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BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum DIET & CARE Suggestions for Holiday Care

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    • Muchelle
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        So, soon Kuro and I will be leaving to go have a couple of weeks at our usual spot on the mountains. He’s been there with me two times already but the previous two times he always stayed in a small pen with me on the first floor (the first because he was too young, the second because he was unwell). This time, since he is feeling fine and he’s not a baby anymore, I’m planning to let him have a bigger pen in the ground floor’s bedroom.

        Being it a house in the countryside, there are more insects on the ground floor – especially flies, spiders and sometimes horseflies.
        His pen will be cleaned every day as it always is, so flies and their eggs shouldn’t be a problem, I am mostly worried about spiders because even if I will clear them out on day 1, they will be back. 

        I have read on the forum that in case I see bumps or lumps on his nose or ears I can use a bit of ice to check if it’s a bite, but I wonder if you would recommend me buying any product to use in case he’s bitten? 
        Also, I’m planning to clean the room with a mix of water and vinegar to disenfect it and try to make it unpleasant for the bugs, do you think the bugs won’t care?

        (My standard holiday emergency kit is metacam, mylicon, baytril and chamomile eye drops + we do have one exotic pets vet there, but I don’t trust him as much as I do with my regular vets from the hospital, we’ll be 6 hours away from home)


      • Q8bunny
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          I don’t have any point of reference for spiders (I’m allergic but where I live now, I almost never see one). However with bunnies, the biggest danger is flystrike. Flies can lay eggs in the bun’s skin (a common location is around the anus) and then maggots hatching and eating can quickly kill the rabbit. A clean environment doesn’t necessarily prevent this.

          Can you get a hold of flystrike spray? It basically repels flies but is safe to use on bunny bums.

          Another option might also be attaching a mosquito net all the way around Kuro’s pen.

          In terms of natural remedies, fresh walnut leaves/branches repel insects, as does fresh or dried lavender. Ditto for tomato plants. Don’t know if you can get your hands on any from a nearby garden.

          Hopefully another member can offer more helpful ideas.


        • vanessa
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            I’ve had a few cases of flystrike with my bunnies. There is a product that I bought off Amazon, from the UK. Beafar. It’s an ivermectin spray. I still had 3 bunnies with flystrike. One bunny got it twice. I do not believe one can prevent flystrike – other than keeping one’s bunnies indoors and away from flies. Using ivermectin, it kills the larvae after they have burrowed into the skin. So you still have dead larvae to extract. There is another one that requires a prescription. It is not tested in the USA, so I couldn’t get a presctiption. I tried the natural fly repellents. Citronella, lemongrass, catnip oil, lavender, rosemary, you name it. Clean litter boxes don’t prevent it either. The flies are attracted to rabbits. Clean or not. A mosquito net like Q8bunny said is a good idea. The trouble with spotting the bites, is – that’s not how the larvae enter the bodie. The eggs are laid on or near the rabbit, and the larvae crawl and eat through the skin. Only once did I see the pinhole from where the larvae ate their way in. So tiny that I would have missed it if I hadn’t known what to look for. But I still wasn’t sure what to do about it. It took 3 weeks for the larvae to develop into noticable lumps. They can do that under the skin, or of they are ingested, they eat their way out of the belly, to the subcutaneous layer to develop into that horrid warble. Forget about tryign to repel the flies. Don’t let bunnies and flies be in the same space.


          • Muchelle
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              vanessa: In that place we only have house-flies (and the occasional horse-fly, that are killed on sight if inside home), is it possible to be infested by them too?? D:

              Q8bunny: oh we’re in open countryside, so plenty of walnuts, tomatoes, lavender etc etc. We also have alpha alpha fields nearby, I might steal some to dry it and make some treats. I will get a net to stay on the safe side, hopefully he won’t find a way to chew through it!


            • vanessa
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                No it’s not the housefly. It’s the 28 different species of bot fly. Sometimes we cal them horseflies. I can’t tell the difference between them visually. But they know which of them likes rabbits. Sorry to get all dramatic. My experience with flystrike was just aweful. Perhaps the horseflies would bite the rabbits. It’s the bot flies you really want to avoid. And they are found in areas with cattle, because they like horses, sheep, and rabbits.


              • Muchelle
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                  Oh, I totally agree with being dramatic! After what this furball’s put me through, I admit being overly worried about him

                  We don’t have any farms with animals close by (only my neighbor has meat rabbits and chickens), but to be extra sure, I will also buy glued paper specific for the flies, so that if the occasional horse-fly won’t be immediately annihilated I’ll have some backup.

                  He’s also undergoing anti-parassite treatment (we started in April and will end in September) with Bayer’s Advantage for kittens. I hope that will discourage further any possible bug wanting to do things with his delicious body


                • Muchelle
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                    We might have a problem worse than spiders and flies… writing here again instead of making up another topic!

                    Today we went to the vet’s for Kuro’s vaccine shot and checkup and he is very very stressed. He stressed mostly in the car since he knows that car = bad stuff and also I think he’s possibly suffering for the temperature change between inside and outside, but worsened by the high levels of stress.

                    We’ll have to face a 5 hours trip to the holiday place, I was wondering if like for cats and dogs there is a spray or something to keep him calmer… or if there are some natural remedies, like herbs to put in his carrier or similar. The vet technician that I talked to suggested Bach’s flowers, but I don’t believe in those or homeopathy.

                    EDIT: I have already tried to spread chamomile in his carrier, he doesn’t care at all about that…


                  • vanessa
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                      I have heard that lavender oil on the ears calms them down. But my bunnies don’t like it, and I don’t like the ingredients in scented oils. How long was the car ride? My bunnies were always stressed at first about car rides, but they got use to it pretty quyickly. I took a pair on a 5-hour drive, and 5-hours back. A small dark hidey hole like a bx inside his carrier, might make him feel better. Maybe fresh lavender leaves?


                    • Q8bunny
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                        There’s something called Pet Remedy, I think. A spray that helps chill furballs out. I used to use it for Chewie in his carrier when he was tiny.


                      • Muchelle
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                          Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll look into the lavender ^^ uhm, the car ride will be about 6 hours (travel + stops) and he’ll be in his carrier, that is a hard plastic cat carrier with removable top, so that I can remove the lid and have him move around some during the stops. It’s dark inside and wide enough for him to lay down and turn. The usual set-up would be an absorbant sheet on the bottom, then his blanket, then over that some hay and a few treats. I wish he wouldn’t be so fussy about being held… maybe if he was harness-trained he could have more freedom during the trip, cause we’re going with a camper.

                          I think he won’t relax at all during the travel… he’s too stuck on the car = vet equation

                          Rescue Remedy is the thing that the technician recommended, but I’ve read it’s a Bach Flowers thingie… I’ve read that it works, but I don’t trust this stuff at all >__>

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                      Forum DIET & CARE Suggestions for Holiday Care