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News
20th July 2005
Rabbit Welfare Fund - Hot Weather Can Kill Pet Rabbits
While you're enjoying the mini heat wave, spare a thought for your rabbits who can easily get distressed in the heat. These tips should ensure that your rabbits’ enjoy the summer too:
Hutched rabbits
- Check your rabbits at least 3 times a day for evidence of discomfort or illness (see 'fly strike' below).
- Provide plenty of fresh cool water at all times
- Position hutches and runs in the coolest, shadiest parts of the garden, well out of direct sunlight.
- To lower the temperature in the hutch, freeze house bricks, or plastic bottles half-filled with water, wrapped in a towel to prevent burning, and place in the hutch.
- Use sun umbrellas to provide shade in the run, or buy a run cover and make sure your rabbit has access to an area where he can lie on cool earth.
- Ensure that the hutch is well ventilated with a secure wire mesh front to prevent the rabbit escaping, yet providing a safe area to hide if startled.
- A hand-held plant spray bottle can be filled with cool - but not cold - water, and used to gently spray your rabbits' ears and stomach if they appear in distress.
Rabbits kept in sheds
Sheds used to keep rabbits in should be kept cool by way of a water sprinkler on the roof, or by regular hosing down as often as possible, in addition to the points mentioned above.
If your rabbit is showing signs of distress, drape him in a wet tea- towel and take him straight to the vet.
Fly strike
Flystrike occurs when flies lay their eggs on rabbits. The eggs hatch into maggots which then eat away at the surrounding flesh. Certain species of fly (notably bluebottles) produce maggots capable of eating through intact skin. However, if the rabbit already has a break in the skin then any kind of maggot will be able to eat into the wound.
In warm conditions, the whole process from eggs being laid to maggots emerging can take just a few hours, so it is vitally important that rabbits are checked regularly. In the worst cases, there may be severe tissue loss where maggots have literally eaten the rabbit alive: sometimes maggots eat down to the bone in the hind legs or even into the abdomen.
The good news is that most cases of flystrike are preventable, but occasionally even the best kept bunny is afflicted. Prompt action is then vital to save the rabbit.
Preventing flystrike
- If your rabbits have had previous flystike, are obese, have arthritis, are old and frail, are long-haired, have wounds or draining abscesses then they are more at risk of contracting flystrike
- Don't allow your rabbit to get fat
- Be careful putting rabbits out on the lawn if they are unaccustomed - scoffing unaccustomed grass may lead to loose droppings and soiled bottoms on high risk warm summer days!
- High risk rabbits are safer indoors but daily bottom checks are still required
- Insect proof hutches and runs (e.g. by stapling net curtains over hutch fronts)
- Even houserabbits need to have their bottoms checked twice daily in warm weather
- If you find fly eggs on your rabbit, pick them off; check for concealed maggots; and step up your prevention programme. You should also seek vet advice at this point.
- Since summer 2002, a product has been licensed in the UK for use in rabbits to prevent flystrike (Rearguard, Novartis Animal Health). This is a liquid preparation that is applied to the rabbit, lasting for up to 10 weeks.
If you find maggots on your rabbit:
- This is an emergency, day or night: seek immediate veterinary attention.
- Remove obvious maggots with tweezers. Remember that there will probably be concealed maggots that have already eaten their way under the skin.
- Do NOT wash off the maggots with water as your rabbit's fur will need to be clipped and this is almost impossible to do successfully with wet or damp fur.
To read the full article on flystrike, Click Here
For further information contact the Rabbit Welfare Fund on 0870 046 5249, or visit www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk.
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