Animal Care Sheets

Rabbits

RABBIT CARE SHEET

Rabbits make very good pets especially the smaller types, because younger children find them easier to manage. Rabbits are naturally clean, usually disease free and are fairly hardy.
They are best kept in a sheltered outdoor position, such as a porch or garden shed, or they may be out in the open air if they are kept in a weather proof hutch. If introduced carefully they may find a guinea pig a good companion, but before you contemplate this, please seek our advice first as there are other factors to be taken in to consideration first. Rabbits can be kept indoors as a house rabbit but will need an area to run free on a daily basis.

DIET:- provide a mineral lick, a dry grainfree rabbit mix, some fresh vegetables and a constant supply of clean hay. Fresh water should be available ay all times from a clean drip feed bottle. Remember rabbits are constant feeders and it is natural to be nibbling at something at all times.
Green foods include cabbage, cauliflower, celery, carrots, broccoli and apples. Never feed lettuce as this may cause diarrhoea. Also avoid lawn clippings but fresh picked grass may be given so long as it is free from contamination by other animals ie: dogs and cats.
None of these food should be fed instead of the rabbit mix but in addition to it. Wood gnaws sold in the shop or a piece of wood like an apple tree branch for gnawing is important as this activity prevents the rabbits teeth from becoming too long.
Hay should always smell fresh and be free from dust. Try always to purchase medicated hay and straw to prevent fleas and lice from infecting your pet.

HOUSING:-If the hutch is going to be exposed to all weathers, make sure it is suitable for the job, please ask for advice. Provide an extra cover to protect from driving rain, the hutch sould be strong with good secure doors to make it dog proof. The floor should be sealed to make cleaning easier and more hygenic. You will also need a pen/run or some means of providing a daily exercise time of about 30 minutes or more. Some rabbits will exercise indoors but check that they do not eat your flooring or nibble any electrical wiring!

CARE:-Give plenty of bedding, especially in the colder months, hay and straw over a thick white wood shaving base. Remember to keep it clean and dry, damp bedding is a thing to to avoid at all costs. Remove wet bedding, stale food. wilted greens and dropings daily.Replace the food in a clean bowl and check the hay for thistles before offering it to your pet.
Once a week empty the hutch completely and clean it thoroughly with hot water and a cage cleaner, we can advise about a safe one for animals. Also move the run or pen as necesary about the garden but be careful never to leave the rabbit in direct sunlight without some form of shade.
All rabbit need inoculating against two diseases and you will need to see your vet about this at thirteen weeks or after this age.These are myxamatosis and viral heamoragic disease or VHD. Both are deadly but preventable so please think seriously about these inoculations.

Please take the time to go to the bottom of this page to read more about these two deadly diseases.
Guinea pigs

GUINEA PIG CARE SHEET

Guinea pigs can be kept tegther in pairs or two animals of the same sex so long as if they are males that have been together all their lives ie, from the same litter.They are naturally clean and fairly hardy, they can be kept indoor or in a sheltered position outdoors such as a porch or garden shed and well insulated with bedding in the winter months.

DIET:- guinea pigs are vegetarian, the need a guinea pig mixture of grains and grass pellets plus daily greens, fresh food for vitaminC as they are  not able to make it for themselves, also constant hay and clean water, preferably in a bottle rather than a bowl, which would get fouledvery quickly, amineral block should be available. Suitable green are cabbage,cauliflower, dandelions, chickweed, swede and grass (make sure the grass has not been fouled by dogs or cats and has been washed to remove any chemicals such as weedkiller or insecticides) Kitchen scraps such as brown toast will be enjoyed by your pets.Never feed rhubarb!

Housing:- An outdoor wooden hutch should be weather proof with an over hanging roof to prevent rain from drippinhg onto the hutch and the floor sealed to facilitate cleaning. The doors must be strong and secure to prevent dogs and cats from bbreaking in to the animals. The animal should be warm enough so long as there is enough bedding, hay or straw to create a nest for themselves. During the warm summer days it is nice for your pets to be allowed out in a run or enclosure on the lawn. Theree are many types of cages available for indoors and bedding should be clean whit wood shavings and hay for roughage.

Care:- Each day checkl the huch or cage, remove any wet bedding or hay, wilted greens and dropping , then replace with clean.bedding and check the hay you are givingis not smelling bad or mouldy!Replace well washed bowl with fresh food and greens. Once a week empty the cage or hutch completely and clean it thoroughly with hot water and a pet safe disinfectant, Detergent can be harmful to guinea pigs feet.
If your pet seems under the weather or is itching and scratching a lot please seek veterinary advice as soon as possible!
Rats

RAT CARE SHEET

Male buck/ female doe/  male matures at 10 weeks female at 9 weeks.
Both sexes have been known to mature at half this age so please be careful and keep sexes apart from 5 weeks old.
Gestation 20-22 days, litter size 6 to 12, weaning 3/4 weeks

The pet or fancy rat is a naturally clean animal, its gentle and intelligent nature makes it a very good pet for all ages.

Housing:- Rats need spacious, active cages with platforms, ladders, boxes and ropes to climb and play on. It must be gnaw prof, escape proof and most importantly easy to clean!

Bedding:- white wood shavings or woodchip can be purchased to cover the floor area. soft bedding is available for the sleeping are. Good clean hay can  also be used and is a valuable aid in combing the coat. Fine sawdust should be avoided, as this can cause sneezing, irritation and respiratory problems.

Diet:- Rodent mix or a fancy rat mix, consisting of a mixture of seeds, flakes,nuts and a complete diet are available. Fresh fruit and vegetables should supplement the diet, but not in excess as this may cause diarrhorea.Vitamin drops or amineral lick should be available at alltimes. Although rats will eat most thing that are offfered, it is logical to control the animals feeding for the sake of its health. Fresh water via a drinking bottle should always be avaliable.

Care:- Rats are a naturally social animals and live happilly in pairs. Try to keep your rats in even tempetatures, away from draughts and direct heat sources, as sever changes may result in heatstroke or colds and even death. Rats should be cleaned out at least weekly if not more often. Everthing should be removed from the cage and cleaned with hot water and a pet safe disinfectant. Any stored food in the cage should be removed and disposed of. A rat is afairly hardy animal, living for an average 2 1/2 to 3 years.

Going home:- when you get home with your new pet,ste up the cage with all the requirements described and gently allow the rat to walk into its new home. Then sit quietly watching while the rat finds out about this new place you have brought it to. Don't rush to handle him, Let him come to you by putting your hand into the cage flat for him to walk onto. He may walk up your arm on to your shoulder as this is the higest place he can reach. Allways try to lift your rat by the body and not by the tail. This will cause distres and may lead to loss of the tail!

 
Mice

Mouse Care Sheet

Small rodents which are available in many colours and a can be prolific breeders.

Maturity can be reached as young as four weeks so young should be seperated as soon as they are weaned. They have a gestation period of 18 to 21 days and can become prgnant as soon as they have given birth.

Housing:- Mice need housing that is escape proof either wire cages or glass vivariums are adequate. Provide plenty of hiding places in the form of boxes and tubes. A trio of mice should be given a house 60cms x 30 cms x 30 cms at least. A deep layer of wood shavings on the floor with soft safe paper bedding should be provided.

Diet:- a grain and nut mixture with fresh vegetables every day is adequate for mice with plenty of fresh water every day.

Care:- keep the cage clean every week changing the bedding and flooring. A tip to reduce odours from the housing leave a small amount of the shavings in the cage when cleaning out to retain the odour that the mice create. This  makes the mouse feel more secure with there own scent in their housing so that they don't make more scent asd they would if you took all their scent away. Feed daily and change the water every day. Handle your pet as much as you can in small doses so that they do not feel insecure away from their home. Try not to handle a pregnant or feeding female as she may abandon or kill her young. Keep the housing away from draughts and away from direct sunlight or heat sources.
Chinchilla
Chinchillas should be housed singley as they don't like to be with other animals and may fight.
The cage should be of a solid wire mesh construction with a solid metal base for tthe cage to sit on.
For an adult a cage 36" x 18" x 18" would be a minimum size. It should have shelves for the animal to climb on and should be easily cleaned. Branches for it to climb on and chew should be from safe sources such as apple trees or other fruit woods. You will need a hay rack, a water bottle, a heavy stone ware bowl and a dust bath. The dust bath can be any bowl that the animals can get into with out being able to be chewed such as stainless steel. Also a large wooden box that the pet can make into a bed chamber.
Feeding is highly specific and it is best to ask at the local pet store when you buy your chinchilla what it has been fed on. I feed the ones in my store on  a guinea pig mixture and they do very well.Hay is a staple part  of the diet and should be readily available. A Pumice block should be provided for it to chew on to help keep its teeth worn down.
Chinchilas are ardent knawers and will chew at any thing they can get to so be careful not to put the cage near to electrical cables or near to cutains or drapes.
They need regular dust baths to keep their coat in good condition. Ten minutes two or three times a week should be enough. Don't leave the bath in for any longer as he will use it as a toilet so making the dust smelly for the next time.

Hamsters

Hamster Care Sheet.

Syrian Hamsters are the largest of the available species and need to housed singley.
Russian Dwarf, Chinese, Roborovskis and Campbells are the dwarf species that are usually available and these can be housed in pairs.
Hamsters are usually nocturnal and like to sleep all day so can be quite cantankerous if woken up during daylight hours. They are prolific breeders so care should be taken choosing sexes if you do not want to breed these wonderful pets.

Housing:- all housing needs to be safe for the animals, so choose something that is escape proof, large enough and is easily cleaned. Lots of plastic coloured tubes may look good but will you be able to strip down the cage easily to clean them all each week.
Think about platform and ladders rather than tubes.

Diet:- Hamsters are omnivours so a mixture of nuts, grain and biscuit with some fresh vegetables will provide the basic requirments of your pet. In the wild they would hunt and capture insects as well so try feeding crickets, meal; worms or locust ocasionally.
Fresh water should be available at all times preferably from a clean lick bottle.

Care:- handle your hamster as much as you can to keep it tame. If a hamster is left in the cage and not handled very often it may bite because it thinks you are attacking it. Don't ever feed your pet through the bars of its cage as then when some one puts their finger through the bars the animal will think it is being fed and taste the offered digit.
Clean out the cage every week leaving a small amount of the cleaner bedding so that the pet does not think it has come to a new place and make more scent so smelling a lot stronger. A hamster ball may be a good idea but don't leave him in it for too long as he will go to the toilet and he will not like to be covered in his own urine./ Hamsters are very clean animals and will use one corner as a toilet, this can be adapted to get him to use a latrine bowl or tiolet which makes it easier for you to clean him out, Place  jar on its side in the corner he uses with some of his dirty bedding and he will use that. Make sure the jar is big enough so that he can turn round in it.
Please don't use man made fibre bedding ( fluffy bedding) as this is quite dangerous for small animals. They may get it wrapped around limbs which will cause consriction and loss of the limbs. They may also eat it, which can cause problem with their digestion if their gut becomes blocked. I recommend paper bedding usually made from waste from tea bag production. This safe and digestable.
Cage Birds

Budgerigar, Canary & Cockatiel Care Sheet

Budgies and cockatiel make ideal pets! There is nothing more delightful than a finger tame pet bird, but to achieve this, much time and patience is needed. A bird is much easier to tame when it is kept on its own,but if your fami;ly are out all day then it may be kinder to introduce another bnird of its own kind, as both are gregarious birds by nature.

To sex a budgie of over three months of age, the cere (band of flesh across the top of the budgies beak) will have turned blue for a cock or brown for a hen.For cockatiels it is slightly harder to sex young birds as they are very similar until they have gone through the first moult. Cocks will show no bars under the tail where females will display darker horizontal bars under the tail, that is not quite so clear on lutinos ,females will have yellow bars but males will not. Canaries cannot be sexed by outward apearance, cock birds will sing and hens will not. Cock birds moved to a new enviroment may caese to sing and can take up to six weeks to settle in and start to sing again so unfortunatley there  is no easy way to sex canaries.

Care:- Birds should always be housed in a roomy cage in an enviroment free from draughts and excessive smoking. Also reasonable constant temperature is needed away from windows and a room with a fire when lit gets hot, then suddenly cold when then fire goes out, this is not really suitable.

Diet:-a good qualityclean dust free seed is a must, and remember the bird swallows the kernel/seed and leaves the shelled husk, so the seed dish must be emptied and refilled each day. They enjoy millet on a spray, but a limited amount as it is extremley fattening. A dish of fine bird grit should alwats be available as this aids digestion, alsso a piece of cuttle fish bone for calcium, and a mineral block, fresh greens in very small quantities such as lettuce, dandelion, chickweed and apple, all must be well washed.
TOO MUCH GREENS CAN CAUSE DIAHOREA!

Bathing:-Most bird relish an occasional bath which helps tone them up and keep the feathers ingood condition. A dish of warm water inthe cage or amanufactuered bird bath, whuch fits on th outside of the cage on the door opening will serve the pupose well., Remember to bath the bird early enough to dry out before roosting for the night.

Moulting:- is when the birds looses its feather gradually, at the same time new feathers wil appear. This usually in the months before the breeding season. A moulting tnic can be given at this time ti aid growth of new feathers.

Toenails:- overgrown claws need to be clipped but great care needs to be taken not to cut into the blood vein that runs into the nail if necessary take the bird to a vet. A concrete perch in the cage can prevent over grown claws by wearing them down constantly.

Mites:- cause itching and loss of weight, thse are usually Red Mite and a spray especially for birds is available. If at any time your bird seems unwell, loss of appatite, listless and feathers flufed up, keep it warm in the region 80 derees farenheit and get help from a vet. Covering at night  where a room is adequatley warm but once the practice is started it should not be stopped as birds like routine and not change!

Cage Flooring:- It is natural for birds to chew and sand sheet can get shredded. Please be careful as I have lost bird with problem from eating sand sheets. Sand glued to paper  is not a natural product and I don't like to use it and don't recomend it I recomend loose sand or wood chip for flooring  as this is clean and absorbent as well as a natural product.

 
Degus
Introduction

Degus (pronounced day-goo) are small (approx. 6 inches in length plus another 6 inches of tail, weighing about 1/2 a pound), rodent-like animals from South America and are closely related to the guinea pig and chinchilla. They look rather like large gerbils, although, degus are not actually rodents at all. They are more closely related to rabbits than gerbils.

Degus come from the lowland, west coast plains of Chile and up through the Andes mountains. They live in large social colonies much like prairie dogs and they nest and store food under rocks or hedges.

Degus can live to be around 15 years old in the wild, but in captivity their life span is often shortened because it is hard to replicate their specialized diet of bulbs, twigs, etc. Degus are also prone to cataracts and mouth diseases. Degus behave much like gerbils. They take naps throughout the day, they play with each other, and they like to dig. Degus are more vocal, though, rather like guinea pigs. They make a variety of noises including weeping, warbling with happiness, and shrieking when alarmed.

Housing

We recommend keeping degus in pairs, as degus are highly social animals. For a pair, a 15 gallon aquarium or bigger (with a tight-fitting screen lid) is advisable, or, you can also use those large wire cages with ramps often used for chinchillas and ferrets. You should include a water bottle and a food dish. For bedding, definetely use Carefresh or some other non toxic litter. You can give the degus cardboard boxes to hide in with tissue paper to make a nest with. Things to chew on like toilet paper rolls are fun to play with and keep their teeth worn down. If the cage is large enough, you can put some non toxic branches for them to run around on. You can also supply them with a tail-safe wheel to run on. Degus have very fragile tails, you can't pick them up by it like you can with gerbils. A degu has the ability to shed its tail much like a lizards, but a degu's doesn't grow back.

Feeding and Health

Degus have slightly more specialized diets than other common pets firstly because they can't digest sugars. Their species has developed in a part of the world where their foods do not usually contain sugars, and so their bodies have evolved and can not digest the sugar because they've never needed to. They can become diabetic if fed too many sugars, which eventually leads to cataracts. We recommend feeding simply a guinea pig mix, along with hay. An occasional treat could be pieces of sweet potatoes, carrots, a few sunflower seeds, or a bit of peanut. Don't give your degus any fruit (or else very minimal amounts) or any other sugar-holding treats. Try to avoid starchy foods also. Some people just stick with the mix and hay diet and don't give treats. Whatever works for you is fine as long as the degu is kept healthy.

Degus are also prone to mouth diseases, their water should be changed daily or at least every couple of days.

Your degu's teeth shold be an orange-yellow color, not white. If they are white, he is probably very sick. The coloration is due to the fact that the chlorophyll in the greens that they eat reacts withan enzyme in their bodies and produces an orange organic fluid in their saliva.

Degus benefit from a weekly bath in chinchilla dust just like chinchillas do. Simply put some of the dust in a wide dish and let them roll around in it, and their fur and skin will be much healthier and cleaner.

Sexing and Breeding

Deciding the sexes of degus is much harder than other rodents. The most distinguishing characteristic is the spacing between the urethra and the anus. In the female, the urethra and anus are very close together, while in the male a bit of space can be seen between these openings. In mature animals, the male urethra takes on more of a penile shape, while the female urethra is more conical. Female Degus are usually larger than male ones. Degus become sexually mature at the age of 6-9 months, although there have been reported cases of 8-9 week old females being impregnated. Degus have a fairly long gestation period - about 90 days - and the young are born fully furred and with their eyes open. The average litter size is 5 or 6. Both parents help care for the young. Degu pups stop nursing at around 4 weeks, and can usually be safely weaned at 5 or 6 weeks old.

Degus, like gerbils, have a post-partum estrus, which means they can mate as soon as they give birth. If they do not mate at that time, they will probably not come into estrus again until after the babies are weaned.

Gerbils

Gerbil Care Sheet

 

Gerbils are easily tamed and will bite less then their cousins, the Hamster. Gerbils have a very gentle attitude and are not easily scared or startled like the Hamster. They are very active, social and playful animals! They are not nocturnal like their Hamster Cousins, so they are playing during the day and at night! They love to sleep together in groups as well! Gerbils are very social and are comfortable in pairs, unless you are wanting to breed, keep only the same sex in the cage together. Please remember, if plan on keeping two together, then they should be purchased at the same time so they could be raised together!

Housing

Gerbils can adapt to any type of small animal cage. The most important thing to remember that the cage needs to allow plenty of room for the Gerbil to play and burrow. So a wire bottom cage is not appropriate for Gerbils! The SuperPet CritterTrials and Starter Homes are good prepackaged cage purchase choice. But if you can afford it, the best cage for a gerbil is a long aquarium, such as a 20 gallon long tank. The 20 Long will house up to 4-6 Gerbils. This will provide the gerbil with a chew proof cage that can be filled deep with a layer of comfy bedding that they can dig and burrow through. You can hide pieces of PVC pipe/ or SuperPet Tunnels in the bedding for them to run and play through, satisfying their natural instinct. You can also purchase a tank top to secure on top of the tank. Tank tops are wire tops that secure to the top of the aquarium. If you are just buying 1 - 2 Gerbils then a 10 gallon tank and top set up is sufficient.

Bedding

Gerbils should kept in Aspen, CareFresh or shredded newspaper bedding. Cedar is not safe for small animals due to the oils in the wood.  The Cedar is known to cause respiratory damage and even death in small animals. Pine Bedding, some experts say yes it is safe while others say no. Many Breeders will use Aspen while others are still using Pine Shavings.

Feed

It is HIGHLY recommended that you feed your Gerbil high quality of food. The reason why is because the higher quality of food has the necessary vitamins and minerals in them for your Gerbil. The lower end food lines that the Super Chain Stores and Grocery store sells contains only fat and fillers, nothing for nutritional value! For example, you do not want to feed you and your family nothing but candy every day for the rest of your life. You will end up having health problems and die at a younger age. This is what you are doing if you feed low end food to your pet!! You will find that by feeding your pet the better food will improve its life span and will show more signs of being healthy! And a lot of the times, the Pet Stores are cheaper on the better food products then Super Discount Chain Stores. Remember that this pet is part of your family now! Remember to feed daily the Gerbil/Rodent Block seed mix.

You can offer your Gerbil vegetables only in small amounts. Vegetables contains moisture and too much moisture can cause digestive problems. Also remember to remove any uneaten vegetables at the end of the day. You can also provide bread, in small amounts, also, Hay such as Timothy as well to the gerbil as a treat. Chew toys and treats should be given to gerbils also. You can place paper towel rolls in the cages so the gerbils can chew and play with it.

Provide fresh water at all times!

Tid Bits

With PROPER care Gerbils can live 3-4 years on the average. Now if you are doing minimal care and feeding low grade foods then your Gerbil's life span is cut in half to 6 months to 1 year.

 

Never lift a gerbil or pull it by its tail.  The tail is very fragile. They should be picked up slowly by cupping the body in both hands. Gerbils can jump, so be careful when holding them.

 

Gerbils go thru stages as it grows older, just like children to teenagers then into adult hood! Every gerbil is different in their personality! Be patient and respectful toward your gerbil and do not let a nip scare you away.

 

Gerbils are very curious and playful creatures! Gerbils love to dig, burrow, and run in wheels/balls. They also love to chew and they will constantly will chew on anything they can. So provide lots of chew toys for them! The chew toys will help keep their teeth cut down!!

 
Common diseases in rabbits.

Viral Haemorrhagic Disease

Bunny Burrows has had over 300 hundred rabbits vaccinated against this killer disease during the past twelve months. It is because Bunny Burrows feels so strongly about the need to vaccinate against this disease, that we asked Fort Dodge, the company who produce the Cylap vaccine (the vaccine used to protect against VHD) to write an article about it. If you have a rabbit, please take the time to read the following article and if you have any queries you can either e-mail us or contact your local vet.
Viral haemorrhagic disease (VHD) is a major killer of rabbits. It first occurred in 1992 in the UK having migrated from China where originated in 1984.
The first signs of VHD are often a dead rabbit in the cage. It may have been bright and normal just hours previously but the progression of this disease is so fast that they can die very quickly.
The incubation period (time between the rabbit encountering the virus and disease developing) is short between 12-36 hours. Signs of disease are sudden death, elevated temperature (>41°C), not eating, dullness, lying flat on stomach, convulsions, paralysis, groans or cries, breathing difficulties and a bloody discharge from the nose. Several of these signs can occur at once but it is important to mention that these are not exclusive signs of VHD and some other diseases can have the same clinical signs. The per-acute and acute forms of the disease are characterised by sudden death with blood possibly being seen from the nostrils. Chronic disease can be seen in some rabbits (usually 5-10% of those infected) where the virus causes severe jaundice, weight loss and lethargy. These rabbits usually die 1-2 weeks later, usually of liver failure. As with any illness veterinary advice should be sought as soon as possible.
In an outbreak a high percentage of the rabbits in a group are usually affected with high levels of mortality. The disease only seems to occur in rabbits over 40-50 days old. Rabbits under this age can become infected but do not seem to suffer the disease. the reason for this is not know. If an outbreak is suspected veterinary advice should be obtained as soon as is possible.
The virus survives in the environment for a long time. There is research showing that it lasts at least 105 days dried on cloth, 48 hours at 60°C (hotter than the hottest bath) and 225 days at 4°C (fridge temperature)
The virus can be spread by direct rabbit-rabbit contact but also through vectors such as birds, insects or other objects e.g. car tyres. There is evidence of VHD being carried long distances by these methods, notably escaping from an island off the Australian coast to the mainland.
Prevention through vaccination is the most effective option. There is currently only one vaccine available in the UK and this is Cylap. Cylap is a killed vaccine available from vets, with a single dose primary course in animals over 10 weeks followed by an annual booster (for animals younger than 10 weeks consult your vet).
VHD tends to be under reported as the rabbits die suddenly unlike myxomatosis where they tend to linger for a number of days, giving owners time to take them to the vets.
To sum up: VHD is a fatal viral disease of rabbits. It spreads easily and kills most of those it infects. The virus can survive for a long time in the environment and vaccination forms the mainstay of prevention.

Myxomatosis

Myxomatosis is a horrid disease that kills rabbits, whether it be rabbits in the wild or family pets. All rabbits living in the UK are potentially in danger of contracting the disease, which is caused by a virus spread by blood sucking insects, e.g.: fleas or mosquitoes. This means even if you have a house rabbit or live in a city centre, your pet could be at risk of contracting Myxomatosis.
Once a rabbit has been bitten, the virus multiplies in the skin and slowly, over a matter of days, the disease breaks out. The virus can remain alive in the blood of fleas for many months and it is by the over-wintering of fleas in rabbit burrows that the disease is maintained from year to year.
The very first signs include puffy swellings around the head and face. ‘Sleepy eyes’ are a classic sign along with swollen lips, tiny lumps on the inside of the ear and puffiness around the anus and genitalia. Within a day or so, the swellings can become so severe that it results in blindness with some distortion around the face, mouth, ears and nose.
Sadly in most cases of Myxomatosis the rabbit will die or have to be put to sleep within 12 days. Occasionally, animals can survive longer or overcome the disease with the skin swellings persisting for weeks or months after infection and often develop into severe scaling, scabbing and scarring on the head and body.
Rabbits that suffer from Myxomatosis are often affected with another disease called Pasteurellosis. Unfortunately, most rabbits carry the bacterium which causes Pasteurellosis which means rabbits firstly suffer from Myxomatosis and then develop pneumonia, due to this bacterium. In such cases, the pneumonia can also lead to death, as it is almost impossible to control this disease in the presence of Myxomatosis.
The good news is that Myxomatosis can now be prevented by use of a vaccine and control of insect parasites. Vaccination will be performed by your veterinary surgeon and is usually given in two portions: Most of it is injected under the skin but a smaller dose will be injected into the skin. This dual procedure ensures the development of optimum protection against Myxomatosis.
In order to maintain your rabbit’s protection, boosters need to be given annually. Most Myxomatosis cases in Britain occur in the late summer, autumn and early winter months, therefore the best time to vaccinate is May or June for optimum protection. You should, however, discuss with your vet whether you live in a high-risk area, and if so you should probably have your rabbit vaccinated twice yearly.
Flea and mosquito control is important and may involve not only keeping wild rabbits away from pet animals but also positive use of flea control measures such as sprays, dips and insect repellent strips. Do not forget to treat your other pets, like dogs and cats, for fleas – they can also potentially transmit the virus!
To sum up: Myxomatosis is a killer disease and unless treated, will result in death. It spreads easily and quickly amongst the rabbit population. Vaccination and insect control are the keys to prevention.

Flystrike

FLYSTRIKE KILLS RABBITS

Flystrike happens when adult flies lay their eggs in faeces-soiled fur around the rabbit's bottom. Within 12 - 24 hours the eggs hatch into maggots which feed on the rabbit by burrowing into its flesh. Sounds awful doesn't it? IT IS!!! Flystrike is often FATAL.
Examine your rabbit every morning and evening and check that their fur is clean and dry and not matted. If your bunny does not keep it's bottom clean, then clean it for them using fragrance free baby wipes. Change their bedding daily and make sure the rest of their home is clean and dry. The best form of prevention is to use a suitable fly repellant available from your vet or pet store, Bob Martin have one on the market.