| Our
Gusto Hardy
23rd August 2005
HRSS received an email from *Edward on 23rd August
2005, requesting for our help.
Extracts from his email as follows;
“Recently, I found two abandoned rabbits
near the lift of my block. I brought them back home
in hope of being able to find a responsible adopter
for them. Unfortunately, one of the rabbits was badly
injured, possibly accidentally inflicted by my dog.
As such, I am afraid that I am not able to take care
of the rabbits well and I have no idea how to treat
the injured rabbit's wound.
I will be very grateful if you are able to take
care of the rabbits instead.”
We gave him a call to learn more about the situation
and advised him to take the injured rabbit a vet as
soon as he could.
He called our hotline two days later when he was at
The Animal Clinic. He said the injury was rather serious
as parts of the rabbit’s paw were missing. The
vet advised Edward to amputate the foot as infection
might have set in. If the infection were to permeate
into the bone, there would be more complications and
the rabbit’s life would be compromised. However,
due to financial constraints, Edward had decided to
just allow the vet to clean and disinfect the wound.
We arranged for Edward to bring Hardy to The Veterinary
Clinic for a second opinion on 27th August 2005. Hardy
also had an infected scrotum which needed to be removed
urgently. The vet gave similar advice (i.e. to amputate)
after examination so we set the surgery date on 30th
August 2005. When we inquired the cause of injury, the
vet said it could be due to the narrow gaps of the wired
bottom cage (for eg. Chicken cage). Hardy’s foot
might have gotten stuck between the wires and when he
struggled to pull his paw away, he could have accidentally
torn his paws. Also, Hardy and his partner might have
been cleaning and chewing the wounded areas in hopes
of keeping the infection at bay. The injury could not
have been caused by a dog as it did not resemble a dog’s
bite.
However, on the day of surgery, the vet-in-charge said
it was not necessary to amputate his foot as the injury
was a few weeks old and it was healing very nicely.
The vet however did remove the infected scrotum.
The most amazing thing was, that even after having
to endure all the pain and trauma, Hardy refused to
let it get to him and behaves just like any other healthy
rabbit – binky-ing, munching on his hay and veges,
and just being the all-inquisitive bunny. That’s
our gusto Hardy!
Sponsor(s): Hardy is lovingly sponsored
by bunny Snowy and Ms Nur Lailina Ridzuan.
*Owner’s name has
been edited for privacy’s purposes.
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