sore hocks?

Question
Hi Lee, i have a 2 year old female rabbit that is housed indoors. Recently when i was trimming her nails i noticed a tiny bald spot on each of her heel when i pushed away the surrounding fur. I've read online that this is normal.

Quote source "it is normal for most rabbits to have a tiny pink bare batch/callous on the tip of the heel where there is no fur, it can usually only be seen if you part the fur around it. This is normal.

However, some rabbits develop what is called sore hocks which is when this bare pink patch becomes much larger, red and inflamed, cracked and sore and sometimes bleeding. The sores can be isolated to the tip of the heel, or they can run extensively down the whole sole of the foot, and even can be found, in bad cases, on the front feet as well."

My rabbit's tiny bald spots are pale pink, not inflamed or red etc. BUT the bald spots on each heel of the leg have yellow "crust" on it. the bald spots feel hard and dry to touch and does not feel uneven or rough even with the yellow "crust" on it.
Could the yellow "crust" be callous skin? or pee stain? or callous skin with pee stain? because her surrounding feet fur do have yellow colouration which is caused by her pee and it's not damped but dry.

so my question is should i use a damp cotton ball to wipe away the pee stain on the bald spot and then use a dry cotton ball to dry it? or leave it alone and keep her legs dry?
or is there other methods to get rid of the pee stain(if it is)?

thank you v much

Answer
Hi,

I would guess that the yellow is coloring from her urine.  One thing you need to make sure of is that she is not getting overweight.  This will cause those typical 'bald spots' to grow.  You really need to watch it if she's a mini-rex or rex.  They put weight on just by looking at their food.  Looking at her from above, her shoulders should be slimmer than her back end.  If she looks more like a sausage, she's overweight.  If she also has a messy butt it's a sign she's overweight and is having problems bending down to eat her cecal pellets.

Pale pink is okay,  the yellow areas is callous skin that has some dried urine on it.  What you can do is when you trim her nails, take a moment and get some New Skin and brush it onto the bald spots.  It will help cover them and protect them.

Also make sure you are changing stuff out of her litterpan everyday so she's not sitting on wet/soaked hay and litter.