essential oils healthy for rabbits?

Hallo,

i have a farm full of rabbits^^
unfortunately 3 rabbits died because of diseases.
the others got vaccinations.
i heard some essential oils could help to prevent diseases.
does anyone know which essential oil helps?

Sorry for your losses. Citronella placed in the rabbits accommodation but out of reach of rabbits can help keep away mosquitos which are one of the culprits for spreading myxi. There is however no substitute for vaccination so any oils to keep insects away should only be used to compliment vaccinations and never instead.

Hei,


thanks Rhian!
Would it be possible the to keep away dangerous mosquitos by using a vaporizer? I searched for it in the Internet and I've found pretty interesting devices on www.vaporizer-shop.co.uk. I'm not sure, if steams are the right way to use essential oils. Can anybody help?!

Best,
sabrina

You can get citronella candles, which in effect, the oil is being vapourised, so yes.

Keep it away from the rabbits, make sure you buy a good quality oil, that's not been filled out with rubbish.

Here's a good one http://www.naturallythinking.com/products/Citronella-Leaf-Essential-Oil.html

If you buy elsewhere, make sure it is PURE ESSENTIAL OIL as other sellers might make a profit by bulking it out with other ingredients (which I cannot guarantee are safe with buns)

Just a few drops in a "vaporiser", or an "oil burner" with a small amount of water (sometimes they are one and the same thing) near, but not in reach of the buns, should suffice.

You could make up a VERY WEAK solution of one drop citronella to 300ml solution suitable for spraying, to mist the air, however, if any should gain contact with living tissue, it is IMPORTANT to note that citronella multiplies the damage caused to skin by the dangerous sun's rays by an extortionate amount (I cannot remember the exact amount, but I do remember it says to NOT PUT ON FLESH OPEN TO THE SUN'S RAYS) it can basically increase the risk of skin cancers greatly (this would include fair furred or albino rabbits))

You could spray the rabbits enclosure but not get it on them, the only time they could "safely wear it" would be when there is no sun, then there's the risk of ingestion.

A candle or burner would be the safest bet.

(you can make a lotion 1 drop citronella to 100ml lotion, for your own skin, but again only to be used at night)

Hope this helps x

I sometimes use a couple of drops of something like orange in a bucketful of water. It's so highly diluted this way that it shouldn't cause any issues but rabbits can eat oranges anyway and the oil comes from the peel so it wouldn't hurt them.

However, as Rhian says there is no substitute for vaccinations and a proper cleaning schedule.

I'm a qualified animal aromatherapist (although my training was with horses), and I was told to be vary careful with using oils with rabbits, as the are very sensitive, and it is easy to overload them, for that reason I use aromatherapy on my horses, but not with Alfred.

x

aromotherapy oils and rabbits-- I'd be very cautious

I'd echo the above caution. I learned that aromotherapy oils can easily be toxic or harmful to CATS, and I now would be very cautious with rabbits. (I wanted to avoid using flea collars, commercial flea sprays or spot on because of my concerns about their toxicity. So instead i tried a few drops of aromotherapy oil on the cats collar and alternatively tried tea-tree, citronella, and even once used a commercially purchase pennyroyal collar. My poor cat hated the aromotherapy oils and with one she salivated. I later read that cats are very sensitive to the oils so stopped doing this, figuring the odd flea was preferable to chemical warfare)

With the rabbits I try to rely on constant observation, and cleanliness.

This summer I tried flypaper in one area of their housing-- hung well out of reach of the rabbits-- and trapped a lot of big flies.
Good luck
Shebunkin

Hy!

First: Thanks for your great advices! I tried the flypaper now as well and it worked fanstastic!
Could you tell me now which nutrition supplements are good for rabbits?

Best,
sabrina

sabrina1212 said:

Hy!

First: Thanks for your great advices! I tried the flypaper now as well and it worked fanstastic!
Could you tell me now which nutrition supplements are good for rabbits?

Best,
sabrina

Click to expand...

Why do you want to give them supplements?

Hey!

@Babsie: Sorry, maybe I've asked a little bit strange... My question was mainly about dried herbs...I've heard you should give them to your rabbits in addition to fresh food. Now I would like to know, WHICH herbs are especially good for them, 'cause I'm quite sure that there are also herbs which are toxic for them!

thx