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A "Fly Strike" horror story and warning

foxyrod

New Kit
Despite reading these forums for a while and gleaning some valuable and much-appreciated advice from you all - My wife and myself as first time rabbit-keepers did not register as we thought we would have nothing much to contribute.

Unfortuntately I know have cause to make a post - and hopefully it wil serve as a warning to any other novice bunny-keepers out there.

We were given a baby dwarf grey buck rabbit "Roly" in early June this year - he was a lovely little fella and pretty soon became the centre of attention of the household.

At the begining of last week I noticed he was not feeding quite so readily -and byWednesday evening appeared not to be feeding at all - this was unfortunate as we had switched his food over the day before and thought he may not be very keen on his new feed - he would still nibble a bit of carrot and the odd raisin and was drinking normally. He had a fairly thorough grooming and cleaning on Wednesday early evening but by Thursday was rather listless and wasn't running to the front of the hutch when we went to feed him and spend a bit of time with him which was very unusual. I made an appointment for the vets - which was for Saturday morning and by Friday Morning he was hardly moving and his vent seemed a little messy and a bit smelly and he was defiantely not himself - I went to work rather concerned and thought I would give him a complete 'wash and brush over' that evening. On returning in the evening - his chin was on the floor and he was almost totally lifeless - it was an effort for him to even stand. I put a towel on the dining room table and took him inside to examine him thorougly. Yep - you've guessed it - his vent and lower back half were riddled with maggots. I had read about the dangers of fly-strike and knew this was serious so made an appointment with the emergency vet as our own vets was by now closed. I took him straight there - I met the wife there who had not long finished work - and the vet told us there was nothing he could do and it was kindest to put Roly to sleep. In all honesty, I think he was not far from death as it was, but at least his last few moments were pain-free as I can't imagine how the poor little mite must have felt - he was basically being eaten alive.

I have read the post below about fly-strike - and the contibutor who says it was "worst moment of her life" when her rabbit had fly-strike and having not lost a very-close relative as yet, I can only echo that. Our house yesterday was not a happy place to be. I am a 16 stone, shaven headed, tattoed guy - not someone to make a fuss in any way usually - but to have to clean out an empty hutch yesteday and remove all of Roly's toys and bowls was very very difficult and the wife still cant look at the empty hutch.

We vowed in the car on the way home that we wouldnt ever have another rabbit after that experience. Now on reflection - we won't be beaten and will maybe have another go next Spring time. We have lived and learned.

Please be ultra-careful when checking your rabbit over - I wish we could tun back the clock and I would have noticed those fly-eggs. It may be nearly winter - but it is still not too late for your rabbit to get fly strike as we have discovered the hard way.

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i have been told you can use vinegar on any maggots/fly strike as it makes them come to the surface, okey it is a long drawn out procedure I think it took a friend of mine over 2 hrs but she got rid of every maggott and by the time he went the vet the following morning there was none on him
 
hi

Aww - how dreadful for you all to go through such a thing - and thanks for warning us even though it can't be easy to talk about it - I can't even touch my girls so I just have to use fly repellants and hope :?
 
I'm so sorry to hear your sad news.There's nothing more I can say only that I'm thinking of you.
 
Jayne said:
I'm so sorry to hear your sad news.There's nothing more I can say only that I'm thinking of you.

Ditto to that really. That must have been a horrible experience for you :cry:
 
Im very sorry to hear your sad news but you are not to blame even the most experienced rabbit keepers do not notice these things sometimes and we all beat ourselves up Xx Please do not blame your selves you did all you could and you gave roly a great home XXX
 
It was possibly my posts about Nougat that you read, and it is horrible. I feel for you, going through all of this. I blamed myself to start with (to be honest I htink I always will) but what I'm trying to remember, thanks to everyone on this forum, is that I care for my bunnies the very best I can. Things just go wrong sometimes.
I'm glad you are going to give a home to another bunny. Thinking of you at this time.
 
Can't say much more than people have already said.
Thanks for the warning and my heart goes out to you at this very sad time.
 
So sorry to hear your story, I hope you do decide to continue bunny-keeping as they are such wonderful creatures! :)
 
You were very unlucky. Flystrike is a very big worry for rabbit owners. It doesn't seem like you can do much to prevent it apart from keeping the rabbit very clean and checking them over regularly. You can get the rabbit treated with rearguard at the vets to help prevent it which would be a good option for you if you get another rabbit.
I really hope you do get another rabbit as it sounds like you have a good home to offer to one. There are some gorgeous rabbits on this rehoming website that would love to go to a caring home like yours.
 
flystryke

AAWWW foxyrod :( what a dreadful experiance for you :( there are a lot of flies around at the moment & it just takes a split second for them to lay their eggs :( you cant watch your bunny every second of the day & its such a shame that you have had such a sad ending to your first time of being a bunny slave :( please dont beat yourself up you wasn,t to know & did your best :? I hope you will get another bunny & wont let it put you off :)
 
I had a rabbit who always had a mucky bum she had it from a young age but she was quite a plump rabbit, luckily i was aware of it so i checked her every day most days she had to have her bum cleaned. I got some rear guard from the vets which seemed to work and i used a fly repeling spray. Sadly she died 2 months ago she was 6 years old but luckily it wasnt from flystrike.
Im sorry for your loss she was my first rabbit out of 9 thats had this problem please dont let your first experience put you off rabbits.
 
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