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Flystrike ...a warning ...

B

bunnymadhouse

Wise Old Thumper
Please read my post on rainbow bridge about Snowtoes ... so sad :(

She was perfectly healthy ...no mucky bum to attract flies or anything ...:?

please read my post and if you dont know about flystrike ...and want to avoid a painful death for your bunny then please please look it up / google it and check your bun twice a day for fly eggs / maggots :(
 
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This is awful. It is my biggest fear. I have spray, netting, rearguard, the works but I am still paranoid... and rightly so it would seem :cry:
 
You can download or view the RWAF's Flystrike Leaflet Here

Rabbit has Flystrike
“Flystrike” is the common name for a condition called myiasis, which occurs when blow-flies lay eggs on rabbits (usually on soiled/moist fur) that hatch into maggots within hours. The maggots can literally eat the rabbit alive, and trigger severe shock and infection.

If you do find maggots on your rabbit, get your rabbit to the vet fast. You can pick off visible maggots with a pair of tweezers, but don't think that pulling off all visible maggots will solve the problem - some may have already got under the skin. We used to suggest dunking the rabbit's bottom in water to remove maggots, but several veterinary practices contacted us to point out that wet or damp fur is impossible to clip, so we now suggest that bathing is best avoided.

The main priority is getting the rabbit to the vet fast. Even with antibiotics and fluid therapy, the prognosis is fairly grim. The outlook is especially poor in cases where the maggots have eaten away a lot of tissue and the rabbit would need extensive surgery to remove maggots and diseased tissue.

Prevention is much better than cure. Any rabbit can suffer from flystrike (we have heard of a case in a bunny who had a wet patch on her side from lying against her water bottle, and the flies lay eggs there), but some rabbits are at particularly high risk.

If your rabbit is elderly; overweight; struggles to groom him/herself; has “sticky bottom” problems; urine scald; or any wounds or discharges (e.g. chronic runny eyes) you need to be especially careful. Rabbits must have their bottoms checked daily in warm weather; and if your bunny falls into a high-risk category talk to your vet about using “Rearguard” to protect him/her. Please check out our comprehensive article on flystrike here on the RWF website.
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Lspacehopper said:
Thanks for that Sooz. I've printed off Panacur and Vaccination leaflets from other sites and this is a good one to go with them. Cheers
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There are a tonne of other ones on the RWAF site which are really useful....I used to print them ut and pop them in the adoption packs :)
 
I'm so sorry :( You must be gutted :(

Can I just add that a perfectly healthy bun may seem healthy and in really good health - but we have seen with our own eyes, buns that are so healthy to us getting flystrike even with all the checks and rear-guarding. Out of all these buns that did get flystrike they all recovered as it was caught so very early - but, all those buns had tumours :cry::cry::cry: And we didn't know until later on :cry::cry:

I use the Summer Fly cream that you can get from vets or horse places - it's made for sheep and horses but is also great for buns :) They may end up with yellow bums but it's better that than the alternative:(
 
Jaypot said:
I'm so sorry :( You must be gutted :(

Can I just add that a perfectly healthy bun may seem healthy and in really good health - but we have seen with our own eyes, buns that are so healthy to us getting flystrike even with all the checks and rear-guarding. Out of all these buns that did get flystrike they all recovered as it was caught so very early - but, all those buns had tumours :cry::cry::cry: And we didn't know until later on :cry::cry:

I use the Summer Fly cream that you can get from vets or horse places - it's made for sheep and horses but is also great for buns :) They may end up with yellow bums but it's better that than the alternative:(
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what is that called ...i looked at something similar last year but didnt know if it was safe for buns :?
 
How can you check when you've got a bunny who won't let you pick her up? It's really easy checking Tarquin but I just can't get near Bella to check her - she kicks, bites and thrashes if I try and she's a big bunny.

Any suggestions as I know how important it is?
 
A lovely family adopted one of our little buns and they left him with us until they got back off their holiday. They had one other rabbit and their next door neighbour was looking after her for them.

On the day they got back, they came into the store to pick up little Splodge and looking at them I could see something wasn't right. The mum started crying....

When they'd got home they went to see their other bun and just looking at her knew something wasn't right. They realised it was flystrike and rushed her to the vets but nothing could be done :(

They were heartbroken and it brought tears to my eyes to see how devastated they were.

The thought of flystrike brings shivers to my spine :(
 
I do worry about this as I can't handle my girls at all - I put fly repellants on the patio, fly screen on the shed window, disinfect to get rid of odours every day, but I still occasionally find a bluebottle in there - I think they must crawl under the door or something :? Also try and keep your rabbits lean and fit - they are more active if they are slim, and there are less folds of skin for flys to go on unnoticed - plus they can eat their caecals better so don't get dirty.
 
Becca6 said:
How can you check when you've got a bunny who won't let you pick her up? It's really easy checking Tarquin but I just can't get near Bella to check her - she kicks, bites and thrashes if I try and she's a big bunny.

Any suggestions as I know how important it is?
Click to expand...

could you wrap her in a towel and cover her eyes while someone else checks her bottom? Mine usually calm down when their eyes are covered.
 
Becca6 said:
How can you check when you've got a bunny who won't let you pick her up? It's really easy checking Tarquin but I just can't get near Bella to check her - she kicks, bites and thrashes if I try and she's a big bunny.

Any suggestions as I know how important it is?
Click to expand...

if you manage to keep flys out of your house then you could get away with not checking

ive started burning insense sticks daily and havent seen a fly in my house for a good few weeks... well impressed :)
 
So sorry to hear about your little one :cry:

Was she EC positive by any chance do you know? My own observation is that flies seem to be attracted to otherwise healthy EC positive buns, I've seen a couple of cases of flies laying eggs on the side fur of buns like these. I wonder whether some EC buns have a certain 'odour' which makes them more likely to attract flies??
 
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