As you raise rabbits, you will eventually find that one of your rabbits has a sore foot. So, how do rabbits get sore feet (better known as sore hocks) is a salient topic here.
Rabbits get sore hocks, also known as pododermatitis, when a pressure sore forms on the base of their feet. This sore will often disrupt their normal stance and movement, which will alert you to the fact that there is a problem.
Read On to learn how to diagnose and treat rabbit sore feet!
What is Bumblefoot, Pododermatitis, Sore Hocks
Bumblefoot, Pododermatitis and Sore Hocks are names for a common rabbit foot ailment in which the sole of the foot becomes sore and inflamed. In most cases we are talking about the heel of the foot, known as the hock.
This common foot ailment can be caused by various living conditions and rabbit health issues or problems. We do a full review here.
How Do Bunnies Get Sore Hocks
What causes sore hocks in rabbits? Here is a list of the primary causes of sore hocks:
- Long Nails – Rabbit’s with long nails that are not getting trimmed or worn down tend to put more weight than usual on their heels or hocks.
- Obesity – A rabbit that is heavier than its frame and body were designed to be, is at risk of developing pressure sores on its feet.
- Arthritis – Arthritis causes the rabbit to move and or sit differently. This can cause undue pressure on sensitive feet and bones.
- Poor Confirmation – also known as poor natural mechanics or body structure, due to poor genetics,
- Insufficient Fur Padding – Rabbits have very little padding on the bottoms of their feet. They rely on the fur that is on the bottom of their feet to protect their soles from impact and friction.
- Damp or Dirty Bedding – Prolonged exposure to damp or soiled bedding often leads to sores on the soles of bunny feet.
- Unsuitable Flooring – Flooring that does not properly support the rabbit’s feet or flooring that is too firm and does not give at all, is likely to create tissue and or bone ailments in rabbits.
How To Prevent Sore Hocks In Rabbits
To prevent sore hocks you can do your best to promote the following positive environments for your bunnies:
- Appropriate Flooring: Replace hard and abrasive surfaces in your rabbit’s environment.
- Hygiene Cleanliness: Ensure that there are no wet, urine- or feces-soaked surfaces.
- Hygiene Fur: Be sure not to remove fur from healthy hocks.
- Hygiene and Housing Conditions: Cool and dry is the goal in rabbit housing. Excessively warm/humid environments lead to troubled hocks.
- Rabbit Diet and Healthy Exercise – Obesity often leads to sore hocks and other serious bunny ailments.
- Low Stress Life: Try not to unduly stress your rabbits. Some nervous rabbits traumatize their hocks when they repeatedly thump their feet! For more about creating a low stress environment for your rabbits, you can go to Why Is My Rabbit Losing Hair?!
https://hobbyfarmheaven.com/why-is-my-bunny-losing-hair/
Treatment Of Sore Hocks In Rabbits
If you haven’t been raising rabbits for very long and have not had exposure to treating sore hocks, then you should consult early and often with your rabbit savvy veterinarian before trying to treat sore hocks on your own.
The general treatments and protocols for sore hocks include:
- Think long and hard about the flooring your rabbit is on every day. Inadequate flooring is often the cause of sore hocks in an otherwise healthy rabbit. Please note that sometimes even carpets are abrasive and can wear away fur and hair from the rabbit’s heel over time.
- Provide soft, dry bedding for your rabbit.
- Clean the feet. https://hobbyfarmheaven.com/how-to-clean-bunnies-feet/
- Trim overgrown toenails. https://hobbyfarmheaven.com/how-to-keep-rabbits-nails-short-without-cutting-them-helpful-insights/
- Provide an appropriate diet.
- This includes supportive feeding if anorexia is present.
- Obesity can be decreasd by decreasing carbohydrate intake while increasing intake of good fibers (aka Hay).
- Please note that weight loss must be done slowly.
- Topical ointments may be used to help protect the damaged tissue from further trauma or infection. Speak with your rabbit saavy veterinarian about some rabbit sore hocks cream to soothe and protect the damaged tissue while it heals.
- Some cases of pododermatitis benefit from foot and leg dressings (note that some rabbits won’t tolerate them). It is most important that the dressings are kept clean and dry. The dressing may need to be changed daily.
- Your veterinarian may also prescribe anti-inflammatories and pain relief medicines.
- For a limited time, restrict bunny activity if tissues are moderately or severely damaged. However, be sure to promote rabbit movement and activity in the long-term.
More specific treatments may be appropriate for certain cases of sore hocks. For example, topical, oral or IV antibiotics may be used to fight infections and surgery may be deemed necessary to address deeper tissue, tendon, or bone issues.
Frequently Asked Questions Related To Sore Hocks On Rabbits
What is Bumblefoot?
Bumblefoot is another name for pododermatitis or sore hocks. It is an infection on the sole of the rabbit’s foot. Truly, bumblefoot is a term mostly associated with sore or ulcerated chicken feet. Chickens and other barnyard birds also get sore feet for the same reasons that bunnies get pododermatitis.
What is Pododermatitis?
Pododermatitis is a pressure sore (typically) on the sole of the rabbit’s foot. What we would call the heel of the sole, below the ankle.
As the sore gets worse, deeper tissue damage will occur leading to even more inflammation and infection. Eventually bacterial infection will set in and the rabbit may become totally lame, totally immobile. If not successfully addressed and treated, then the infection can spread and impact tendons, bones and other tissues.
Most of the rabbit’s weight is on its back feet. So, pododermatitis most frequently occurs to the back feet.
It follows that obese rabbits are more susceptible to pododermatitis, as well as most other ailments. Similarly, the giant breed rabbits seem to contract pododermatitis more than the mini breeds.
In extreme cases, the rabbit with advanced pododermatitis does not want to move so anorexia sets in and infection may go systemic and impact the rest of the rabbit’s systems. Advanced cases of pododermatitis can become deadly.
How Severe Can Sore Hocks Be?
Your veterinarian may use the following pododermatitis grade scale to describe the severity of the situation:
- Grade I: early disease with no symptoms.
- Grade II: mild disease with intact skin.
- Grade III: moderate with ulcers/scabs present.
- Grade IV: severe with abscess formation and deeper tissues affected.
- Grace V: severe and often irreversible, as bone infection occurs and tendon damage results in a permanently altered stance.
Further, the bacterial infection that sets in to damaged tissues and bones may go “systemic”. That is, the infection may spread to the rabbit’s blood and move throughout its body.
Such a systemic infection can kill a rabbit very quickly. If left untreated, then a severe case of sore hocks can debilitate and then lead to the death of a rabbit.
How Do I Know If My Rabbit Has Sore Hocks?
When you’re doing your daily health and hygiene checks on your rabbits, you can check the soles of their feet for any wear, damage, bare spots or sores.
If your rabbit’s gait has changed, or your rabbit is suddenly significantly less mobile than usual, then you want to carefully check for sore hocks.
If not able to determine why your rabbit is moving differently than usual, or not moving much at all, then we recommend you contact your rabbit savvy veterinarian right away.
Excellent Video About Sore Hocks On Rabbits
This Important topic is worth two videos.
2nd Excellent Video About Treating Sore Hocks On Rabbits
Final Thoughts on Rabbit Sore Hock
Here are the key points related to Sore Hocks on Rabbits!
As always, our strongest advice is to conduct daily health and wellness checks on your rabbits.
If you detect sore hocks, then consult your rabbit savvy veterinarian right away.
Look through the typical causes of sore hocks listed above. Think long and hard about these as you inspect your rabbit’s living conditions and while conducting your daily rabbit health and wellness checks.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure! – Benjamin Franklin