Volume 5, Issue 2 - May 2005
Protect Your Rabbit Against the Hidden Dangers of Summer
Summer presents some unique dangers to our rabbits. Prevention is best, but should your rabbit be the victim of any of these dangers, contact a veterinarian familiar with rabbits immediately. Some of these dangers include: heat stress, fly strike, cuterebra, ingestion of fur/wool.
Heat
Stress
DANGER: Heat is a major threat
to rabbits. Direct sun at any
temperature and temperatures
over 80 degrees are dangerous.
Even if you have air conditioning,
it is possible that you will
lose electricity, so don’t
count on it to protect your rabbits
when you are away. Panting, wet
nose, and weakness indicate heat
stress.
PREVENTION: Basements are often cooler than the rest of the house. If you have a basement, or a lower floor, you might want to move the rabbits there during the day when you’re away. (This is not appropriate in some parts of the country where basements are damp, gloomy places. But here in Colorado, basements are often part of the finished home and are dry, in any case.)
Other things you can do to help your rabbits stay cool:
- Freeze a water-filled, plastic, gallon jug and leave it with your rabbits during the daytime.
- Provide a large ceramic tile or flag stone to help absorb heat from the rabbits when they lie on it.
Ensure an adequate supply of drinking water. Never leave a rabbit exposed to direct sunlight--be certain that shade won’t move off as the sun’s direction changes, or draw the drapes.
FIRST AID: Move rabbit to a cool area. Wipe ears with cold water or alcohol. Place plastic bags filled with ice on either side of the rabbit. Don’t leave your rabbit to rest! Get veterinary care quickly.
Fly
Strike
DANGER: Flies lay eggs
on the droppings in litter boxes
or on any wound on a rabbit,
including a surgical incision.
Maggots hatch, dig through the
rabbit’s skin, and proceed
to eat the flesh, destroying
the rabbit at an amazingly rapid
rate.
PREVENTION: Keep your rabbits indoors in a fly-free environment. Keep your rabbits clean, especially in the genital area. Keep their litter box clean. Don’t let your rabbits dig in compost piles or any place where maggots might be. Check your rabbit all over, especially in the genital area, every morning and evening for signs of maggots moving under the skin.
FIRST AID: Get your rabbit to a good rabbit-veterinarian fast.
Cuterebra
DANGER: The cuterebra fly, common
in Colorado, has an unusual life
cycle, but the larvae end up
under the skin of the rabbit
(in some cases, in a nostril,
or even in the brain). There,
it creates a small breathing
hole that becomes crusted with
the waste from the larva. It
absorbs nourishment, without
destroying its host, and eventually
leaves through the breathing
hole. There are two dangers from
the cuterebra: 1) infections
can occur in the pocket where
the cuterebra larva was, and
2) if the larva is crushed, the
rabbit may have an allergic reaction
causing him to go into anaphylactic
shock.
PREVENTION: Keep your rabbit indoors. Check them for lumps anywhere on the body, but don’t mess with a lump if you find one.
FIRST AID: Take your rabbit to a good rabbit veterinarian to have lumps diagnosed and dealt with.
Ingestion
of fur/wool, especially during
moltings
DANGER: Rabbits groom as cats
do, thereby ingesting hair, especially
when they are molting. Unlike
cats, rabbits are physically
incapable of vomiting, so if
the hair fails to pass, and begins
collecting as a hairball, it
can eventually create a mass
in the stomach making it impossible
for the rabbit to eat. Veterinarians
usually recommend surgery at
this point, although we have
had good success with a non-surgical
treatment.
PREVENTION: Feed a high fiber pellet such as Oxbow’s “Bunny Basics T” and never let your rabbits be without hay. Limit the amount of vegetables, so they don’t get too full to eat hay. Keep them well groomed, and give them a papaya tablet once or twice a day, increasing this to as much as three or four tablets twice a day, if you see pills strung together with hair.
FIRST AID: If your rabbits’ pills (droppings) are getting smaller, give them several papaya tablets several times a day, and gently massage the stomach (which is high in the abdomen, partly under the “V” of the rib-cage. See a veterinarian immediately if a rabbit stops eating. See a veterinarian soon if the pills aren’t getting larger.
