Rabbit questions

feelinggood_2

Loopy_Girl wrote: »

Well they do get moisture from hay and veg but really should be drunking water too. Max drinks anything from 1-2cm a day from his bottle.

What is Bunbun's wee and poo like? Is there plenty wee and it shouldn't be that offensive a smell. Poops should be like raisin Poppets unless there are the ones that get eaten and they haven't been.

Have you mentioned this to the vet if you have ever been?

To tempt bunnies to drink you can add a little cranberry or apple juice to the water.

Her first lot of injections with me are due in November, so I'll mention it. Wee and poo is normal, doesn't smell as long as her litter tray is cleaned out regularly. Just like my last rabbits, only he drank a 1/3 of a bottle a day!

BabyKat

I haven't noticed this thread before
I have 4 rabbits all bred by myself. I have 2 english butterfly crosses who were hand reared from 3½ weeks old and i have nother 2 bred this year.
They are black and white dotty, black and white and black and white dotty and grey and white they are really lovely.
I am lucky as my hubby makes their hutches. They eat loads of hay which i get froma local farmer for £4 a bale and straw for £1.50 a bale.
It is a bit of a nightmare in the summer gettting rid of the bedding but in winter i put it on a local farmers ground before it is ploughed..lol

feelinggood_2

Also, does it matter that BunBun eats straw? She loves hay and gets loads of that, but I keep catching her eating straw. She is a very weird rabbit.

lbt_2

Hi feelinggood

I was wondering the same thing. I thought that if he was going to eat it perhaps I should just use hay as bedding instead of straw (as well as the straw in the holder).

Also, I spoke to a lady in the petshop and she said that you shouldn't use hay or straw from farms because it hasn't been treated for bugs etc? But I would have thought that hay and straw sold from farms would be better BECAUSE it hasn't been treated??? Can anyone help? :huh:

Thanks

troo

My vet told me not to use straw because it's sharp and may poke into eyes, it's not bad for them to eat. Maybe you can cut it up or something? I always buy hay.

The hay comes from the farm I checked with the vet (when one of our new guinea pigs had mites) and he said it's a myth that they get mites from hay. Animals that have mites have had them from birth, caught from the mother. No-one seems to know where mites come from originally, a bit like head lice on humans

Loopy_Girl

I was told that straw is very hard to digest for bunnies. I just get hay and put a huge pile in his bedroom to sleep on and also a big pile in his living room to munch. Straw is very sharp as troo said and one wrong move and they could poke their eyes. Hay isn't any more expensive than straw so I would just finish what you have and then get hay.

ClareEmily

You should get good quality hay (not from a pet shop) timothy hay is very good.

We get ours from here: http://www.willowwarren.co.uk/

We get the medium box deals

Straw hasn't got the nutrient content that hay has.

ClareEmily

lexuslass wrote: »

thank you ClareEmily

No, unfortunately we don't know why she died... her sister (apart from looking really down) seems ok...we have been keeping our eyes on her. It is so sad because they would always be with each other and would snuggle up to each other!

I am glad to hear that rabbits will accept another one - I have always had rabbits since I was a child myself but had never had two together

I had thought of rehoming a rabbit and will look at the links you have given me

Thanks again!

Hi there

That's quite ok hope you bunny gets a new friend soon.

Have a read of this, if your rabbit just stopped eating, sat hunched up then suddenly died it maybe this. We lost two rabbits as we didn't know anything about this, but now we know the signs to look out for.

http://www.greenwichrabbitrescue.com/gistasisthesilentkille.htm

Do you also have a rabbit savvy vet?

Some really useful leaflets here about everything to do with bunnies:

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/resources/index.php?section=leaflets.html

Clare x

ClareEmily

lbt wrote: »

Thanks for all the information and links Claire.

Timothy Hay seems to be the best, doesn't it? The link you posted charges quite a lot of postage, where does everyone else get their hay from?

Thanks

Claire x

Yes tell me about it, our bun costs us a small fortune, not very money saving, but one happy spoilt rabbit.

BreakinEven

Random question as I don't even know if the product is made anymore.....

The bunny is on cage rest after being neutered as she is hyper when out so to avoid pulling anything the vet advised to rest her. Now despite having lots of toys in her hutch she is systematically removing fur from one of her hind legs which looks like it is a bit sore.

My folks have a tin of red ointment that is a general antiseptic cure all for animals (kind of a pet germolene) but have had the tin donkey's years. Anyone know what this is called? My folks are away so I can't ask them.