rabbit with broken leg???

[bossynbella]

We raise and show Mini lop rabbits. I recently had a doe who caught her toenail while we where moving her cage, she spooked and must of just jumped wrong, when she landed she seemed fine. I moved her later that day and didn't notice anything, she didn't seem in pain or anything, I put her in a different cage (she is due to have a litter on the 6th, so I moved her to a bigger cage). I noticed she sat a bit funny when I put her in there. The next day I noticed she hadn't eaten, I looked her over and noticed she is holding her back left foot out. When I pick her up it just hangs loosely. When I set her down she puts her weight on the other feet.
I contacted the breeder I got her from who said I should try to find a vet to set it, or put her to sleep. I contacted a few vets who all said they either have never set a rabbits leg, or that if they have the rabbit chewed the cast/splint off and it did no good in the long run. They said the rabbits generally did fine with one broken leg. Obviously I won't be able to show her again, which makes me super sad, but I am hoping she will be able to stay as a brood mom. Since she is already about two weeks pregnant I would really like to wait and see how she does before I make a decision. However I also don't want her to be in pain and suffering, I am bringing her in tonight (we have a set up for a house rabbit) and the babies that I had in here just went to new homes, so that way she is in a cage with a solid floor, and I will be able to closer monitor how much she is eating, and drinking.

What are your opinions? Pay the $200 to the vet to try to splint the leg, even though the vet says that its probably not going to work, and that if it was their rabbit they wouldn't.
Leave it be and just watch her?
Or have her put to sleep?

Any ideas on how to manage the pain??

 

[bnjrob]

My husband is a vet and says that pain meds that you have avail without a vet would not be safe to give to your rabbit.

Hubby says to tell your vet that this rabbit needs to be treated like a cat with a fracture - you can splint it, even operate and pin it if need be.

Get an "e-collar" for it to wear to keep it from chewing any splints/bandages.

Vets aren't allowed to practice veterinary medicine across state lines, but if you have a vet that will do something, if they would like to talk to my hubby about it, tell your vet to call my husband's office tomorrow - 972-722-1295 Dr. Bryan Robinson

 

[dainerra]

I had a rabbit with a broken leg. They put it in a cast and he healed 100%. It is a couple months of confinement, only enough room to turn around.
Many people have also had a lot of luck with just amputating and letting the rabbit heal.

OH, and bitter apple spray won't stop him from chewing on the cast ROFL
She has passed the hardest part, the shock from the initial injury. My vet bill came to just under $400, that's with a discount because he had never splinted a rabbit so used it as a teaching experience

 

[bossynbella]

My husband informed me this morning we are not paying over $100 to fix the rabbits leg. He said if its more then $100 we just need to have her put to sleep. I don't really agree with this, but we are working two jobs, and need two cars and one of ours just died, so its either use the savings to fix a rabbits leg, and not fix the car, causing one of us to loose our job, or use the savings to get a new car.

So should I go ahead with having her put to sleep? She is in here now, she really seems fine. she just doesn't put any weight on the leg. Seems terrible to put her to sleep when she is moving around and eating/drinking fine. But if that's what the consensus is that is what we will do.

I had a rabbit with a broken leg. They put it in a cast and he healed 100%. It is a couple months of confinement, only enough room to turn around.
Many people have also had a lot of luck with just amputating and letting the rabbit heal.

OH, and bitter apple spray won't stop him from chewing on the cast ROFL
She has passed the hardest part, the shock from the initial injury. My vet bill came to just under $400, that's with a discount because he had never splinted a rabbit so used it as a teaching experience

 

[bnjrob]

Can you send a picture?

 

[dainerra]

I would take her and talk to the vet. they can at least x-ray and see what it looks like. In all honesty, if it's been more than a couple days the leg has probably already started to heal. How much it will cost depends on your vet. Is she eating? Is she losing weight? Drinking and pooping normal? Your vet can tell you her prognosis and go from there.

Mine takes payments, so the bill for Patches wasn't too shocking for us. Is she eating normal? Otherwise acting normal? The most important thing will be to keep her as immobilized as possible until the leg is healed. I partitioned off a pet carrier so that Patches didn't have room to even turn around. Poor baby, but once he healed you would never know anything happened.

 

[aprille218]

You can always try to splint it yourself too. If you can keep her leg stable, and free of infection it will heal. Yes maybe not perfect but possibly well enough to raise at least the one litter she is pregnant with.
Aprille

 

[bossynbella]

The vet tech (who is also a friend of ours) came over and looked at her, she said at this point to leave her be, she is eating again and drinking, her poop/pee is normal. She is now inside where we can watch her, she is not restricted on her movement, but she gets around okay, she just doesn't put weight on that leg, she likes to lay stretched out with it out behind her, she can still move it, she just won't put weight on it. I put a ice bottle in there and she sat over it, I swear it looked like she was putting it on her bad leg. My husband says I am nuts, but I have been keeping an ice bottle available to her anyway. Who knows maybe it helps.

 

[bnjrob]

If she is doing ok - able to eat/drink etc, that is what counts.

We had a cat with a fractured pelvis - just had to keep him crated for about 6 weeks to let him heal. Sometimes just rest will do the trick. I would not be surprised if the rabbit was enjoying the ice. We have a dog that likes to lay on the cool concrete floor when his old bones are bothering him.

 

[Mildblue52]

So here is a related situation that we have..

We have a 3 month old 1.5 pound holland lop (more of a pet as opposed to our other livestock)

Yesterday, she pinched her front paw in the rubber strip at base of the door when we were closing it, and screamed for 3-4 seconds... she was "frightened" yesterday.. but eating very normally, and running around all over the place, doing clicker training.
Her paw though is being held close to her body.. and she runs with her hind legs, and her other front paw- she runs very quickly and shows no signs of pain or changes in climbing behaviors, other than the leg held close to her body.

She is able to let me touch it without too much pain, (usually only kicks 3-5 seconds in when she would squirm anyways before the accident) and is able to "resist" gentle pressing when I push her claws back... so I know it isn't severed... she has some motion in it.. but puts no weight on it..

When I put her on her back.. normally bunnies legs lay "paw away" when they are relaxed... but in her relaxed position the injured one curls in to her body on the "writs joint" ... which leads me to believe it could be a dislocation- and the tendons are not lined up correctly, causing the different angle.. It could be a bruise or a sprain as well- but I don't think the "hold close to your body" is a conscience choice when they are in the on the back trance........ hard to tell.

she hasn't shown "shock signs" much at all... and is eating up a storm.. her bonded bunny friend has been very sweet and being close with her though... he is acting very gently and reassuring as if he can tell something is up.

if it is a dislocation or a break, it is ok just letting her keep her own weight off of it, and see what happens? (I can post a pic if needed) I want her to be happy, and as pain free as possible- but I do know of many animals that are resiliant on 3 legs.. and this is
.

Since we are transitioning/ simplifying our life style to "homesteading" a vet visit of $300, 500, $1500+ is out of the question for now...

I have the ability to wrap her leg with vet wraps, constrain her motion to a cage (but I think she would fight the constrained quarters and hurt it more) or just let her be, and hope for the best- again, she shows no sign of pain in her behaviors other than holding the one leg up close...

thoughts?

Finally, no chance anyone has the Out of Print book "when there is no Vet???" and would be willing to scan 4-5 pages worth? The "when there is not doctor" and "when there is no dentist" are available for legal free download from various sites... I am really curious to see what they say on identifying and resetting dislocations in small animals.