My bunny's front paw hurts. What's wrong and what should I do?

This could be an infection or a foreign body that penetrated the paw (a piece of hard hay for example), i would recommend taking Bun bun to the vet in order to get it checked, if the vet thinks it is a foreign body, a minor surgical procedure will be needed to take it out.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This may be due to an infection for example. For this reason, I recommend that you have your bunny evaluated by a veterinarian who can examine this and determine what it may be so that therapy can be recommended more specifically. Best of luck!

The most common reason for a young rabbit to be limping would be generalized musculoskeletal pain from something traumatic. Certainly as you said nail length can contribute or a wound on the affected limb. However, if you have eliminated these as possibilities, I would say that the next logical assumption is there is a bony or soft tissue injury affecting your bunny. She would probably benefit from a physical exam to see if an area can be isolated, and possibly if warranted, some x-rays could be obtained. Anti-inflammatory and pain medications are also available for rabbits and might provide some significant relief. In the mean time until you can get him in, I would just try to limit his mobility and confine him to a smaller area. Hope this is helpful.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lucy. I recommend that she sees an emergency veterinarian today. She will likely need x-rays of her paw to see if it is broken. It does appear swollen which worries me. Based on her exam findings, treatment can be started to get her more comfortable. I hope this information helps!

If she is holding the foot in the air and not using it, it's probably a serious injury, either a fracture or a dislocation. you need to take her to the vet ASAP, they will need to check her and will probably recommend doing an xray to evaluate the severity of the injury.

I am so sorry for the delay in answering your question. The best thing you can do for a wound at home is to keep it clean. Clean the cage out completely. Make sure there is soft, clean bedding in the cage at all times, which means you need to replace the bedding material daily while the sore is present. Most pharmacies will have Betadine. Get some water and add a few drops of butadiene so that it looks like tea. Then submerge the affected foot into the liquid. Try to keep it wet for a minute or so if he will tolerate it. Then gently pat it dry with a clean towel. You can take a picture and submit it with a question to the forum, and one of us can try to further advise you. Again the best thing you can do at this point is to be sure to keep it clean. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Donut. It appears that she may have some dermatitis (inflammation of her chin) and resulting infection. With chin dermatitis, oftentimes it is caused by drooling from some form of dental disease. It would probably be warranted for your veterinarian to take a good look at the teeth under anesthesia/sedation. Most likely regardless of the cause there is a bacterial infection occurring now. I would recommend culturing the lesion. If antibiotics are indicated, many pharmacies do flavoring which can really help with oral compliance. Also, I would try to keep the lesion dry with an astringent or manually just keeping the area dry with a clean cloth. Overall a good exam and history (any new changes in bedding, food area, detergents, caging), with some other diagnostics if possible including x-rays, blood work and oral exam will probably be helpful toward determining the underlying cause. This could be very easy to treat especially if due to misalignment of her teeth. Good luck with Donut.