wild rabbit with broken leg

Question
I found a wild rabbit in the road his leg is badly broken it dangles loosely when he is held and when he lays it lays backwards.  I wanna help him some vets tell me have him put to sleep i cant do that he seems to lively i wanna give him a chance at life, i cant afford to have his leg set and i am going to try to find out about amputating it i will give him a loving home if needed please help me?????? I cant stand to see him sitting there with his leg like that it breaks my heart.

Answer
Dear Sheri,

First off, I hope you can find a vet right away who will be more helpful.  You may be able to find one by checking the list here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

The rabbit's best chance of survival is, of course, to receive proper veterinary treatment, probably amputation of the leg (if it's really dangling that badly, I doubt it could be saved) and antibiotics to prevent infection.  But if you say "several vets" have already told you to simply euthanize him, and you really cannot find anyone to help, then here is some information I hope will help.

You don't say where you are located, but this rabbit's best chance of survival sounds as if it would be amputation, antibiotics, and then permanent sanctuary in a wildlife rehabilitator's facility.  The problem is:  very few rehabbers take cottontails seriously.  There are a few who will go to the ends of the earth to save them, and I will be happy to put you in touch with them.  (Others will be more likely to feed this poor baby to a snake or a bird of prey. Sorry, but in my experience that's just how a lot of wildlife rehabbers are.)

Please write back to me at dana@miami.edu and I will send your email to several people who have a network of cottontail rehabbers who can help.  They have vets who will do such surgeries, and the sooner this rabbit gets medical help, the better his chances of survival, since a leg broken this badly can quickly become infected.

If you can get a vet to at least prescribe some Baytril, or injectible bicillin, this could stave off infection until he can get the help he needs.  If the vet can prescribe some Tramadol and Metacam, this is an excellent combination for pain control--and believe me, he is in pain, even though he is being so stoic.

If you are able to handle the rabbit, and if the break is low enough on his leg, you might be able to just *stabilize* it by wrapping it *loosely* in gauze padding, placing a popsicle stick along the broken area, and then wrapping it with more gauze and self-adhesive VetWrap (the elastic wrapping also used to wrap horses' legs for dressage; you can get it at most feed stores that also sell dressage supplies).  It's not a permanent solution, but it will at least help stop the painful dangling and grinding of the broken bone until you can get help.

I hope this helps, and that I hear from you at my other email address soon so we can get this little wildling to someone who can save him.

Dana