FLYSTRIKE - We Need Your HELP!!

IF YOU OWN A BUNNY PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY @ RWAF website www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk

Blowfly strike is a widespread, devastating and frequently fatal disease of rabbits. Those of you whose rabbit has suffered from the disease will know firsthand how unpleasant this condition can be. Despite being a common disease, there are still aspects of the condition we know relatively little about, such as what factors make certain rabbits more susceptible to blowfly strike than others.

We hope to be able to answer questions like this with your help. The Royal Veterinary College (University of London), with the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund’s support, have created a nationwide online survey for caring and responsible rabbit owners to complete. The survey is divided into two parts. The first part is designed gather together information about your rabbit, such as breed, sex, age, housing and diet. The second part need only be completed by owners whose rabbit suffers blowfly strike during the next few months (April to November).

We need as many rabbit owners as possible to fill out this survey, which should only take 10 minutes of your time, to help us identify those factors that are likely to make their rabbit more susceptible to blowfly strike. Please complete the first part of the survey now by visiting the RWAF website at www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk. The second part of the survey will be available very soon.

If you have any questions about the survey or worries about the disease please send me a pm and i'll get back to you asap.

Thank you very much indeed for your help!

IF YOU OWN A BUNNY PLEASE TAKE OUR SURVEY @ RWAF website www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk

:wave: I've already filled it in.

I've done it for one of my buns. Silly question coming up........Do you want one filled in for all bunnies (or as many as someone can manage) in a household or just one to cover the houseful of buns?

Done it

all done!

Done it.:wave:

Ive done one for everybun xXx

done 1 each for my 2 buns xx

is this the same one we did the other week??

Hi guys

Thank you so much for filling out the survey

Firstly - it would be greatly appreciated if you could fill out one or each bunny but obviously this can be quite time consuming!! The reason I ask is because each bunny matters to the way I'm interpretting the results - if you lose the will then as many as you can spare the time for and of course if one of them is unfortunate enough to contract flystrike make sure you fill out one for that bun.

Secondly - if you filled out a survey from a link via the RWAF email notices then you don't have to fill it put again, I very much appreciate the time and effort everyone is giving this work.

Thanks again to those who have already filled it out.

Keep your eyes peeled for those flies!!:shock:

Alex x

i have filled it out for my 3. i may fill it out for mums 2 if i get the chance. the rabbit i refered to who had fly strike did not die of it as was caught early but it was extreamly distressing and has since died of a different illness however if u wish to speak about it to me pm me. x

bunlover said:

i have filled it out for my 3. i may fill it out for mums 2 if i get the chance. the rabbit i refered to who had fly strike did not die of it as was caught early but it was extreamly distressing and has since died of a different illness however if u wish to speak about it to me pm me. x

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Likewise for me, my bun had flystrike before I got her and almost died of it but since I've had her she is in really good health with minimal risk of it occurring again without even the use of rearguard.

Hey everyone,

Thanks again for helping out with this project - it is going really well. I have seen many rabbits in practice with flystrike and this urged me to start this project to get some solid information about the disease.

You may or may not know that this disease in the veterinary world is considered a disease of sheep and therefore most of the research is about sheep!! Not only are we lacking research into the rabbit form of the disease but we have almost ZERO information about house rabbits and flystrike.

I will have all the results and information collated by Christmas time so hopefully by next summer both you guys (the owners) and us (the vets) together will know how to avoid this disease even further.

Just as a little add on - i've gone through the RWAF, www.thehayexperts.com and this forum because I what I really wanted was responsible rabbit owners; I have generally avoided advertising to other groups as I wanted solid evidence of owners who are generally aware of flystrike and some people indeed who go to lengths to prevent it, this will give me much better information about the disease as you guys know what you're looking for and keen to help!!

The response i've had to this research is amazing and only reassured me that it was a long time waiting to get it underway

Hope you and your bunnies are all well

Second Survey Ready To Go!!

Has your rabbit had flystrike this Spring / Summer?

We need your help to try and find new ways to prevent this happening in the future by filling out two surveys created by The Royal Veterinary College to try and isolate specific risk factors of the disease.

The first survey will take around 10 minutes to fill out and asks questions about your rabbit like age, gender and housing.

The second survey is asking about the circumstances under which your rabbit contracted flystrike like date it was diagnosed and if you went to see a vet.

By filling out these two surveys - you can hlep prevent other rabbits from suffering this distressing disease in the future.

Both surveys can be found on the Rabbit Welfare Association website at www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk and by filling out either survey you will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win some great gifts donated by both the RWAF and www.thehayexperts.com who are both supporting the project.

If you any worries about the survey or flystrike do not hesitate to PM me.

Alex

Do you not need to know how many bunnies haven't had flysrike from the people who filled in the original survey? :wave:

I will hopefully be sending out a short email to everyone who has filled in the original survey to ask if their bunny has had flystrike this year at the end of summer when i collate my data - and hopefully those who have already filled in the survey will remember it and want to go back and find out if they can fill in the flystrike survey.

You're right though it does rely upon those people who have already filled in the survey to let me know if they got flystrike as I have chosen not to ask those tho didn't get flystrike to fill in a second survey. I am purely assuming that if you don't fill in the second survey, you didn't get flystrike - hopefully together with the article I have in the Autumn issue of Rabbiting On, the email alerts sent out by the RWAF, this web forum and the emails sent to those people who have already filled in I will get a good reflection of those who have got flystrike this year without getting everyone to fill in another survey.

I hope this explains what I plan to do with the data and why i'm only asking for those people who have seen flystrike in their rabbits and not those who have been fly-free.

Alex