Rabbit Front Broken Leg

Question
My little Netherland Dwarf (he is 8 weeks old) has a front broken leg, i dont know how this has happened. I took him to a vet last night who basically wasn't interested in him and didn't give any kinda pain relief. The vet told me the bone was broken in the elbow join (he was telling me this without taking an x-ray) and that the nerve was damaged, i was told to go home, keep him warm and quiet and there was nothing more i could do.

So when i got up this morning after being up nearly all night with worry, i wanted a second opinion so i called my mothers vet who has had experience with treating small animals. He said that by feel the bone is either broken at the joint or very close to it. (not the large one up the top, but the bone between the elbow joint and foot). He is willing to x-ray and if possible set the foot for me, but if its in the joint nothing can be done and he also told me that he may have a little nerve damage BUT when he was feeling the foot it seems that he does have some feeling in it still.
Now i only have just 24 hours to decide if i want to go ahead with the x-rays to see if anything can be done, in the mean time my little bunny is on pain relief medication.

What i am worried about is will he make it through the anaesthetic?

What IF nothing can be done to fix it, will he still live to be a happy little bunny?

Will he be in any kinda a pain for the rest of his life if nothing is done?

Can he live a 'normal' life without the use of one of his front legs?

Would he have any problems with breeding or is that out of the question now?

Do you know of any other rabbits in the same situation, if so how are they now?

Any information you could give would be great.

Thank You :-)  

Answer
It's very rare for a rabbit to not make it through surgery as long as the vet is using isoflourane as the anesthetic.  I would want to have it set, although you can not set it and just let it heal on its own.

He is probably in pain now, and will be til it heals.  I don't know the degree of pain. You can find information about pain management at http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/rabrefs.html#pain

I have known three legged rabbits who have lived perfectly normal lives.  They just work around the handicap, it's usually just an inconvenience to them.  Animals don't view injuries and amputations the same way that we do.

I would hold off on breeding until you know how he got the broken leg, to make sure there's no genetic issues involved.

Kim