Flystrike again

Please see below a message from one of our RWAF members - No doubt the majority of our members are aware of the dangers of flystrike during the summer months, but each month new rabbit owners join the association and may not be aware of the importance of regularly checking their rabbits to ensure that they are clean.


I just wanted to impress the essential practise of checking your rabbits daily for fly strike especially if the rabbit has been unwell . We have a five year old Netherland Dwarf who had been under the weather for a while , he had been to the vets and they could not find anything wrong , he would not eat or drink so we fed him and stimulated his appetite back , then suddenly we noticed within minutes , even though he was checked regularly and we had been washing his lower areas each day as he had been unwell , there were maggots -flystrike ! because he had been unwell , so off to the vets , they cleared him , and we brought him home . we caught it within minutes .

He is now much better , he is checked constantly as are they all as usual , and he is eating . The vet now thinks he had a tummy upset , and even though we were cleaning him , and helping him , this happened so very quickly .

So please please check your bunnies, we were very lucky , we did not think he would come back from the vets , you have to act there and then .It is called fly strike because they strike so very quickly

*******************************
Remember this too
http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/Flystrikedontgetcaughtout.pdf

*******************************

Poor thing, my neighbour got a rabbit a few weeks ago but it was so untame he couldn't pick it up to look underneith, he found it dead and maggot ridden

We have just encountered fly strike.

I did clear all the maggots myself. A long tiresome and yukky task. Checked the bum every hour and there were new maggots. You have to keep doing this until they are clear. We have been maggot free for 3 days! Yippee. It took 3 days to completely get rid, as the flies kept striking..antibiotics, anti inflammatory and pain killers were administered by the vet, and we are still giving baytril orally. But like you we were lucky to have caught it early.

Hey,

I know that this might sound a silly question, but what is the easiest way to check for flystrike on your bun? My bun has supervised time in the run every day (for about 4-7 hours) and then goes into his hutch at night.

He will not let me put him on his back to check his genitals, does anybody have an easier way of checking him that I could use please?

This weather makes me so paranoid of flystrike

Thank you in advance x

lilgems91 said:

Hey,

I know that this might sound a silly question, but what is the easiest way to check for flystrike on your bun? My bun has supervised time in the run every day (for about 4-7 hours) and then goes into his hutch at night.

He will not let me put him on his back to check his genitals, does anybody have an easier way of checking him that I could use please?

This weather makes me so paranoid of flystrike

Thank you in advance x

Click to expand...

You can try getting him to stretch up with a treat but ideally you need more time than that to check properly. You don't necessarily need to put him on his back, if you pick him up, his back to your back with one hand under his bum and one on his chest and ask someone else to check, or visa versa.

my very first rabbit called molly got flystrike lucky we got her treated and she recovered but its incredietely important to check especially in summer

tip - mint keeps flies away they hate it
i have some on my shelf in the garden shed it works wonders i not seen a fly in my shed for ages

What about Rearguard?