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| frozen feet | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 6 2014, 10:48 PM (1,132 Views) | |
| NeuBunny | Jan 6 2014, 10:48 PM Post #1 |
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Genetics Geek!
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Noticed when we went to feed tonight that Zephyr (angora buck) seemed off balance. Pulled him out of the cage and his underside and feet were all covered in ice. Brought him in thawed him out and cleaned him up. By the smell, he had peed all over himself and it froze. Yuck! He's still not walking right though. Bottoms of his feet are black - I think its still more matted fur but he was acting like it hurt when I tried to clean any harder. So I just dried them really well and I put him in a cage on the back porch -- totally enclosed, unheated but still stays above freezing. Afraid the adjustment to house temps is too much of a shock - he was acting very heat stressed after only ~30 minutes of grooming. Will bring him in for more cleaning sessions a few times a day until I get those feet looking better. Any suggestions other than bag balm or prep H? (usually use prep H for sore hocks, so I figure that would help here - except I seem to be out of that and we are totally snowed in - have bag balm, so will use that until I can get to the store for the prep H). Or for gentle ways to clean sore feet? Thermometer reads -11F. Reports say the windchill puts it at -30. Over 2 foot of snow everywhere. Blowing too much to even shovel - fills right back in in less than an hour. After the plow went by on the road, John tried to get the driveway cleared with the snowblower - ran out of gas before the job was even half done. He thought it was 'good enough' that he could get the van out to the gas station (only a mile down the road) - but the van got stuck in the driveway. Did manage to get the evening chores done in about an hour and a half -- husband helped (and it's a huge help when he carries the grain buckets, which are heavy for the kids and I when we are losing our balance in the snow already. He can carry in one trip what takes us 3. The girls used the sled to pull feed and hay out to the far buck pen. Seriously hope this cold breaks soon! Edited by NeuBunny, Jan 6 2014, 10:49 PM.
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| ZRabbits | Jan 7 2014, 06:30 AM Post #2 |
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Love My Lions!
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Don't have any other ideas regarding frostbite than what you are doing. How's your angora buck doing this morning? Don't envy you with the snow. We just got the artic blast today. This morning it is 0 degrees. Will be venturing out to lots of black ice. I'd rather have snow. Thankfully not a long distance to drive to work, but still black ice is not fun at all. Sneaks up on you. Hoping you get some relief from all that cold weather. Snow unfortunately you got a lot, but compared to bitter cold wind, I'll take the snow any day. Stay safe. KAZ |
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| sidd-says-gimme | Jan 7 2014, 09:26 AM Post #3 |
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sidd says stay gold
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Yikes. It seems that they always find some way to keep you on your toes, huh? Unfortunately I don't know what I would do in that situation. I probably would have panicked and put the rabbit in some shallow warm water to soak. then cut off all of that thick fur on the paws and let him soak again, but not sure if you had all ready cut off some of the fur or if that would be a good idea. Sounds like you are doing all you can in this situation... from now on I would try to get the bag balm/prep h on his feet, keep him warmer and keep an eye on him. That's really all you can do, I think. Hoping for a swift recovery. |
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| NeuBunny | Jan 8 2014, 07:32 AM Post #4 |
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Genetics Geek!
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yesterday morning I did just that -- put an inch of water in the bathtub and tried to let him soak stuff loose. He did a lot of standing on tiptoes and hopping to the shallow end (out of the water) and then splashing and trying to clean the water off his front paws. Then blow-dried him out completely. He did NOT like being held upside-down and blow-dried. Then added the bag balm over anything that looked bad. Feet look better, but still have large black patches on his hocks. I honestly can't tell still whether this is deeply matted fur, calloused skin, or something more serious. It doesn't smell bad so I don't think it is infected. His toes are fine and nice and pink, so I don't think its actual frostbite. Last night he's back to hopping normally and putting weight on his hocks, so I do think they are on the mend in any case. Brought a second buck in to the porch last night as well. Moonlight had two toes bleeding. I can only think that it was cold-damage somehow (pads cut on cold wire?), though they don't otherwise look too bad. He's my son's blue minirex buck that tends to be very prone to sore hocks - and the one that frostbit toes last year (much worse than this - and the nails on those same two toes came back white). So he's been cleaned up as well, flour to get the bleeding stopped, bag balm, and on the back porch in the angora carrier (the other spare cages are buried somewhere in a snowdrift). It's not a full sized cage - but at least being big enough for an angora a smaller minirex can turn around, stretch, lay down, etc -- hopefully he will be better within a couple days and can go back out (or I can locate one of the other spare cages - we are supposed to thaw on the weekend). |
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| ZRabbits | Jan 8 2014, 07:46 AM Post #5 |
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Love My Lions!
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Thanks for the update. Sounds like your FA buck is on the mend. Nice to hear pink toes and definitely no smell so sounds like no infection. Also if he's putting weight on his hocks, that's a really good sign too. Sorry to hear about Moonlight. Hopefully things thaw for you this weekend so you can dig out crates, but if not, sounds like the temporary set up will be just fine. Hope he's mends quickly and you can get him and your FA buck back with the herd. KAZ |
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| sidd-says-gimme | Jan 8 2014, 01:35 PM Post #6 |
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sidd says stay gold
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Awww, poor buns and poor you. Must be so hard, with this weather. Hoping they get better soon without too much work and that it'll start getting warmer there. |
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| ZRabbits | Jan 9 2014, 07:22 AM Post #7 |
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Love My Lions!
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How are both boys doing today? Hoping they are both on the mend and can be back with the rest of the rabbits real soon. KAZ |
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| NeuBunny | Jan 9 2014, 09:41 AM Post #8 |
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Genetics Geek!
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Moonlight's toes look way better this morning - just a little pink. He maybe can go out tonight or tomorrow. Zephyr is walking/hopping normally again. His hocks still look all black, but the way it is 'loosening' at the edges has me back to thinking it is just the fur on the bottom of his foot all matted. Hopefully as the fur grows out a bit more, it will just peel loose and everything will be fine underneath. Guessing he's going to be on the porch at least through the weekend. Hopefully Saturday I can get a few 'sessions' in with him to groom up those paws better. Wanted to do more last night, but with being back to work again (got home about 8pm due to traffic and stopping at the store for prepH) and him only tolerating 15-20 minutes in the house for grooming (and me being really cautious around something that potentially has an injury underneath) we didn't get very far. |
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| ZRabbits | Jan 10 2014, 05:21 AM Post #9 |
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Love My Lions!
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Thanks for the update. Hope to hear Moonlight has already been returned to the herd. Sounds like matted fur on the bottom of Zephyr's feet. Hopefully Saturday, after a few sessions, you can clean up those mats and get him back with the herd. KAZ |
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| NeuBunny | Jan 11 2014, 04:18 PM Post #10 |
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Genetics Geek!
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got Zephyr's feet all bathed and groomed today. Looking better - but a spot on each foot that is definitely NOT just mats, but actually blackened skin (heavy callous/scab). Now that they are cleaned up really well, the medicine (prep H) can really get down to that tissue and help healing. Edges of each spot are pink, so I take that as a good sign of healing. He's walking on them well, and not struggling when I try to clean/dry/groom/medicate so I don't think they hurt like they did at first. He will be living on the porch at least another full week, to facilitate twice daily treatments. Moonlight's toes look healed - still a bit pink, but he's heading back to the barn. Temperatures in the 40s! so the two girls (Star and Nisshoku) are also planning to head back to the barn. That's assuming we get the cages all cleaned so we can use the empties -- the kids came in while I was bathing Zephyr complaining that the bottom trays (the ones touching the ground) were still frozen in. Hoping we can get them out, otherwise we have to move bunnies from the bottom row to the empty higher cages. I don't want to move the house cages back outside, in case we have to pull somebunny back inside (if they don't adjust well). |
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| ZRabbits | Jan 11 2014, 05:48 PM Post #11 |
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Love My Lions!
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Ouch, Poor Zephyr. He did actually have frost bite under those mats. Glad to hear all went well with the grooming session and pink skin is showing. Sounds like he doesn't have any discomfort so hoping for a fast mend. Glad to hear about Moonlight and the girls going back outside. Hopefully you and the kids were able to chip away the frozen bottom pans as I totally understand not dealing with rearranging cages and rabbits. KAZ |
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| sidd-says-gimme | Jan 11 2014, 08:15 PM Post #12 |
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sidd says stay gold
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Glad that although Zephyr does have a bit of black on his feet that it seems to be healing. Fingers crossed! Silly bunnies... |
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| NeuBunny | Jan 12 2014, 08:45 AM Post #13 |
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Genetics Geek!
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We have two trays that still won't budge. We were able to re-arrange bunnies (even with moving the 3 back out and keeping the spare cage inside) to not use the one. The other one is Victor's -- I'm going to try again today with hot water to see if I can get that one loose. He's one bunny in a large cage (as opposed to the other which is a divided cage which had 3 bunnies above one tray), so the tray doesn't look too bad yet - but at this rate it isn't going to be liveable inside a week, and there isn't another good backup. Only alternative is to dig out one of the small backup cages (currently still buried in a snowbank), move the JW currently in Zephyr's cage (since Zephyr is in the house) and put Victor into Zephyr's cage. -- I think I need more backup large cages! |
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| sidd-says-gimme | Jan 12 2014, 10:31 AM Post #14 |
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sidd says stay gold
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Oh my, that is a terrible situation. I hope you're able to get them loose! Is it warmer there now? This morning we're able to see grass! |
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| NeuBunny | Jan 13 2014, 08:19 AM Post #15 |
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Genetics Geek!
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Warmed Saturday, then dropped below freezing again. So now everything is covered by a layer of ice. Fingers crossed we get another day warm enough to get those two trays loose (and keep up with the rest!). |
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