What happened to Sandy's front paw?
Danish version
Så allerede en uge forinden lagde vi mærke til noget lidt usædvanligt med Sandys venstre forpote. Da jeg lavede et trick med hendes kaldet "highfive" (ja, det er en trick jeg har lært hende), så ville hun ikke rigtigt tage kløerne ud, da hun satte poten op på min hånd, og det fandt jeg meget mærkeligt, da hun ALTID tager kløerne ud for at holde bedre fast på min hånd, men det gjorde hun ikke denne gang, selv efter rigtig mange gange, men stadig ingen klør var ude. Det var en virkelig blød og dejlig pote, hun gav mig, og jeg syntes simpelthen bare, at det var så sødt, så jeg tænkte ikke rigtigt videre over det.
Så en uges tid efter lukkede vi dem en tur ud i haven for at løbe lidt rundt, som vi gør normalt, men Sandy fik en lidt hård start, da hun hoppede forkert ned fra en af de "møbler", vi har stående inde i løbegården. Både Sandy og Molly løb fint rundt i haven i en times tid uden nogen tegn på at have ondt. Men det er jo selvfølgelig, fordi kaniner er "silent sufferers", da de ikke giver udtryk for, at de har ondt på nogen måde . De løber bare videre, som om intet var sket, og de viser sågar overskud. Da de så kom hjem igen, lagde jeg mærke til at Sandy trak lidt på hendes venstre for pote, da hun lå ned. Næsten som om hun ikke kunne hvile ordenligt på den. Hun humpede også lidt, da hun gik rundt, og der begyndte jeg for alvor at blive bekymret for hende.
Jeg besluttede mig for a undersøge hende fra top til tå, så jeg tog hende op i favnen og kiggede og mærkede på hendes pote og hendes skulder, og så prøvede jeg at bevæge benet og poten i nogle forskellige retninger for at se om hun reagerede voldsomt på noget af det. Den var ikke brækket, for hun sagde intet til det. Hun var dog lidt ukomfortabelt ved, at jeg rørte ved pote ledet, men hun gik ikke i panik eller noget. Jeg klippede også to af hendes klør, for de så meget lange ud, og hvis de nu havde noget at gøre med, hvorfor hun ikke kunne støtte på poten, så ville jeg da give det et forsøg. Dette var i sig selv også en overvindelse, da jeg ikke har klippet klør på Sandy siden for 5 år siden, da jeg kom til at klippe forkert.
Vi besluttede os for at give hende noget ro og vente i nogle dage for at se om der skete nogen bedring. Efter to eller tre dage var der sket en betydelig bedring, men så hoppede hun ned forkert igen, og det hele begyndte forfra. Dette kunne vi ikke blive ved med. Noget skulle gøres. Vi tog hende derfor med til dyrlægen, men vi lod Molly være hjemme, fordi vi ikke ville stresse hende unødvendigt med andre dyr hos dyrlægen, og så måtte man alligevel ikke være så mange mennesker med inde hos dyrlægen pga. Corona, men hun var ikke alene hjemme. Min søster sad og passede godt på hende, og sørgede for, at hun ikke lagde mærke til, at jeg tog Sandy med mig til dyrlægen. Dette var også første gang, at de skulle være væk fra hinanden i mere en 10 min. De plejer at gå helt i spåner, når de opdager, at den anden kanin er væk, men Molly klarede det overraskende godt.
Sandy kom til dyrlægen efter, at vi havde gjort transportkassen klar, og sørget for, at den var hyggelig og tryg at være i. Dyrlægen undersøgte og forklarede virkelig godt, hvad hun vidste, og hvad hun opdagede. Hun mærkede på selve poten, benet, ryggen og så satte hun Sandy ned på det store glatte gulv for at se, om hun kunne gå ordentligt, og om hun kunne bære sig selv med hendes forpoter, og alt dette så glimrende ud, sagde dyrlægen. Hun vurderede det til at være en øm pote, som når man har slået den eller er faldet ned af noget, og det var jo lige det, som Sandy havde gjort, og op til flere gange endda. Jeg fik tre doser med smertestillende med hjem, som skulle gives oralt en gang om dagen i tre dage, fordi Sandy fortjente at få smerterne fjernet de første par dage.
Det virkede også ret effektivt, da hun fik det. Hun guffede det så fint i sig de efterfølgende dage, og der var slet ingen komplikationer med det. Jeg er så stolt af hende. Da de tre dage var gået, humpede hun slet ikke mere. Jeg kunne godt se at nogen gange trak hun lidt på poten, men det var allerede blevet betydeligt bedre. Vi havde selvfølgelig også fjerne det "møbel", som vi mente var grunden til, at hun havde landet forkert til at starte med, så hun ikke fik hoppet for meget og unødvendigt rundt.
Nu nogle uger efter, ser det ud til at være helt væk. Jeg prøvede at lave tricket igen med at give highfive, og hun gav mig også kløerne denne gang! Det var den ultimative test for at se, om hun var kommet til hægterne igen, og det ser hun ud til at være.
Short version in English
About a week before I noticed something odd with Sandy's left frontpaw. I did a trick with her called "highfive" where she gives me her paw and usually claws are involved but not this time. She ALWAYS takes out her claws but not this time. I thought it was a little weird but also super sweet so I didn't think further about it until about a week later.
A week later Molly and Sandy got to run about in the garden but right when Sandy was about to run outside she made a crazy jump down from one of the "furnitures" they have in their home. She ran outside and she didn't show any signs of discomfort which she would never do because rabbits are "silent suffereres" which means they won't tell if they are hurting because they don't want to be noticed by predators. When they came back home I noticed Sandy wouldn't lay on her paw and it seemed like she couldn't rest it properly. She was also limping a little when she ran around.
We started to worry about her so I picked her up to examine her. I checked her paw, leg and her back to see if anything was broken but it didn't seem like it. She didn't say anything when I bent her joints. I also clipped two of her claws because I saw they were long so if this was the reason she couldn't stand on her paw I wanted to give it at try but it didn't help. We decided we would give her a break and let her rest for a couple of days.
After a few days it seemed a lot better but then she jumped down again and it worsened and we decided we couldn't let this go on so we took her to the vet. Made everything ready and made sure she was comfortable in her carrier. Molly didn't come along because we wouldn't want to expose her to unnessesary stress from other animals so she stayed at home but she wasn't alone. My sister was with her all along. Molly normally isn't too happy when she's not with her sister because they haven't been apart for more than 10 minutes before but she did pretty good. So Shania and Molly stayed at home waiting for Sandy to return. Molly did so well but Shania had to really make an effort to try to distract her because she was worried and confused where Sandy had gone and fortunately she came back in one piece.
The vet examined Sandy and explained while she did so. I'm glad the vet explained what she found out so I could follow what she was doing. Sandy was also put down on the slippery floor so that the vet could see if Sandy was able to walk properly and she was. She could even bear herself with her front paws. Nothing wrong there. The vet gave me some painkillers because Sandy deserved them the vet told me. It was so sweet of her to think about Sandy like that. I'd say she's the best vet I've ever been to. The painkillers (fluid) were to give orally once a day in three days and Sandy took it as a champ! I'm so proud of her. I took Sandy home with me and Molly and Sandy were united again. I feared that they might reject each other because they have never been apart from each other so I was really nervous whether they would accept each other again after their time apart but it all went fine and they recognised each other and were happy.
After three days she did not limp at all so the painkillers must have worked and helped the paw relax properly. I had removed the "furniture" that caused the problem to begin with because I didn't want to make the problem worse.
A few weeks later her paws seems to be back to normal. She even take out her claws when we highfive! That was the umltimate test to see if she was fit for fight again. Good job Sandy.
We had a similar thing with Fives, except the vet said his wrist felt 'crunchy'. I moved the buns into indoor confinement and gave Fives daily painkillers for 2 months. He seems fine now, paw working well - very lucky. I have also taken care to ensure he cannot drop/jump from heights.
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