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Almost everything you need to know about pet care.
Rabbits - Diseases and Symptoms
Happily for you and your rabbit, there are effective, safe vaccines and treatments around to prevent most rabbit diseases. Unless your rabbit is protected it is susceptible to infection from many different sources. Prevention is better than the cure! Good nutrition is the key to a healthy rabbit.
Common problems and diseases include:
Myxomatosis - a Viral Infection of Rabbits
Myxomatosis is a virus infection that causes puffy swellings around the eyes,
symptoms generally leading to blindness, caused by infected fleas biting your
rabbit. Sadly, even with nursing and medication nearly all infected rabbits will
die from the disease. There is, however, a safe and effective vaccine available
to prevent this disease.
Overgrown Incisors - Overgrown Front Teeth in Rabbits
Unless your rabbit receives the correct feeding regime it will be prone to the teeth not being worn down. The incisors may be ground down or even removed under anaesthetic. Overgrown molars can be filed but only under anaesthetic.
Rabbit Skin Problems
Ticks, Fleas, Mange, and Ear Mites can all infect rabbits. There are effective preventative treatments for all these. Abscesses obtained from fighting may require minor surgery or a course of antibiotics.
Uterine Cancer in Rabbits
Uterine cancer is a fairly common condition of older, unspayed, does. Treatment involves major surgery. Early spaying is a preventative method for this condition.
Viral Haemorrhagic Disease in Rabbits
Viral haemorrhagic disease is a deadly disease for rabbits. Symptoms of this deadly disease are loss of appetite, lethargy and nose bleeds. The virus can be transmitted from other animals, pet food, bedding and clothing. Most infected rabbits will die quite quickly of this disease. Again, there is an effective vaccine to prevent this disease.
Maggots on Rabbits
We advise you to protect your rabbit from the misery of a maggot infestation! Particularly between April and October when the weather is hot and humid in your rabbit hutch.
An infestation can happen at any time of the year, particularly in hutch environmental
conditions where hygiene is poor. Even if hutch conditions are good rabbits may
develop soiled rear ends and attract flies to the hutch.
Did you know that flies can cause a maggot infestation on your pet rabbit that can cause serious damage or even cause the death of your pet? Flies instinctively lay eggs anywhere that will provide their maggot offspring with food. The eggs can hatch in as short a time as 12 hours; in the normal fly life cycle the maggots pupate in just a few days and produce new adults.
Don’t
wait for flies to cause a maggot infection in your Rabbits. Ask your vet about
protecting your pet rabbit from damage or disease caused by maggots. Rearguard
by Novartis, is one of the prescription treatments and is available from the
vet. It is a liquid preventative treatment with enough for ten weeks protection.
You will need to apply Rearguard regularly to ensure maximum protection. Rearguard
contains cryomazine, an insect growth regulator, which prevents maggots developing
to the stage that causes the serious damage to your rabbit. Rearguard is an easy
to apply prescription only liquid medicine for the prevention of blowfly strike
(Lucilia sericata) in domestic rabbits for 10 weeks after dosing.For further
information contact your local vet practice or write to Novartis Animal Health,
UK Ltd, New Cambridge House, Litlington, Nr Royston, Herts. SG8 0SS. Tel: 0845
757 3912.
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