cut on nose

Question
We just got a baby bunny rabbit for Easter for our son. It is a small white pet rabbit. This morning it woke up with a cut on the bridge of his nose. We think he cut it on his metal food dispenser that came w/cage. The cut goes pretty deep into his nose. We don't have a rabbit vet close by. My husband cleaned the cut with hydrogen peroxide. It bubbled up tremendously. Now a huge amount of what we think is pus keeps coming out. It looks almost like glue. Also his ears have drooped down. We are wondering if this is pus coming from his nose and, if so, can we just keep it clen and let it drain and heal on its own?  Thanks so much. We would like to keep Skippy around for a long time. He appears fine otherwise - eating well and being very curious.

Answer
Hi,

you need to take your rabbit to a vet.  Rabbit injuries do not take care of themselves.  With him being so young and small injuries drain strength and energy harder than with a bigger, more mature rabbit.

Get rid of the metal food dispenser.  Use a small ceramic crock as a food bowl, it is better than the metal feeder (these are what industrial breeders use, not pet owners).  Get a larger heavy crock for a water bowl or a good water bottle.

And you can't use hydrogen peroxide full strength out of the bottle with rabbits, it is too painful.  You have to dilute it 1:1 with (filtered/purified if possible) water.  

I can't recommend that people get a pet that you will have a difficult time getting proper vet care for.  It isn't fair to the animal, as they depend totally on you to take care of them.  You may have a good rabbit vet near you that you don't know about.  Start here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.

Lee