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Challenges of indoor living for rabbits and guinea pigs - free John Chitty webinar

It was a bit meh...not really a myxi risk & are you really risking bringing rhvd2 in on your clothes & shoes.

That bit I wasn't sure about. He spoke really fast, and I thought (but I'm really not sure) that he said that you might be? For such an important topic, it was glossed over super fast.
 
That bit I wasn't sure about. He spoke really fast, and I thought (but I'm really not sure) that he said that you might be? For such an important topic, it was glossed over super fast.

I agree it was unclear but I heard it more as a barely there risk. I CBA to listen again so anybun out there please report back :lol:
 
On a lighter note ...

I was pretty zoned out for the nugget talk by Mr Burgess but it did make me laugh when he answered a question (or didnt) on how to enrich space he said go on the forums which are really good at this topic but avoid other topics as offer dangerous advice ...maybe like putting 2 un neutered bucks together & see what happens. He even acknowledged rabbit sub groups within the warren are one male with several does so its not even a "natural" arrangement.
 
I've listened to about a half of it. Found it difficult to understand all that he said and so have missed some of the detail. Don't know if I will bother to have another try. Would much prefer to have a transcript of it :)

Regarding vaccinations, I would certainly have any rabbit vaccinated that lives indoors. I have had an unvaccinated rabbit catch myx and die, many, many years ago, and would not want to witness that again. I have always understood that RHD 1 & 2 can be transmitted via footware and clothing, especially if the owner walks a lot in the countryside. If that's the case, then an indoor rabbit could be as much at risk as an outdoor one. And regarding myx, if the vector is a mozzie, then they certainly come indoors here. And of course it would only take one to pass the virus on.

I was interested in his suggestion that some diseases are more prevalent in indoor rabbits, eg dental disease(?), but would like to have had some sort of figures to support that (perhaps I missed hearing that!). I would have thought that the physical attributes of a rabbit's head were more of a factor than whether it was housed indoors or outdoors.

So, I haven't reached the point where it was discussed about groups of un-neutered, single sex bunnies. My view on that would be one of shock. For Does it would be a health risk and even if the Bucks didn't fight, I don't think it would create a stressfree living environment for them. And the alternative of a neutered male/female pairing seems to me to win hands down.

Some of the topics were interesting such as wet plant material, which we do here anyway. And also the lack of seasonality affecting moult. Tui has no lack and she is mostly moulting all the time :lol:
 
he advocated spaying does for health reasons alone, the question mark was for bucks. You missed the juicy stuff Omi
 
he advocated spaying does for health reasons alone, the question mark was for bucks. You missed the juicy stuff Omi

So did he suggest that a spayed Doe could be bonded to an entire Buck?

I might give it another go tomorrow evening :)
 
You know, I really rate my vet, I think he's excellent at what he does, more than excellent tbh, can't imagine a better vet for my rabbits/exotics.. But! He has some odd ideas about husbandry I've noticed in the past. Things I'd never do, or would consider "bad" so I guess other than direct health related stuff I wouldn't seek his opinions on certain aspects of my rabbits care. He's an expert at what he does for sure, but doesn't mean other things, however closely linked, are something he is an expert in too. Just my thoughts anyway [emoji38]

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On a lighter note ...

I was pretty zoned out for the nugget talk by Mr Burgess but it did make me laugh when he answered a question (or didnt) on how to enrich space he said go on the forums which are really good at this topic but avoid other topics as offer dangerous advice ...maybe like putting 2 un neutered bucks together & see what happens. He even acknowledged rabbit sub groups within the warren are one male with several does so its not even a "natural" arrangement.

I think he was talking about guinea pig forums, wasn't he? Because nothing was covered for how to house guinea pigs, so I think that's why someone asked.
 
You know, I really rate my vet, I think he's excellent at what he does, more than excellent tbh, can't imagine a better vet for my rabbits/exotics.. But! He has some odd ideas about husbandry I've noticed in the past. Things I'd never do, or would consider "bad" so I guess other than direct health related stuff I wouldn't seek his opinions on certain aspects of my rabbits care. He's an expert at what he does for sure, but doesn't mean other things, however closely linked, are something he is an expert in too. Just my thoughts anyway [emoji38]

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Definitely.

I have had an exotics vet in the past telling me my piggies were all overweight etc and that they should be 900g. For me I always want to keep them at 1 kg or above, and anything under 900g the weight just drops off.
 
I was interested in his suggestion that some diseases are more prevalent in indoor rabbits, eg dental disease(?), but would like to have had some sort of figures to support that (perhaps I missed hearing that!). I would have thought that the physical attributes of a rabbit's head were more of a factor than whether it was housed indoors or outdoors.

I didn't hear any figures either.

As I said before with the guinea pig cystitis, which has plagued so many of my indoor pigs, I'm very open to the suggestion that there is something about the indoor environment that affects it, but I'd be so impressed if people who have outdoor pigs are picking up on the signs that I do indoors, so I'm on the fence about his suggestion. My vet always says that my pigs are always problem ones, but she does at least acknowledge that I notice things that others don't.
 
You know, I really rate my vet, I think he's excellent at what he does, more than excellent tbh, can't imagine a better vet for my rabbits/exotics.. But! He has some odd ideas about husbandry I've noticed in the past. Things I'd never do, or would consider "bad" so I guess other than direct health related stuff I wouldn't seek his opinions on certain aspects of my rabbits care. He's an expert at what he does for sure, but doesn't mean other things, however closely linked, are something he is an expert in too. Just my thoughts anyway [emoji38]

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I think this is a very good point actually. And when you consider how little rabbit health features in a vet's training, I'm not sure that these 'other issues' would be covered routinely, even within specific rabbits/exotics training.
 
It was a bit meh...not really a myxi risk & are you really risking bringing rhvd2 in on your clothes & shoes. Outdoor bunnies don't get urinary or respiratory problems hardly ever(tell that to Rudey whose partner died of RTI & he came to me totally congested & snotty as hell, he'd lived outside).

He said the benefit of higher supervision relied on us knowing whats normal for our rabbits & implied we wouldn't whats normal.

B&W rabbit (I'm putting him up for adoption BTW) liked many things said. We were interested in the idea of a more gradual introduction from moving outside to in & vice versa.

I hope he wasn't suggesting indoor rabbits are at no/little risk for RHD. I lost my very beautiful Alma who had been indoors for 9 months to RHD2. I wouldn't want anybody else to go through that and also carry the guilt of having not vaccinated.
 
I hope he wasn't suggesting indoor rabbits are at no/little risk for RHD. I lost my very beautiful Alma who had been indoors for 9 months to RHD2. I wouldn't want anybody else to go through that and also carry the guilt of having not vaccinated.

as I say it was unclear & brief. Don't get me wrong there was a lot of good stuff in there too. I recommend having a listen as you'll get the full experience rather than my interpretation . It was a bit surreal - wondering if I dreamt it
 
Well, if you put a group of entire Bucks together and ‘see what happens’ you might not have to bother getting them castrated ‘at a later date’ They will have done the job themselves or they will be dead.

Utterly ridiculous suggestion and irresponsible too.

Yes, I am listening to the webinar at 215am and it is guaranteeing I won’t get any more sleep :roll:
 
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