I've been shown how to do it properly, I hope that will help.

I'm gonna ask her if I can film it too. Will report back Thursday afternoon.

good luck hun,

Sending nose rubs for the gorgeous little stewie!

this might sound silly but its a wondering I had to myself, because while I know rexs can be "prone" to this, obviously we know Bertie didnt have that problem and I had a little wondering this morning, it doesnt change anything but still...


do you think maybe its because Stewie is young, so his skin is perhaps "softer" on the hock which is why its started getting sore in the first place maybe from say the carpet? Where as Bertie was older, therefore the skin was perhaps tougher?

i know that doesnt help anything, its just the issue of sore hocks is something i want to understand so much.

x

I think it's a valid point SJ, Bertie was somewhere between 6-8 months when he arrived her, and didn't grow much afterwards. Stewie isn't even that old yet. All of these things I'm going to put to my vet and see if I can get a broader picture for you, me and all hocky buns

Bunnies...so complex arent they!

i remembered last night my vet offered me fuciderm (sp?!), gel and that was quite good actually, they might offer you some of that.

I found lots of photos of peanuts hocks last night that id taken, id forgotten how bad they were Although sometimes when I see photos of other bunnies hocks, like REALLY scabbed and huge lumps I do wonder if we did give up too soon sometimes.

SJ don't torture yourself bless you

Have just caught up with this, I hope tomorrow brings useful info/ advice xx

Thanks Vanessa

Well, he was good as gold, bless him Good news is that there is no infection, and we're nowhere near that stage. What has happened is that the hair has come away, the skin is slightly sore, but not showing signs of becoming painful/crusty etc. I told Catherine all about the floors, surfaces and put forward some of the suggestions you'd said.

I mentioned Fuciderm, and she was reluctant to give that just yet, as it contains a steroid, which will thin the skin, and the skin needs to thicken up.
She said that obviously rexes are prone to it, had a look at his legs, and agreed that they a bit out of proprtion to his body, and when he sat she could see that all his weight was on his heels, and this is the most likely cause of the problem, mixed with him being so active and doing waay too many 500's on our carpet. I also mentioned that his water problem had been sorted, and thus the amount he wees was a lot less. She figured that the excessive urine that only stopped about a month ago was probably the catalyst that started it off, and then it snowballed a bit.

I don't think they're as bad as I thought they were thoug, which is a huge relief

We're to keep change his litter every day to help prevent urine scold, carry on with the cotton pad dressings, and she's given us vet wrap to put around them, to secure the dressing and hold it there for the day.

I can put Sudocrem on them every other day, but then not to put the dressing on straight afterwards, as she didn't want to trap moisture onto the hock. We're to give fresh dressings every day for 2 weeks and then re-assess.

She thinks that it's gonna be something he's prone to if his body doesn't grow any more, to bring the proportion of his massive legs into the same as his body, so it may just be a case of having to apply dressing on an 'when needed' basis.

Thank-you all so much for your help and concern, I'm very grateful

Here he is in his 'hock Socks' and they have military camouflage pattern on them, very butch indeed

He just needs a bandana now for that Full Metal Jacket look.

So glad you have a plan of action that you feel happy with.

Hock socks - excellent

I am glad that you have had a positive chat with the vet. As for Stewie - he is so stunning, how do you get anything done? I would spend all day just watching him. Sending healing vibes for his heels xx

im so so glad the news was good and you have a plan of action.

How interesting that she thought his legs were a little out of proportion. bless him. Would love to know what his parentage was.

Please give my special little friend a nose rub from us x x x x

Excellent news. You can buy vet wrap in pets at home or in horse shops as it is commonly used on a daily basis for horses. Don't know if that is of any help! You can get some stunning patterns! He does look butch in the blue cammie though!

So glad that things aren't too bad. Here's hoping his skin toughens up!

UD - Well, after a few days of dressings and wraps, the pink bits are now proper pink, not red They are the same size, not grown any, but not gotten smaller either, but I guess it'll take some time for the hair to grow back.

I've been religiously changing litter every day, and apart from being a bit depressed cos he can't run round like a loony, Stuart is fine. He gets a couple of hours without the dressings each day and makes the most of it!

Vet rang me yesterday to check up on him, and to advise me that should things get worse and infected , there is an ointment that she'd reccommend - Bacteroban , there's info on it here and here, but this wouldn't be needed at the mo, as it has antbiotic in it, and any ointment would soften the skin, and we need the skin to harden. It would need to be applied 2-3 times a day.

Once we're happy that the skin is completely smooth, we can put a dab or surgical spirit on the each day. She thinks it's deffo the strange leg proportions he has that are causing him to put all his weight on the heels, so think is likely to be something that he'll always have, and we can just monitor it and treat if nec,

Thought some of that info would be useful to some of you.

Thanks again for your help, it's so good to have experienced people here, helps loads

Thats interesting I had never heard of that.It has made me understand why peanuts problems were so severe, we were trying to treat an abscess so had to use these creams, to get rid of infection, but that made the skin so soft when it needed to be toughened up.

I do believe If I knew all i know now we could have had a better chance of saving him, because we wasted so much time. I dont dwell on that because its impossible to have known before, but it is interesting to know, because it could help buns in the future.

Excellent news Jay and like SJ said we can all learn from this. That is often the way

Jay - how are Stewie's feet doing now? This has been a really interesting thread.

Unfortunately Paddy is having problems with his hocks and I'll probably post another thread with photos later on to see if anyone has any input.

Hope Stewie is still doing fine x

Jelly has very very red feet today, and she flinched when i touched them.
I feel so scared already

Rosie Rabbit wrote:Jay - how are Stewie's feet doing now? This has been a really interesting thread.

Unfortunately Paddy is having problems with his hocks and I'll probably post another thread with photos later on to see if anyone has any input.

Hope Stewie is still doing fine x

Thanks for asking Helen, they are a lot better, he still has some pink bits (!) but they aren't nearly as enraged or large as before. I think we nipped in the bud just in time. Sorry to hear about Paddy, pics would be good xx

SarahJane wrote:Jelly has very very red feet today, and she flinched when i touched them.
I feel so scared already

Stay calm, there will be a reason for it. Are you gonna take her to the vets?

Yeh, she has to have her VHD anyway end of this week so will try and get an appt for fri eve or sat morning. She doesnt seem bothered which is good, but they are very red and feel hot to touch, one looks normal but the other looks squishy, so more inflammed.

She has lots of dry skin that was like orange from wee and stuff, so I cleaned them and the dead skin broke off so i put sudocrem on the new skin and they do seem a bit better already. I have checked her claws and they are quite long, I have been gone since January and Jelly needs hers doing very often, no matter how active she is she needs them cut regularly, they are so hard and chunky nothing grinds them down. I think this is because I havent been home for ages, and mum cannot cut them, she is too wriggly.

Im going to do them tomorrow morning, i feel so bad, this must be the reason, nothing else has changed. I just get this sick feeling, If it was Domino that would be justified but Jelly has no link to Peanut at all, but I just panic and think...... not again please.

Will be thinking of you both hun. Hopefully getting her little nails done will help.

Sending hugs for you both x x

I just feel guilty. She hasnt had problems before so im sure it will clear up but i just feel bad because its my fault for not being there for her.