# Needs help with an injured bunny fast **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002 "2012-06-04T04:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/41 "2012-06-07T22:34:48Z")
I want to braise her… ---
**Author:** ![chronometer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@chronometer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chronometer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/42 "2012-06-17T01:49:15Z")
How’s the bunny doing, **flatlined**? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/43 "2012-06-17T02:12:55Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > This is why the Bible prohibits the Jews from eating rabbit “_because he cheweth the cud but divideth not the hoof, therefore he is unclean to you_” (through strictly speaking the animal being referred to is probably the Egyptian Hyrax). Rabbits digest their food several times to get the maximum nutrient out of it but unlike cows they have to excrete it to do so. Most rabbit owners will never notice this going on, unless the rabbit is put in a straitjacket and prevented from doing so. Aren’t they often in those wire cages where the poop falls through the wire onto newspapers underneath? In those cases, where the rabbit can’t reach their own poop to re-eat it, is that bad? Do they need to eat it? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/44 "2012-06-17T02:57:08Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Aren’t they often in those wire cages where the poop falls through the wire onto newspapers underneath? In those cases, where the rabbit can’t reach their own poop to re-eat it, is that bad? Do they need to eat it? They should - they get more nutrition if they can re-digest those special poop pieces. Hopefully a quick-thinking rabbit can lean back quickly enough to grab it before it falls. Those wire cages are very bad for the rabbit’s feet, too. They get what’s called “sore hocks” (sores on the hind feet behind the paws) which can lead to trouble walking, infections, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/45 "2012-06-17T03:42:02Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > They should - they get more nutrition if they can re-digest those special poop pieces. Hopefully a quick-thinking rabbit can lean back quickly enough to grab it before it falls. > > Those wire cages are very bad for the rabbit’s feet, too. They get what’s called “sore hocks” (sores on the hind feet behind the paws) which can lead to trouble walking, infections, etc. Rabbits have two kinds of droppings: fecal pellets and cecal pellets. The fecals are the waste pellets and are small, hard, dry balls. The rabbit does not normally eat these. The cecals are produced in the cecum and are the ones that are reingested. Normally the rabbit catches them as they are coming out. But crippled rabbits or old and arthritic rabbits that can’t reach around will learn to lay them on the ground and go back for them. If you remember reading _Watership Down_, the rabbits always seem to be taking a break for a chew – this is what they are doing. Do not raise your rabbits in a wire-bottom cage. As Ferret Herder said, they destroy the rabbits’ feet. Rabbits have very low blood flow to the bottom of their feet and once they have a wound down there, healing is very problematic. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/46 "2012-06-17T06:36:46Z")
Bunny update: I have learned a LOT from this thread. I didn’t put Missy Fluff in a wire cage because I don’t have one. I don’t put cats in wire cages, I think it hurts their feet. Anyhow…the gossip mill at work led me to getting a phone call from a fellow employee who has 2 bunnies. As we were talking, she realized that while I am doing the best I can…I’m still pretty ignorant about bunnies. So, she asked to meet Missy Fluff. I got scoldings about the substandard conditions that poor bunny was living in and she took her. Being the worrywart that I am, I went to her house on Friday, to be sure that Missy Fluff was being treated well. Holy cow. I had NO idea what bunnies really need. Missy Fluff is in a room with 2 other bunnies. She has a bunny door to allow her to go out into a well fenced yard. When we went into their room, the other 2 bunnies zoomed over to meet me and get ear rubs. One of them bounced a little and then jumped into his slave’s arms…that was soooo cute. Thank you all for helping me with her. Or him. Its possible that I don’t know how to sex bunnies, the lady who has Missy Fluff says that she thinks she’s a boy and is going to have him/her fixed no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![chronometer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@chronometer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chronometer)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002/47 "2012-06-17T08:30:07Z")
I’m a sucker for a happy ending. 😃 I’ve recently acquired an Easter bunny myself – that is, bred for the Easter trade and then found wandering in the street in early May. Now that he’s well into puberty he’s turned into a little monster: spraying and humping the poor old boy I’m trying to bond him to. Hopefully by mid-July I’ll be able to get him fixed, but for now they’ll have to be kept separate for most of the day. On the upside, he hasn’t stopped being a bit of a lap rabbit (and sometimes a neck/shoulder rabbit). BTW, if your rabbit is an intact male he’ll have two very visible sausage-shaped testicles, each one about 1 to 1.5 inches long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/needs-help-with-an-injured-bunny-fast/624002.md?page=2)