One of my rabbits fell out of his pen (the chicken wire had gotten lose from him standing up and leaning on it all the time) and he fell to the ground. Luckily he was ok, and he didn't run away from my duck and rabbit enclosure. However, my drakes (Pekin)(don't have a female, yet) and I'm wondering if maybe the drake that got injured had tried to aggressively attack the rabbit. Eitherway, I walked in and the floor looked like a blood bath (16'x12'). I believe the rabbit took a big chunk out of the Pekin's (Daffy's) leg and a little from the neck. (The neck appears to have healed or at least start scabbing). He had dried blood in his nostrils and dried and caked blood on his webbed feet and down his injured leg. It appeared to have stoped bleeding somewhat by the time I got there, but I'm not sure. I went after him to try to assess the damage and he ran, and I didn't want to hurt him further by making him run from me on his hurt leg. Will he be ok? Do pet rabbits have a lot of germs? I do have a tub of water in their for the guys, but I am only able to clean it once a week, will this somewhat dirty water cause an infection? should I wrap the leg? He did lose an awful lot of blood, is it possible for Pekin ducks to bleed to death like some of the other bird species? Should I separate him from his literally, inseparable pal Dizzy (the other Pekin) (kind of like chickens when they bleed)? He can walk and run via limping but as for standing he favors that leg and won't put any weight onto it... can he heal himself or should I step in and force him down to put antibiotics on him? Sorry to be soo lengthy
You probably should have a close look at him to determine the extent of the injury. You might want to add some antibiotic ointment. I would also suggest you isolate him in a smaller area in which you can keep clean bedding. After a week, that water must be pretty nasty! We water ours with a rubber hog pan and a plastic concrete mixing tub, dumped and refilled 2-4 times each day. Since Daf will want to get in the water, I would think cleaner would be better than dirty water. Rabbits can be rough customers when they want to be.
By Dr. Bruce Smith (Brucesmith) on Tuesday, March 21, 2000 - 08:52 am: