Sprout

Poor Sprout - her story is far too common. Bought as a pet for a young child, she quickly found herself unwanted due to no fault of her own.

The family that bought Sprout from a pet store, unfortunately bought her for a child that was much too young to have a bunny as a pet. As a result, inevitably, the child dropped Sprout and dislocated her front leg. Since the family felt that because Sprout was just a rabbit, they didn't feel she was worth the expense of seeing a vet to have her leg treated. Instead, the family decided to take her into a local animal shelter where they could deal with her. They mentioned that if she were a cat or a dog, they might consider fixing the leg but because she was *JUST* a rabbit, she wasn't worth it.

The shelter staff knew we have a soft spot for the special needs critters so they called us to help out. We immediately took her to our vet who set her leg and also discovered that she had maggots that had burrowed under her skin in3 different areas. Not only had Sprout endured poor handling by her former owners, she must have also lived in a filty outdoor enviornment where her owners didn't even realize that flies had laid eggs into some sort of open wounds she had.

Sadly for Sprout, her troubles didn't end after all of her immediate injuries had healed. Her leg is still a bit crooked but she manages to get along as if she were never injured. Her teeth however are another story. Her molar teeth are misaligned, most likely the result of her being dropped. Since they do not line up properly, Sprouts molars tend to develop sharp points on them and they then cut into her cheeks & toungue making it very painful to eat or drink. Luckily however, our vet is able to trim them every now and then and Sprout is able to eat normally.