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Spay&Neuter / Surgery/Anesthesia / Grooming / Housing / Diet / GI / Diseases / LINKS & More Books & Book Store |
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Sterilizing your pet rabbit is highly recommended to prevent problems down the road. Male rabbits that that are not neutered have a tendency to fight and with rip and tear each others scrotums leading to surgical intervention. Intact males will also be difficult to litter box train because they have a tendency to fecal and urine mark their environment. Intact females will also be difficult to litter box train and if left intact throughout their lives have a high potential of developing uterine cancer as older rabbits. If your rabbit is meant to be a housepet, and is healthy, there really isn't any good reason to not spay or neuter. SURGICAL/ANESTHETIC RISK or STRESS:
Prior to any anesthetic procedure all animals should have a complete physical exam and pre-anesthetic blood testing to rule out any existing organ disease. With young animal that have been properly screened the risk is minimal. After any stressful event (surgery, anesthesia, pain, disease, environmental change...) it is important to monitor your pet for normal appetite and fecal production. I advise my clients that one of the most important clues to the health of a rabbit is the poop. Healthy rabbits eat well throughout the day and make round fecal balls of the normal size. Rabbits that are stressed for any reason will sometimes stop eating or defecating (pooping). You may see that the fecal balls are smaller then normal, or they may be absent all together. If noted, this is a serious and potentially life threatening condition that should be addressed immediately. As veterinarians one of the things that we can do to help reduce this potential is to provide pre and post surgical pain control to minimize the stress on your bunny. At home, if you notice a reduction in feces or change in appetite, you should contact your veterinarian immediately. Typically, we'll try to adjust the pain control and if still not eating we'll often introduce syringe feeding for a short time to jump start their GI tract again. The syringe formula will consist of a slurry of grass hay pellets, water and vegetable baby food. It is also important to provide your bunny with plenty of fiber to ensure that the gut works properly. Fiber will be discussed further under the diet section. My intent is not to scare you away from elective or necessary surgery, but rather to advise of potential problems in an effort to ensure that your bunny is properly monitored and cared for following surgery. The benefits of spaying and neutering your bunny far outweigh the small risk.
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All rabbits require regular grooming. They should
be brushed daily to remove loose hair and reduce the potential
of hairball ingestion and formation in the gut. Proper grooming
also entails regular toe nail trims. Rabbits have very sharp
nails and due to the shape of the nails they can't ever be entirely
dulled. But to keep their feet healthy the length should be controlled.
Many people consider teeth trimming to be a part of grooming.
I believe that if your rabbit requires a regular tooth trimming
it is not grooming, but rather, it is due to oral disease such
as malocclusion and this is a medical procedure. Teeth will be
discussed further below. Bathing is not normally recommended
for the healthy bunny. Rabbits are good at self cleaning and
all you really need to do to help is to brush them daily. Bathing
will cause enormous stress to your rabbit and for those with
thick coats it is difficult to get them dry down to the skin.
Wet fur can result in skin disease and other problems. The final
aspect of grooming involves checking for fleas if this is a problem
in your state. Over the counter flea and tick products should
not be used on rabbits. I have used Revolution successfully and
recommend this prescription product for prevention of fleas,
ticks, and mites and often use it to treat mites on rabbits and
guinea pigs. The product must be applied appropriately and dispensed
at the correct dosage for your rabbit. Never use your dog or
cat products on your rabbit. The product Frontline, safely used
in dogs & cats, is believed to cause health problems in rabbits
and is not recommended.
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The best way to house a rabbit is to litter
box train them and rabbit proof your house. They can then be
allowed to interact with the family. When unsupervised it is
a good idea to cage them to prevent destruction to your house
(they like to dig and eat carpet) and for their safety. Rabbits
should never be housed in a wire botton cage. Over time the
wire will result in sore feet and even foot wounds. The best
cage is the largest one you can afford and have room for and
should have a solid surface bottom. The cage can be lined with
newspaper or straw. I like to outfit the cage with a hay manger,
but be careful because if startled rabbits can potentially get
a foot or leg entrapped in the wire manger. The cage should also
contain a litter box with litter such as newspaper pellets or
straw. There is some though that pine shaving can be toxic to
rabbits and I don't recommend using them at this time. A salt
lick is not needed for rabbits. They do however need a water
source. Bottle watering rabbits is usually best because it prevents
them from wetting their fur while drinking. The cage should be
cleaned daily.
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Rabbis have a very sensitive gastrointestinal (GI) tract and many disease problems are associated with a poor diet causing GI dysfunction. The very best thing you can do for your rabbit is to have grass hay available at all time. Notice I said "grass" hay and not alfalfa hay. Alfalfa is much to rich for rabbits and very high in calcium which can result in urinary problems. The best types of hay are grass, either bermuda or timothy. Hay is an excellent source of fiber and not only helps to keep their GI tract working normally, but also provides them with fiber for chewing activity and tooth wear. In addition to hay, offer at least 1cup/5 lbs. body weight of leafy greens daily. Spring greens are often a good choice and can be purchased prepackaged. Greens such as the tops of most veggies, parsley, kale and collards are good choices. Iceberg lettuce is not a good food because it offers no nutritional value. Lastly, grass hay based pellets can be provided at about 1/4cup / 5 lbs. body weight daily. Pellets should not be the sole diet and should not be used in place of hay. Foods to avoid are the grain and sugar rich foods. These can result in obesity or diarrhea.
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Okay, based on the above information you may have gotten the idea that GI health is a big issue in rabbits and your correct. I often think of rabbits as little horses that can colic and have GI problems at the drop of a hat. The best way to treat GI problems is to avoid them by feeding the correct diet. Some of the more common problems include diarrhea, anorexia and gut stasis/lack of fecal production. If any of these problems are noted, your bunny must be examined by a veterinarian who will direct the treatment based on your specific pet's disease problems. An issue that I've seen occasionally occurs when an owner is concerned about potential diarrhea, but upon examination of the rabbit it is producing normal feces. With a through history we find that these rabbits are only producing a soft fecal pellet once daily and all else is normal. This is the best GI problem to have because it is normal. Rabbits produce a special type of feces that is only partially digested and stored in their cecum. About once daily they will pass this large soft pellet and eat it. The ingestion of this cecaltroph is a natural way of recycling B Vitamins and nutrients and is normal for bunnies. Some pet rabbits fed a rich diet will fail to consume their cecaltroph and owners often are concerned that this is diarrhea. It is not. True diarrhea is the abnormal consistency of all feces produced and will often cause fecal staining around the rectum and on the tail. This is a medical problem that should be addressed, cecaltrophy is not. Also, if your rabbit fails to eat the cecaltroph it will not cause The failure to eat (anorexia) and/or the failure to produce feces is a serious and potentially life threatening problem and all rabbits showing these signs should be examined by a veterinarian. Generally speaking the rabbits are treated with fluids, high fiber diet, medications to increase GI movement and pain medications. However, treatment will vary depending upon the primary cause of the illness. Home care often involves making a pellet slurry and syringe feeding several times daily until the rabbit eats voluntarily.
The images shown above are 2 x-rays of a rabbit abdomen, showning the importance of the G.I. tract (note the large cecum for hind gut fermentation).
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Teeth / Cancer / Obesity / Respiratory / Heat
Stress / Fly Strike / Organ
Disease /
1. GI - see above 2. TEETH:
3. CANCER: 4. OBESITY:
5. Upper Respiratory Infections (URI):
6. HEAT STRESS: 7. Fly Strike: 8. Organ disease:
9. Abscess 10. Fractured Spine |
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AEMV: Association of Exotic Mammel Veterinarians: http://aemv.org/ 1. The House Rabbit Society: an organization devoted to bunny care with many local clubs. If available in your area I highly recommend becoming a member. 2. Brambley Hedge - AZ rabbit rescue 3. The electronic zoo - NETVET: 4. Rabbit Coat Colors: 5. The British Rabbit Council Breed Photos: 6. American Breeders Association Rabbit Breed Photos: good source of photos. 7. Rabbit Clubs by State: 8. National 4-H Clubs: An excellent youth resource
with clubs for just about all animal activities ranging from
the rabbit club to the guide dog club. I highly recommend this
organization for children. It is a great way to interact with
others devoted to animals and to learn about each particular
species: 9. AHRS Litter Discussion: 10. dacross.net: An excellent dental web site with info. on rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas and dogs/cats. 11. Rabbit References - health and medicine 12. Backyard Bunny Barn - numerous links |
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Mail: littlecr@littlecrittersvet.com with questions or comments