helgalush
Wise Old Thumper
This is a bit long but my OH and I really need some advice on what is best to do for one of our rabbits.
Kenco is nearly 7 years old, he has urinary incontience, and has some kidney problems. We havent been given any treatment, other than for EC.
We are very very worried about the possibility of Flystrike. Kenco lives in a large enclosure outdoors with his wifebun Fay. Kenco will urinate wherever he happens to be at the time that he needs to go. Occasionally he has excess cecals as he is also a dental bunny and doesnt eat as much hay as he could.
Measures we take to try to prevent Flystrike are: daily bum checks with cleaning as needed, daily litter tray cleaning, weekly hutch cleaning with extra mop-ups and quick cleans as required, pure citronella around the enclosure, and we are starting to put fine nets over all the "windows" and the run. He had Xenex Flystrike Prevention applied about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately 2 of my bunnies had terrible reactions to it and I wont use it again. He seeing the vet in the next 10 days for his vaccs and I will enquire about Rearguard (cautious now about using chemicals on them).
However, he is regularly a little bit damp underneath, and I am aware that as an outdoor bunny, he is at high risk of Flystrike. I would like RU's opinions on what we might do for the best for him.
The options we have are limited, but possible. Each has disadvantages.
1) Bring him and Fay to live indoors. We can only offer them our box room which is about 8'x6'. They would have to share the landing, and be in close proximity to Muesli and Starbuck. I am worried about territory/aggression issues, particularly as Muesli and Starbuck have already been in both the box room and landing, and Muesli is also an incontinent bun so they would smell his urine. I also suffer from OCD issues, and do find it quite stressful having incontinent bunnies in the house, but the bunnies welfare has to come first. In addition, there is a possibility that in time we may need this room as a nursery, but that is further down the line and something we could think about if and when.
2) Bond them with Muesli and Starbuck in to a 4. Really not sure this would be wise, given that it would mean 3 males and 1 female, and given also the failed bond that Fay and Starbuck had after a rather nasty fight :?
3) Leave them outside but ensure every meshed bit of their accommodation has the fine netting over it to further reduce the risk of Flystrike. And be super super vigilant with their cleaning and bum checks - we are now increasing bum checks to at least twice a day, etc. This way they get to stay in their current accommodation, reduce stress for them and us, etc.
4) Any other options you can think of.
Thank you for anyone that managed to read all this!
Kenco is nearly 7 years old, he has urinary incontience, and has some kidney problems. We havent been given any treatment, other than for EC.
We are very very worried about the possibility of Flystrike. Kenco lives in a large enclosure outdoors with his wifebun Fay. Kenco will urinate wherever he happens to be at the time that he needs to go. Occasionally he has excess cecals as he is also a dental bunny and doesnt eat as much hay as he could.
Measures we take to try to prevent Flystrike are: daily bum checks with cleaning as needed, daily litter tray cleaning, weekly hutch cleaning with extra mop-ups and quick cleans as required, pure citronella around the enclosure, and we are starting to put fine nets over all the "windows" and the run. He had Xenex Flystrike Prevention applied about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately 2 of my bunnies had terrible reactions to it and I wont use it again. He seeing the vet in the next 10 days for his vaccs and I will enquire about Rearguard (cautious now about using chemicals on them).
However, he is regularly a little bit damp underneath, and I am aware that as an outdoor bunny, he is at high risk of Flystrike. I would like RU's opinions on what we might do for the best for him.
The options we have are limited, but possible. Each has disadvantages.
1) Bring him and Fay to live indoors. We can only offer them our box room which is about 8'x6'. They would have to share the landing, and be in close proximity to Muesli and Starbuck. I am worried about territory/aggression issues, particularly as Muesli and Starbuck have already been in both the box room and landing, and Muesli is also an incontinent bun so they would smell his urine. I also suffer from OCD issues, and do find it quite stressful having incontinent bunnies in the house, but the bunnies welfare has to come first. In addition, there is a possibility that in time we may need this room as a nursery, but that is further down the line and something we could think about if and when.
2) Bond them with Muesli and Starbuck in to a 4. Really not sure this would be wise, given that it would mean 3 males and 1 female, and given also the failed bond that Fay and Starbuck had after a rather nasty fight :?
3) Leave them outside but ensure every meshed bit of their accommodation has the fine netting over it to further reduce the risk of Flystrike. And be super super vigilant with their cleaning and bum checks - we are now increasing bum checks to at least twice a day, etc. This way they get to stay in their current accommodation, reduce stress for them and us, etc.
4) Any other options you can think of.
Thank you for anyone that managed to read all this!
Last edited: