This being my first (and hopefully my last) experience with sore hocks, I really did not know what looked better or worse as they were healing. However, understanding that sore hocks are quite similar to bed sores, so the main concern is to get pressure off the area. I have been searching on the Internet and found some suggestions, including a plastic mat I could order or perhaps find at a store like Tractor Supply.
I was looking around for a small wood board or even just heavy cardboard and then I recognized a plastic cage mat among some things in the garage. I had completely forgotten that my husband had bought one of those plastic mats to test in a rabbit cage a long time ago, but we did not use it because it did not fit well with the floor wiring. That is probably because the cage floors are not perfectly flat. They do not sag in the middle, but rather they are made of such a strong wire that it was practically impossible to make them perfectly flat coming off of the roll when building cages.
I finally found a way to make the plastic mat fit well in Black Ivy's cage, but she was not too happy with walking on it nor the warming pad. Her cage is not set up with a hay feeder so I was placing hay on the floor of the cage in a corner were she was not going the bathroom, which was next the cage door and under her water bottle. She liked standing and lying on the hay. I changed it out daily to keep it fresh and clean.
I had made a salve of coconut oil, colloidal silver, tea tree oil, and a calendula homeopathic cream. (I did not measure so I have no recipe to give right now.) I was using that salve twice a day, after I soften the scabs by holding a free and clear baby wipe on the area for a few minutes. Scabs free of the skin but stuck in her fur would be carefully pulled out after they were soften.
So, this is how they were looking on February 11, 2018. They look worse than when we started because of the scabbing, but actually they are much better because the sore was closing.
And this is how they look now!
However, now I am faced with another problem....
I was looking around for a small wood board or even just heavy cardboard and then I recognized a plastic cage mat among some things in the garage. I had completely forgotten that my husband had bought one of those plastic mats to test in a rabbit cage a long time ago, but we did not use it because it did not fit well with the floor wiring. That is probably because the cage floors are not perfectly flat. They do not sag in the middle, but rather they are made of such a strong wire that it was practically impossible to make them perfectly flat coming off of the roll when building cages.
I finally found a way to make the plastic mat fit well in Black Ivy's cage, but she was not too happy with walking on it nor the warming pad. Her cage is not set up with a hay feeder so I was placing hay on the floor of the cage in a corner were she was not going the bathroom, which was next the cage door and under her water bottle. She liked standing and lying on the hay. I changed it out daily to keep it fresh and clean.
I had made a salve of coconut oil, colloidal silver, tea tree oil, and a calendula homeopathic cream. (I did not measure so I have no recipe to give right now.) I was using that salve twice a day, after I soften the scabs by holding a free and clear baby wipe on the area for a few minutes. Scabs free of the skin but stuck in her fur would be carefully pulled out after they were soften.
So, this is how they were looking on February 11, 2018. They look worse than when we started because of the scabbing, but actually they are much better because the sore was closing.
And this is how they look now!
However, now I am faced with another problem....