Ok, My cal. buck had sore back hocks. We started treating them with success and noticed last month that the front hocks were also sore and swollen. Great news is that 3 out of 4 hocks are looking much better. We have been wrapping them up so he will leave the medicine on and it has worked great. Now for the other one. His front right paw is some what swollen. It looks MUCH better than it did b/c of the medicine and antibiotic we have him on. We have left him in a 10 * 10 cage on the grass for 2 weeks so it wouldn\'t hurt his feet. Can anyone recommend a different approach to helping him? When we pour hydrogen poroxide on it there does not appear to be much of an external infection as there is very few bubbles.
Thank you
FFA Dad
Actually, letting the buck run on the ground as opposed to a cage is one of the best things you can do. I\'m afraid this guy is probably going to come up with this problem on a regular basis. He undoubtedly has thin fur on the pads of his feet and this will predispose him to sore hocks - especially in the summer. I would be a bit concerned about using him in my breeding program as you don\'t want to perpetuate this problem in your herd.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
We have already made that decision to not have him in our breeding program at least for the time being. He has done great in shows this past year, but seems to be past his prime. He has just become our pet.
I have a male rex that gets sore hocks if I let him run on a wire bottom cage, even coated wire! I covered wire bottoms with inexpensive EZ Mats that I purchased from (
http://www.rabway.com). My oversized cage has different surfaces. I have plastic coated wire ramps in my cage that I have covered with spongy shelf liner with a little hay on top to discourage him from chewing the liner. He has a shelf that he jumps down from and I put a piece of rubber mat (cow mat) on the place where he lands and also on the concrete in front of his cage where he jumps out for his daily play time. I put litter boxes in his cage. I fill the boxes with Aspen, then put newspaper on top of that and then cover it with some inexpensive hay. The paper absorbs the moisture and I can replace it along with the hay daily, and I change the Aspen about once a week. Papers and hay can be composted. I use the Aspen for mulch in my flower beds.