Over the last few years the range of toys available for rabbits has grown enormously. Of all the products available, I think the absolute best is: the treat ball. A treat ball is a hollow ball you fill with dry food/treats that has a small hole. As the rabbit pushes the ball around the food gradually falls out the hole. What’s so amazing about this? Rabbit’s are grazing animals and would usually spend hours every day eating. The treat ball helps mimic this by stretching a bowl of food, that would usually be eaten in ten minutes, out in to an hour long activity. It’s great for getting your rabbit more active and preventing boredom, both of which will help your rabbits over all health. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bristol Rabbit Clinic are running a campaign to ensure rabbit owners recognise the symptoms of fly Strike. Fly Strike occurs when flies lay their eggs on a rabbit’s skin and the eggs hatch out in to maggots which burrow under the skin. Without prompt veterinary treatment fly strike is fatal.

You can minimise the risk of fly strike by reducing the flies around your rabbit, making sure your rabbit isn’t attractive to flies and checking your rabbit over regularly.

Fly Control
Basic hygiene and fly control will help protect your rabbit against fly strike. To minimise flies near your rabbit you should:

• Clean out litter trays/toilet corners daily.
• Hang non-toxic (no poison) sticky fly papers out of reach of your rabbit.
• Place rabbit (and house hold) waste in sealed bins, away from the rabbit’s area, and clean bins regularly with disinfectant.
• Fly screens/netting can be placed over windows or the front of your rabbits hutch.
• Remove uneaten fresh food

Rabbits at High Risk
Some rabbits are at a higher risk of fly strike than others. The following are high risk factors:

• Rabbits with mobility problems, arthritis or rabbits that are over weight. Rabbits in this category can have difficulty cleaning themselves which can attract flies.
• Rabbits that get sticky poops (excess cecotropes) stuck to their fur. This makes rabbits very attractive to flies. It can be improved by changes to the diet including encouraging your rabbit to eat more hay.
• Rabbits with long fur. This can make cleaning more difficult and provide warm damp areas attractive to flies.
• Rabbits with injuries. Open wounds are very attractive to flies. You should check your rabbit regularly for wounds and take extra precautions.
• Rabbits with damp fur. Damp fur is very attractive to flies. You should not bath your rabbit. Also be wary of rabbits with teeth issues that may dribble.

If your rabbit falls in to a high risk group your vet may recommend treating it with a maggot development inhibitor such as Rear Guard made by Novartis Animal Health. This is applied to your rabbits fur and is designed to prevent maggots developing to the dangerous stage in their life cycle.

Checking Your Rabbit
Maggots develop rapidly so rabbits should be checked twice a day to detect fly strike quickly so it can be treated. Fly eggs are small white/cream/yellow and shaped like a grain of rice. Maggots are short stubby looking worms coloured between white and yellow. You should particularly check the area around your rabbits tail and between its legs.

If you find your rabbit has fly strike call the vet immediately. Do not try washing them off your rabbit, as damp fur can make the removal harder for the vet. You can start removing the eggs/maggots with teasers on the way to the vet.

Your vet will shave the area and remove the maggots under the skin then treat the rabbit with fluids (for shock), painkillers and antibiotics to prevent infection.

Considering at least 80% of a rabbit’s diet should be hay (or grass) there is a worrying number of rabbits owners that report their bunny eats little or no hay. The high fibre content of hay is essential for maintaining a healthy gut and teeth, as well as providing a boredom busting activity for your rabbit.

Many common and potentially serious health problems are caused or exacerbated by the lack it of, including:

• Gut Stasis
• Excess Cecotropes (sticky poop) which can lead to fly strike
• Overgrown teeth which can result in tooth abscesses and gut stasis

So, below are my top 5 tips for turning your rabbit in to a hay eater.
Read the rest of this entry »

Are you planning a trip this summer? If so, do you have your rabbit’s holiday care arranged?

You have two options:

1. Get someone to visit your bunny at your home.

Pros: You rabbit stays in a familar environment minimising stress
Cons: Finding someone willing to check your rabbit twice a day for signs of illness and to make sure they have water and hay can be difficult. Ideally this should be done by someone familiar with rabbits so they can spot abnormal behaviour that may indicate your rabbit is unwell. A neighbour or friend may be convenient but unless you’re very lucky they may not know much about rabbits.

2. Book your bunny in to a holiday boarding facility.

Pros: A experienced and professional facility should take good care of your bunny.
Cons: Finding such a facility can be difficult. Some rabbits may find moving accommodation stressful.

More advice on choosing rabbit holiday boarding facilities.

Which ever option you choose you should quiz your rabbits careers carefully to make sure they understand your rabbits needs. Give a detailed list of what your rabbit can and cannot eat and in what quantities. Leave your vets details and contact details for you or an experienced bunny owning friend in case they have problems.

I picked up a copy of BBC Wildlife today. It features an article by Dr Diana Bell on the territorial behaviour of wild rabbits. Bell has studied a colony of (European) wild rabbits at the University of East Anglia for the past 23 years.

The European Rabbit is the same species as our domestic pets, so understanding their behaviour can provide a helpful incite into the behaviour of our pet bunnies.

For example, Bell describes how male rabbits:

patrol their territory boundaries, scent-marking them with urine and secretions from their chin and anal glands to ensure that their neighbours respect these borders.

Behaviour which I’m sure is very familar to those who have lived with an unneutered buck.

Another interesting part is the social structure within the warren. The males and the females each have a social heirachy (pecking order) which they may fight to maintain. This provides a potential explanation for male-female (neutered) pairs are the most successful match in pet rabbits. Two or more of the same sex rabbits would naturally form a heirachy and if they don’t agree who’s boss that’s when fights can occur.

Flight’s were suspended at Milan’s Linate Airport while 200 volunteers, police and officials rounded up 40 hares for relocation to a wildlife reserve. The Hare population had exploded this year causing danger to flights.

It’s great to see relocation being pursued as a first option instead of the more common ’shoot anything in the way’ approach.

Change your bookmarks, Rabbits Only Forum has moved to: http://www.rabbitsonline.net and changed to Rabbits Online.

The way rabbits breed you wouldn’t think a new litter of kits would be anything to write home about, but Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbits had scientists excited today when they descovered the first wild-born litters of this heavily endangered species.

What’s a Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit you may ask? Don’t worry I hadn’t heard of them either. A little research and it turns out pygmy is not an exageration; at 375-500g they are half the size of the Netherland Dwarf (the smallest domestic breed).

For more information on the breeding program (and some very cute pictures) visit: Washington State University.

Phonelines have always been a favourite chew toy for bunnies but Humprey, the house bunny, took things a step further when he pulled the cord to an emergency monitoring service.

Operators from a telephone monitoring service connected to the house told Bromley Police they could hear a woman crying and whimpering down the line … They [police officers] demolished both the door and frame and a large part of the surrounding wall and hallway.
Once inside, both officers were confronted by a large brown lop-eared Dutch rabbit hopping around the front room and whimpering.

Read the complete story here.

The moral of the story: never under estimate the amount of damage a house rabbit can cause!

It’s always good to read a news story with a happy outcome for the rabbit. BBC News reports:

Fire crews were called to Forest Road in Piddington on Saturday night. A fault in a fridge had set the garage on fire.

The rabbit was rescued from the garage by firefighters and given oxygen therapy.