I have spent quite a bit of time with Black Ivy the past few weeks while doctoring her sore hocks. I have been watching how she hops, walks, sits, and lies. I have felt all over her body, particularly her hips, back legs, and hocks.
She is walking more on the hocks rather than always on her toes and even standing up on her back legs which she had not done since we got her. When Ivy would sit, she is still purposely positions her legs to be close together when settling, but she is doing that less often now. Her hindquarters, hips, and legs are still thinner than they should be. Her hocks feel narrow. I believe she has pinched hips with a narrow frame. All these things could contribute to or even cause sore hocks.
In the picture below, she is stretching up with more pressure on her back legs than she would tolerate previously. Her back legs are still kind of close together, but I am wondering now that she has no pain walking and standing, if she will begin to hop and stand up more to fill in the muscle on her hindquarters and that may improve the hips so they are less pinched...I am hoping.
In the picture below, she is stretching up with more pressure on her back legs than she would tolerate previously. Her back legs are still kind of close together, but I am wondering now that she has no pain walking and standing, if she will begin to hop and stand up more to fill in the muscle on her hindquarters and that may improve the hips so they are less pinched...I am hoping.
I have been on the fence about whether to even try to breed her or not...I am still teetering on that fence, actually.
I was reading a completely unrelated issue on a message board where someone had uncovered a mischief of mice—isn't that fitting name for baby mice in a nest?—and was trying to save them to possibly make them pets. All I could think was, "why?" If these mice were full-grown, or even half-grown, would they be treated the same? Probably not!
Then it occurred to me I also needed to look at this whole thing in a different perspective with Black Ivy. If she was offspring from one of our breedings with these serious faults, would I bother to develop her and then try to breed her? Absolutely not! That she was paid for and it was not a bargain price is what keeps me trying to get our money's worth out of her, because I was hoping to get a higher quality than just meat rabbits from her. However, I would probably advise another person to just accept the loss as a learning experience and move on to improving their lines with their best stock.
So, that is my dilemma. Ivy is healed, but probably needs some rehabilitation time, at least a month, and she is the age I wanted to breed her in one month, so against my own advice, if she has improved, I might give her a try with a breeding to see what we get. I have this philosophy that it not always is about what the breeders are but what they throw. Her offspring may not have any pinched hips and it gets me some genetic diversity if I do choose one of her offspring to develop, although typically it is desirable to breed toward improving the line, not taking a chance with something that may be a genetic defect.
So, that is my dilemma. Ivy is healed, but probably needs some rehabilitation time, at least a month, and she is the age I wanted to breed her in one month, so against my own advice, if she has improved, I might give her a try with a breeding to see what we get. I have this philosophy that it not always is about what the breeders are but what they throw. Her offspring may not have any pinched hips and it gets me some genetic diversity if I do choose one of her offspring to develop, although typically it is desirable to breed toward improving the line, not taking a chance with something that may be a genetic defect.
Still I would like to try for at least one kindle....