Really disapointed...

Some of you might remember my thread a while ago about me donating my birds to a bird/animal park on the island... I finally got round to visiting them today and they're all fine! I even managed to spot my canaries zooming round the tropical house.

I was really disapointed when I got to pets corner though. The rabbits and guinea pigs had been mixed (I'm sure they weren't last year) and their NZ white bun obviously had myxi (I reconised the nose issue from Cloud, plus her eyes looked sore). I asked the keeper what was wrong with her and she told me she'd caught her nose on the fence and got in a fight with another rabbit. :shock: I couldn't really say much because it was during 'Pets Corner' feeding time so there were a lot of people about. I did wonder if she knows that the rabbit's not well but has been told to tell people a less worrying story. I got a bit upset though when she lifted this poor bun up and helf it out for a load of little children to prod and poke.



There were also three other buns in the enclosure with her, two of which were only 11 weeks old and one looked like it had a sore nose too -





I've always raved about the park to anyone that'll listen but this has really annoyed me. I wouldn't have dreamt of prodding Cloud on her sore nose, let alone picked her up and let dozens of little children give her a good old poking too.

I'm going to send them an email tonight and double check that they know what the problem is and don't genuinely think they're injuries from the fence! :roll:

aww poor buns

Ugh, my post didn't post

Sorry to hear this Georgie, i wonder if the baby buns have even been vacc'd?

As you say, looks very similar to Cloud's nose, so i hope they weren't just being naieve.

Good grief - that's awful :shock::shock: I would definitely send them an email. Before Cloud's story I would not have recognised nodular myxi, but I would have know that bun was ill and would certainly not have been offering him for an infants' come-and-pet-the-bunny session.

I agree with sending an email, to the company including some fact sheets and maybe pics of buns with myxi so they can see the similarities.

If they know it is an illness I am appalled that they haven't let the poor thing rest and are still letting it be poked and prodded ect

Please keep us up to date and let us know what happens :wave:

I'm glad you guys agree with me, I thought I might have been being a bit OTT about the picking up part.

I guess Fluffy (they have really amazing names, these bunnies :roll::lol must have been vacc'd as she's been there for a few years now and it looks to me like she's had a nodule on her nose which has since fallen off. I suppose an unvacc'd bun wouldn't live long enough to get to the point where it dropped off?!

Flopsy and Mopsy (the babies) were both picked up and offered around for cuddles too. I doubt that they will have been vacc'd at 11 weeks old but I could be wrong.

There was a sad looking black and white bun sperated furthur along which was pointed out to me as being the one Fluffy had a fight with. It's nose also looked sore :shock:

Surely there's a hygeine issue in letting visitors pet ill rabbits too?! :?

angelwitch said:

I agree with sending an email, to the company including some fact sheets and maybe pics of buns with myxi so they can see the similarities.

If they know it is an illness I am appalled that they haven't let the poor thing rest and are still letting it be poked and prodded ect

Please keep us up to date and let us know what happens :wave:

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I'm going to include a piccy of one of my own bunnies with the email - she's just had nodular myxi and had a bump on her nose in exactly the same place.

I really really hope that they are aware of the problem!

Oh dear

Poor bunny Maybe in your letter oyu could mention rabbits/guinea pigs together etc. etc..

At least your birds seemed happy and well cared for

Thankfully, the birds looked brilliant! In fact, all the other animals looked healthy and well cared for.

I'll mention the guinea pig thing too. I wonder if they really do just think they've been fighting so a few of the buns have been moved in with the GP's to stop it. I'm near certain they weren't in together last year.

I'm glad you birds are having a great time.

Sad about the bunnies though I hope that they are all vacc'd and they really know the problem and are hiding it due to the children and parents around the buns
Also would like to think they have been neutered as well.
Good work on the email. Let us hear the reply would be good to see that they are taking your advice.

Twiggygoo said:

I'm glad you birds are having a great time.

Sad about the bunnies though I hope that they are all vacc'd and they really know the problem and are hiding it due to the children and parents around the buns
Also would like to think they have been neutered as well.
Good work on the email. Let us hear the reply would be good to see that they are taking your advice.

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I asked where the babies had come from - the keeper said they'd had an accidental litter after someone donated their rabbits and told the park they were two boys (although, why they didn't notice they weren't, I have no idea :roll and then the babies appeared. The keeper didn't say anything about them being neutered but she did say they've never actively bred their rabbits. A lot of them are in groups so presumably they are all neutered as they don't fight. I can't say for sure though.

It is a shame they act like this as they are in a position whereby they can provide education on correct ways to keep pets, I would not want to take children along to see animals who were not being cared for correctly.

DaydreamBunny said:

It is a shame they act like this as they are in a position whereby they can provide education on correct ways to keep pets, I would not want to take children along to see animals who were not being cared for correctly.

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That's exactly what I said to my Mum. I applied for a job there at the beginning of the year and I said to my Mum that I wouldn't have been able to work there if they insisted on keeping rabbits and GP's together, and I'd have refused to get those rabbits out during the hands on feeding times.

Anyhoo, I've just sent an email. It's just occured to me that I didn't mention the GP issue but I've already sent it now. What a numpty. The email is as follows -

Hi all!

Just wanted to send a quick email - After donating my aviary birds earlier in the summer, I finally got round to coming to visit them today! I found Pierre and Fifi - the kakarikis, the red eared-waxbills and managed to spot three of my canaries in the tropical house (I'm sure there were more in there but there's no way I could tell apart the Java's and the doves!) and I spotted my budgie in the budgie aviary. I was so pleased to see how happy they all looked! My Mum and I had a quick cry! Thank you ever so much for providing them with such a lovely new home. I hope they'll be with you for a long time to come.

Also, I wanted to add that I was quite concerned about Fluffy and some of your other rabbits today. Having just had a rabbit recover from nodular myxomatosis myself, I reconised Fluffy's symptoms instantly. I also noticed one of the babies and the black and white rabbit also appear to have sore noses. I asked one of your keepers what was wrong with Fluffy to be told that 'she'd caught her nose on the wire and had a scuffle with another rabbit'. I'm hoping that I was just told this to cover up the real problem and that Fluffy and the other rabbits showing early symptoms of the disease are in fact recieving the appropriate treatment for myxi. I also saw Fluffy being held and petted by a group of children during Pets Corner feeding time which probably isn't a good idea as her eyes and her nose will be very sore and that's exactly where the children were touching her. I'm sure this would also create a hygeine problem, would introduce bacteria to Fluffy's wounds and in turn a cross contamination problem when the children (and a few grown ups!) then petted the other animals.

This is a picture of my own rabbit, Cloud, who had a very mild case of nodular myxomatosis - http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/2770/dsc01263u.jpg - It often starts on the nose as that's where the fur is thinnest and the skin is most accesible to the infected flea/mozzie/tick etc. In Fluffy's case, it's obviously spread to her eyes too. It can also affect their ears and their genitals and they can develop 'nodules' all over their bodies. The nodules dry up and fall off leaving sore patches, such as on Fluffy's nose today. Vaccinated bunnies often survive myxomatosis but the outlook is very bleak for unvaccinated rabbits.

I didn't feel I could bring this subject up with your keeper whilst at the park, as there were a lot of other people about and it would have put her in a bit of a tricky posistion. However, I really wanted to email just in case it really is believed that they've been fighting/catching their noses on the fence and they're not on medication.

Appologies if I have come across as an interfering busy body!

Georgina.

I think that that's a brilliant email. It's not too bossy and righteous! I hope they respond, keep us updated :wave:

youthnovels said:

I think that that's a brilliant email. It's not too bossy and righteous! I hope they respond, keep us updated :wave:

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Thankies! :wave: I wanted to keep it friendly as the park is somewhere that I visit a lot normally (today has been the first time I've been this year though, money issues ) and I'm also known by some of the keepers and both managers after donating my birds and applying for jobs with them. I'd really shoot myself in the foot if they took offence as I'd feel I couldn't visit my birds anymore too.

Great email - hope you get a satisfactory response from them. Also really hope the buns will all be ok.

Well done - I think you pitched the tone just right. :wave:

Having worked at a theme park with a childrens petting corner last year and seeing how little money they would spend on keeping the animals healthy I can't imagine any of the buns are vaccinated.

As the manager said to me - 'people are always wanting to give us rabbits; if any of these die there are plenty of replacements'.

The park was next to farmland where you would sometimes see a rabbit lying dead - presumably from myxi as the foxes wouldn't touch the bodies.....

Since having my own buns and learning so much more about them it actually really worries me that rabbits in these places aren't vaccinated, could easily catch myxi, and are handled by the public who probably then go home and handle their own animals......

I wouldn't renew my contract with them this year (and they probably wouldn't have wanted me back since I reported them to the RSPCA whilst I was working there....3 times!)

Also they publicised on their website that they had qualified staff which was utter

I've had a suitably fob-offish reply!

Dear Georgina,

Thank you for your email - all our rabbits have been vaccinated but thank you for your concerns.

Kind regards,

Miss *. ******

:roll::roll::roll:

So I replied (in a slightly less friendly fashion!) -

Dear Miss *****.

I would hope that you would be aware that rabbits can and do catch myxomatosis even when they have been correctly vaccinated. Vaccinated rabbits are often treatable though, whereas unvaccinated rabbits will certainly die. My own rabbit is nearly eight years old, has been correctly vaccinated every six months for her entire life but she still contracted the disease this summer - allbeit in a very mild form. The vaccination is not 100% effective.

If Fluffy isn't already on medication then I would suggest that you seek vetinary advice for her as she will be in pain. She should be having eye drops and pain relief at the very least until the swellings have gone down. She also appears to have the 'wet' form of myxi which can be passed from rabbit to rabbit contact on occasion.

I also cannot understand why she'd be offered for cuddles with visitors who could have fish juice, goat fur, duck spit, chicken poo and goodness knows what else on their hands when she has what are effectively open wounds on her head. (And I suspect if the rabbits can contract it from contact with each other, it'd be a real possibilty that it could be spread on hands too!).

I hope you won't dismiss this as useless information and leave your rabbits to suffer, in full view of the public. I am 110% certain that it's myxomatosis.

Georgina.

Absolutely brilliant reply Georgie!