Bexyb&Bunny
New Kit
Hello all,
Unfortunately I bring some very upsetting news, this evening our rabbit Toffee died.
In Feb 2014, Toffee was found by my Nan, who found her in her garden one day. When my Nan took her to the people who owned her they said they had let her go free because the kids had lost interest! Nan couldn't keep her because of her dog so we said we'd take her in. I did research into diet etc.. and we also decided to have her as an indoor rabbit as we felt that would be the best.
The other day my mum had fed her and mentioned to me that she didn't seem herself. She usually hops and like crazy knowing food was coming, but was instead not interested. I said we should keep an eye on her that day. (She'd been a bit like that before and then been fine after a while so we were a bit concerned but not panicked).
She had still not eaten her fresh veggies by the evening and seemed to be just sitting hunched up in the corner quietly, not even coming over when I called her. She doesn't really like being picked up, but I wanted to check her over and noticed that she had quite a poopy bum and it had got stuck in her longer fur around that area. It would have been difficult to clean with wipes so we did a shallow bath for her and cleaned her up.
That night I was sitting up late on the computer and started looking into possible causes for loss of appetite in rabbits. There were quite a few things that came up, including scanning across a section with things like flystrike - which just sounded absolutely awful but didn't imagine it would be that. I was thinking perhaps she had a blockage.
It was about 1am and I had a feeling I just needed to go and check on her again. She was still sat there but did start to hop about a bit. As she turned her back to me, I noticed her fur around her lower back, tail and bottom looked wet. I thought that was strange as the rest of her had dried since her bath.
I then thought I saw something move within the wet fur. I then felt more panicked - knowing about what I had read. My stepdad woke up as he heard me with the rabbit and I asked him to check her when I picked her up. Sure enough, when I showed him he confirmed it - there were maggots. She had flystrike! :'(
I felt absolutely sick and completely gobsmacked as she looked fine earlier when we was giving her a bath.
We woke mum and we all got her in another warm soak and kept washing her till we got clear water - and there were sooooo many that came from her, it was unbelievable!! Her fur all on her lower back was coming off and revealed the wounds underneath. It looked so awful :'(
We kept changing the water and washed her till no more came off her. We then moved her into a large dog crate which we covered with netting to try and prevent any flies getting to her.
The next day we bathed her again to make sure she was clear of them. Her wounds looked very raw but had dried up which was a good sign. She was still not eating though. I started to try and syringe feed her now and then and always kept offering her hay, pellets and fresh veg. She seemed really weak though and didn't even fuss like usual when lifting or picking her up.
Then this evening we were watching a film after I had tried giving her some more food, when suddenly we heard a clattering around in the crate. When we went to check her, she was just laid there. She had died :'(
It was very upsetting for all of us and my 3 younger brothers were all in tears too.
She will be missed very much.
I wanted to post this to help to raise awareness about flystrike. We had no clue about it and if we had we would have taken more preventative measures.
I've read outdoor bunnies are at higher risk, but ours was indoor and cleaned out every day, though she was near the back door that we have been keeping open a lot in this warmer weather and hadn't noticed her poopy bum underneath which must of encouraged the flies.
So please please all keep a check on your bunnies; it all happened SO quickly and would not wish this to happen to anyones bunnies - it's truly one of the most awful things I have ever seen!
R.I.P our beautiful girl, Toffee xxxxx
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Unfortunately I bring some very upsetting news, this evening our rabbit Toffee died.
In Feb 2014, Toffee was found by my Nan, who found her in her garden one day. When my Nan took her to the people who owned her they said they had let her go free because the kids had lost interest! Nan couldn't keep her because of her dog so we said we'd take her in. I did research into diet etc.. and we also decided to have her as an indoor rabbit as we felt that would be the best.
The other day my mum had fed her and mentioned to me that she didn't seem herself. She usually hops and like crazy knowing food was coming, but was instead not interested. I said we should keep an eye on her that day. (She'd been a bit like that before and then been fine after a while so we were a bit concerned but not panicked).
She had still not eaten her fresh veggies by the evening and seemed to be just sitting hunched up in the corner quietly, not even coming over when I called her. She doesn't really like being picked up, but I wanted to check her over and noticed that she had quite a poopy bum and it had got stuck in her longer fur around that area. It would have been difficult to clean with wipes so we did a shallow bath for her and cleaned her up.
That night I was sitting up late on the computer and started looking into possible causes for loss of appetite in rabbits. There were quite a few things that came up, including scanning across a section with things like flystrike - which just sounded absolutely awful but didn't imagine it would be that. I was thinking perhaps she had a blockage.
It was about 1am and I had a feeling I just needed to go and check on her again. She was still sat there but did start to hop about a bit. As she turned her back to me, I noticed her fur around her lower back, tail and bottom looked wet. I thought that was strange as the rest of her had dried since her bath.
I then thought I saw something move within the wet fur. I then felt more panicked - knowing about what I had read. My stepdad woke up as he heard me with the rabbit and I asked him to check her when I picked her up. Sure enough, when I showed him he confirmed it - there were maggots. She had flystrike! :'(
I felt absolutely sick and completely gobsmacked as she looked fine earlier when we was giving her a bath.
We woke mum and we all got her in another warm soak and kept washing her till we got clear water - and there were sooooo many that came from her, it was unbelievable!! Her fur all on her lower back was coming off and revealed the wounds underneath. It looked so awful :'(
We kept changing the water and washed her till no more came off her. We then moved her into a large dog crate which we covered with netting to try and prevent any flies getting to her.
The next day we bathed her again to make sure she was clear of them. Her wounds looked very raw but had dried up which was a good sign. She was still not eating though. I started to try and syringe feed her now and then and always kept offering her hay, pellets and fresh veg. She seemed really weak though and didn't even fuss like usual when lifting or picking her up.
Then this evening we were watching a film after I had tried giving her some more food, when suddenly we heard a clattering around in the crate. When we went to check her, she was just laid there. She had died :'(
It was very upsetting for all of us and my 3 younger brothers were all in tears too.
She will be missed very much.
I wanted to post this to help to raise awareness about flystrike. We had no clue about it and if we had we would have taken more preventative measures.
I've read outdoor bunnies are at higher risk, but ours was indoor and cleaned out every day, though she was near the back door that we have been keeping open a lot in this warmer weather and hadn't noticed her poopy bum underneath which must of encouraged the flies.
So please please all keep a check on your bunnies; it all happened SO quickly and would not wish this to happen to anyones bunnies - it's truly one of the most awful things I have ever seen!
R.I.P our beautiful girl, Toffee xxxxx
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