Illness and Finding a Rabbit Qualified Veterinarian
If you
find anything unusual during your inspection you may want
to take your rabbit to a veterinarian. But before it gets
to this point you should know how to find a veterinarian
that is right for you. Not any veterinarian will do. You
need one that specializes in rabbit care, and as you may
remember from the beginning of this course, not doing so
can prove to be deadly to your rabbit.
Ask Questions
This is
so important to raising a happy and healthy bun. Don’t be
afraid to ask your veterinarian some questions, and if you
are not satisfied with his answers, you may very well want
to consider taking your rabbit to another veterinarian. A
good way to find a good veterinarian is to go online and
browse the internet, use popular sites to find other
people with rabbits in your area, and find out who they
take their rabbits to.
Signs of Illness
Unfortunately there are many illnesses that can fall upon
your rabbit, much too many to go into detail here.
However, I can talk about some of the most common signs of
a potentially sick bun.
First,
you need to understand that rabbits are prey animals, so
in the wild they work real hard at hiding their illnesses.
They don’t want to tip a potential predator off as being
weak or an easy target. So, as pets they tend to do the
same thing. They’ll keep it hidden the best that they can.
Some symptoms that mean your rabbit needs a veterinarian:
-
Change or loss of
appetite
-
Change in litter
habits to include diarrhea and constipation
-
Heavy or Labored
Breathing
-
Moaning
-
Signs of head tilting
to one side
-
Excessive sleeping
and inactivity
-
Sudden change in
personality
-
Excessively long
teeth
-
Pale and watery eyes
-
Deep cuts, bumps, or
bruises
-
Excessive sneezing
-
Continuous rolling on
its side
-
Excessive amounts of
missing fur
These are
all things that may give you a red flag telling you that
your rabbit needs a veterinarian right away. Though it’s
good to get advice from other rabbit owners, they are not
veterinarians. If what they say makes sense then go ahead
and follow the advice, but always be cautious. Some people
are very good at sounding like they know what they are
talking about. At the very least, the information that you
do get from other people can be something you can bring to
your veterinarian to help in his diagnosis. But I would
never go on another persons medical advice alone.
Spaying and Neutering
Besides
all the signs described above, another reason to take your
rabbit to the veterinarian is to have it spayed or
neutered. Yes, spaying and neutering your pet rabbit can
be quite expensive, and in some veterinary clinics they
will charge almost as much as if not equal to the price
for a cat or dog. So, you can expect to spend anywhere
from $150 and up in some areas. Having your rabbit spayed
or neutered can severely decrease aggressive rabbit
behavior, as well as put an end to those territorial
spraying (peeing) behaviors. Also, having a female rabbit
spayed prevents your female rabbit from developing ovarian
and uterine cancer in its later years of life. And yes, it
is more common than you would think. Another great aspect
of having your buns fixed is that it makes bonding your
rabbits with others much easier too.
