broken toe rabbit

Question
we have four rabbits when we adopted the male and female she was already pregnant and gave birth to two babies which we kept. these are all inside rabbits the only two kept together are the mom and daughter last night they where out playing in the playroom together where we give them all turns to play. the mom pushed over one of their cardboard boxes and in turn freaked the daughter out shes still eating hay,pellets and drinking her water but shes licking the toe not alot but some she still sitting up to clean herself but when she hops she in ginger on it .shes no small bun she weights around 13 lbs shes not wincing or making noise or kicking when I touched it but I know they hide pain. what can I do my area has zero rabbit savy vets and the vets ive called wont even look at a rabbit will she survive a broken toe im a lil freaked out .I stay home to take care of these lil one 24/7 and tho ive seen a good bit over the yrs never delt with a broken toe  . also its not bend up down or sideways its next to her other toes like norm its just very loose feeling

Answer
Hi Matt,

Rabbits break their toes all the time.  I have never seen a rabbit die from a broken toe.  If you are sure it is only the toe then I would just continue to make sure that she is eating, drinking and pooping normally.  If it is her actually foot or leg that is broken then I would be concerned with a permanent disability but even then they usually heal.

I am concerned that you do not have any vets available to see rabbits.  Even if they are less than rabbit savvy you can help teach them.  You could call around again and if you can't find one that treats rabbits maybe they can give you a suggestion.  Most animal hospitals that are open 24 hours will treat exotic animals.  Sometimes you have to travel a bit in order to find a vet.  We literally drive 2 1/2 hours to get to our rabbit specialist.  However, we have trained our local vet over the years on how to treat minor ailments.  It started out with us teaching her and now I have so much confidence in her that we send our adopters to her when they have an emergency.  Knowing what your bunny needs is the most important thing a rabbit owner can do.  Unfortunately, the lack of rabbit savvy vets means the owners really have to take an active role in their care.

If you are able to find a vet that is willing to learn I would be happy to send you some info on how they can treat minor ailments.  Truth be told if you can find a vet to even look at your bunny if they would just prescribe her some metacam her toe would be less painful.  Do you have cats or dogs that go to the vet?  If you do perhaps you could talk to your cat and dog vet and say 'listen, there is nobody around to help me could you please see my rabbit, all she needs is some anti-inflammatories to help reduce the swelling.  

I wish you luck.  Thank you for caring so much about your bunnies.

Pam