I just found out about a disease called flystrike how do I protect my bunnies in the summer ?

[Kim2021]

I just found out about a disease called flystrike how do I protect my bunnies in the summer. I have never heard about flystrike before I live in Texas and it's very hot in the summer it gets extremely hot during the summer months we do get a lot of flies in Texas in the summer months what do I do I'm worried .

 

[Catlyn]

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Parasite/Parasites_main.htmhttps://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/Flystrikedontgetcaughtout.pdfa couple of links from Medirabbit, they might be of use.
There are pictures that may disturb some viewers though. ( I don't remeber how Jbun gives warnings when links contain pics of these medical conditions)

 

[JBun]

Flies are drawn to moisture. As long as your rabbits are healthy and don't have issues with a wet bum, mushy poop sticking to the bum, consistently wet chin, runny eyes, or open wounds, then flystrike isn't usually a problem. If your rabbits are indoors, that will also limit their exposure and risk.

However, if your rabbits do have any health issues that put them at risk of getting flystrike, I would suggest discussing prevention measures with your vet. High risk rabbits usually will need to be kept indoors, fly control measures taken, and have repeated daily body checks for eggs.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

 

[Kim2021]

Flies are drawn to moisture. As long as your rabbits are healthy and don't have issues with a wet bum, mushy poop sticking to the bum, consistently wet chin, runny eyes, or open wounds, then flystrike isn't usually a problem. If your rabbits are indoors, that will also limit their exposure and risk.

However, if your rabbits do have any health issues that put them at risk of getting flystrike, I would suggest discussing prevention measures with your vet. High risk rabbits usually will need to be kept indoors, fly control measures taken, and have repeated daily body checks for eggs.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/

My rabbits are very healthy I just never heard of this before

 

[john.thorpe1952]

I've seen one very bad and a couple of more mild cases of fly strike in my animal keeping experiences.Sadly the bad case resulted in the poor rabbit haing to be put to sleep,and I assisted the vet by holding and comforting it.It was not my rabbit,and I was furious that it had been kept in a filthy,wet cage and exposed to the danger in the first place.I will never forget that experience,and I would always caution any rabbit owner to avoid the problem at all costs.Fly strike is not a disease as such,it is a term used to describe the circumstances when flies are attracted to the smell of urine and faeces either on the rabbit's behind and tail or in the bedding and floor covering of their quarters.Flies have a great sense of where is a good place to lay their eggs,and the odour produced by filthy conditions and neglect of this nature is like ringing the dinner gong for them.They lay their eggs, which hatch out quickly and feed on the faces and burrow into the flesh and up the anus of the poor rabbit,whic can do nothing to defend itself.If the problem is found quickly,it can be treated,but if the maggots have done a lot of internal damage and caused blood poisoning,there is often little hope of treatment. the tragedy is that it is totally prevenetable by proper care and common sense on the part of the owner.The simple advice is, every time you handle your rabbit,at least once a day,particularly in Summer and hot weather,get into the habit of checking for any faeces or urine on the bottom area,and if found,clean it with a wet wipe or similar- EVERY TIME, not when you feel like it! If you do this,you should never have a problem with flystrike,and of course keep on top of the cage cleaning.Take out any soiled bedding daily and replace with clean material.It's a pain in the butt at times,let's be honest,but if you don't want to go to this trouble don't have a rabbit i the first place!

 

[Kim2021]

I've seen one very bad and a couple of more mild cases of fly strike in my animal keeping experiences.Sadly the bad case resulted in the poor rabbit haing to be put to sleep,and I assisted the vet by holding and comforting it.It was not my rabbit,and I was furious that it had been kept in a filthy,wet cage and exposed to the danger in the first place.I will never forget that experience,and I would always caution any rabbit owner to avoid the problem at all costs.Fly strike is not a disease as such,it is a term used to describe the circumstances when flies are attracted to the smell of urine and faeces either on the rabbit's behind and tail or in the bedding and floor covering of their quarters.Flies have a great sense of where is a good place to lay their eggs,and the odour produced by filthy conditions and neglect of this nature is like ringing the dinner gong for them.They lay their eggs, which hatch out quickly and feed on the faces and burrow into the flesh and up the anus of the poor rabbit,whic can do nothing to defend itself.If the problem is found quickly,it can be treated,but if the maggots have done a lot of internal damage and caused blood poisoning,there is often little hope of treatment. the tragedy is that it is totally prevenetable by proper care and common sense on the part of the owner.The simple advice is, every time you handle your rabbit,at least once a day,particularly in Summer and hot weather,get into the habit of checking for any faeces or urine on the bottom area,and if found,clean it with a wet wipe or similar- EVERY TIME, not when you feel like it! If you do this,you should never have a problem with flystrike,and of course keep on top of the cage cleaning.Take out any soiled bedding daily and replace with clean material.It's a pain in the butt at times,let's be honest,but if you don't want to go to this trouble don't have a rabbit i the first place!

I clean my baby's cages twice a day once in the morning and once at night. I also let them free roam most of the day . What kind of wipes should I use will baby wipes work ?

 

[Kim2021]

I've seen one very bad and a couple of more mild cases of fly strike in my animal keeping experiences.Sadly the bad case resulted in the poor rabbit haing to be put to sleep,and I assisted the vet by holding and comforting it.It was not my rabbit,and I was furious that it had been kept in a filthy,wet cage and exposed to the danger in the first place.I will never forget that experience,and I would always caution any rabbit owner to avoid the problem at all costs.Fly strike is not a disease as such,it is a term used to describe the circumstances when flies are attracted to the smell of urine and faeces either on the rabbit's behind and tail or in the bedding and floor covering of their quarters.Flies have a great sense of where is a good place to lay their eggs,and the odour produced by filthy conditions and neglect of this nature is like ringing the dinner gong for them.They lay their eggs, which hatch out quickly and feed on the faces and burrow into the flesh and up the anus of the poor rabbit,whic can do nothing to defend itself.If the problem is found quickly,it can be treated,but if the maggots have done a lot of internal damage and caused blood poisoning,there is often little hope of treatment. the tragedy is that it is totally prevenetable by proper care and common sense on the part of the owner.The simple advice is, every time you handle your rabbit,at least once a day,particularly in Summer and hot weather,get into the habit of checking for any faeces or urine on the bottom area,and if found,clean it with a wet wipe or similar- EVERY TIME, not when you feel like it! If you do this,you should never have a problem with flystrike,and of course keep on top of the cage cleaning.Take out any soiled bedding daily and replace with clean material.It's a pain in the butt at times,let's be honest,but if you don't want to go to this trouble don't have a rabbit i the first place!

My neighbors that live in the house behind me has horses that's why we get a lot of flies in the summer

 

[john.thorpe1952]

Ordinary unscented baby wipes will do just fine,just avoid anything which might cause irritation,after all it's a sensitive area

 

[Happy Hollands]

I had a really bad experience with fly strike a few years ago. It was with sibling bunnies living together in the outside hutch. They were rescues, and had a very large enclosure. However, their hay mat got moist somehow and they both ended up with fly strike on their stomachs and had to be rushed to the emergency vet for surgery Thankfully they recovered great and are both rehomed! But it can be a very expensive medical emergency. Based off my experience, make sure none of their resting mats / toys / enclosure in general gets too moist during the hot summer weather.

 

[Kim2021]

I've seen one very bad and a couple of more mild cases of fly strike in my animal keeping experiences.Sadly the bad case resulted in the poor rabbit haing to be put to sleep,and I assisted the vet by holding and comforting it.It was not my rabbit,and I was furious that it had been kept in a filthy,wet cage and exposed to the danger in the first place.I will never forget that experience,and I would always caution any rabbit owner to avoid the problem at all costs.Fly strike is not a disease as such,it is a term used to describe the circumstances when flies are attracted to the smell of urine and faeces either on the rabbit's behind and tail or in the bedding and floor covering of their quarters.Flies have a great sense of where is a good place to lay their eggs,and the odour produced by filthy conditions and neglect of this nature is like ringing the dinner gong for them.They lay their eggs, which hatch out quickly and feed on the faces and burrow into the flesh and up the anus of the poor rabbit,whic can do nothing to defend itself.If the problem is found quickly,it can be treated,but if the maggots have done a lot of internal damage and caused blood poisoning,there is often little hope of treatment. the tragedy is that it is totally prevenetable by proper care and common sense on the part of the owner.The simple advice is, every time you handle your rabbit,at least once a day,particularly in Summer and hot weather,get into the habit of checking for any faeces or urine on the bottom area,and if found,clean it with a wet wipe or similar- EVERY TIME, not when you feel like it! If you do this,you should never have a problem with flystrike,and of course keep on top of the cage cleaning.Take out any soiled bedding daily and replace with clean material.It's a pain in the butt at times,let's be honest,but if you don't want to go to this trouble don't have a rabbit i the first place!

I clean my baby's cages twice a day once in the morning and once at night. I also let them free roam most of the day . What kind of wipes should I use will baby wipes work ?

I am very sorry if my asking questions offend you I am trying to learn everything I can I'm a 55 year old grandmother and I'm doing the best I can to learn. I thought that this was a place that we could get information and share ideas to learn more. Do to my long battle with covid-19 understand that I may not pick things up as easy. it may take a bit longer for me to understand some things I'm sorry

 

[JBun]

You're doing fine. As long as your rabbit and your rabbits environment is clean and dry, chances are this isn't something you will ever encounter. It's just something that has the potential to happen, but doesn't happen often. Though this is something to always be on the watch for, there are other much more common rabbit ailments that are at the top of my list of things to be vigilant and watchful over.

Don't take offense. Sometimes the way things are said over internet communication, come out more abrupt and harsh than people intend them. I think he was just giving general information for all rabbit owners, not directed at you personally.

 

[Kim2021]

I will be closing my account on this page I cannot believe the censorship. every question that I ask is highly edited to the point to where it was no longer my question at all. A lot of the time they just delete anything that I post . I am a minister of the Gospel I do not censor the questions that are left in my Ministries group we answered them. I will no longer recommend this group to friends and family this page is not helpful at all when questions raised are deleted

 

[nicolekline97]

My rabbits are very healthy I just never heard of this before

It worried me last year because when flys got inside the house (I have kids coming and going in the summer it seems) the flys hung around her cage. Sometimes she will have a wet bum.

 

[Apollo’s Slave]

I will be closing my account on this page I cannot believe the censorship. every question that I ask is highly edited to the point to where it was no longer my question at all. A lot of the time they just delete anything that I post . I am a minister of the Gospel I do not censor the questions that are left in my Ministries group we answered them. I will no longer recommend this group to friends and family this page is not helpful at all when questions raised are deleted

Aw I’m sorry that it hasn’t been a great experience for you. If you have any questions that you’re afraid or worried to ask, feel free to PM me. I don’t know much but I know a fair bit (I think) x

 

[john.thorpe1952]

This is a reply to Kim.I have only just what you wrote and am upset that you feel your question was too much trouble or that my remarks(or anyone else's) were aimed at you.As the person above rightly points out,in my case I was addressing the remarks in a general way to highlight how vital it is to observe this kind of hygiene evenn when it's a nuisance to do it.I certainly didn't mean that you were not addressing it or that you were in any way negligent.Perhaps you have been a little quick to take offence where none was meant,certainly not by me.No question is ever too much trouble to answer and the only way you learn is to have the courage,as you have done,to ask what might seem silly questions.they are not,and neither are you.i hope this clarifies matters.

 

[overhear]

I'm confused. How would an OP's post be censored?

 

[JBun]

I'm confused. How would an OP's post be censored?

Me too. I'm not sure what the OP is referring to. None of this members posts have been edited as far as I could see going through them, except for a couple the member edited themselves in the allotted editing period. And there was only one deleted thread, because it was a duplicate thread.

The only reason any post or thread will be edited or deleted by any of us moderators, is to help clarify something like a persons thread title or a change of status with the rabbit, to delete links or personal info that a member shouldn't be including in a post, or because of a forum rule violation.

There is no reason for us to edit or censor any thread or post, except because of rule violations. And those rules are clearly spelled out in the forum policy, which is in place to help keep interactions civil and helpful for all members here. I spend multiple hours a week moderating on this forum, answering members questions, all voluntarily with no compensation. And I do it because I care about the well being of all rabbits, like most of the members on here. Trust me, I (and the other moderators) have better things to do with my time than go around editing members posts unnecessarily, and then only if warranted because of a rule violation.

And just as a refresher for anyone unsure of what the policies are, here is the link to the thread.
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/rabbitsonline-forum-policy-and-decorum.10320/

 

[overhear]

Me too. I'm not sure what the OP is referring to. None of this members posts have been edited as far as I could see going through them, except for a couple the member edited themselves in the allotted editing period. And there was only one deleted thread, because it was a duplicate thread.

I wonder if the OP is referring to quotes embedded in other members' replies.

 

[nicolekline97]

Me too. I'm not sure what the OP is referring to. None of this members posts have been edited as far as I could see going through them, except for a couple the member edited themselves in the allotted editing period. And there was only one deleted thread, because it was a duplicate thread.

The only reason any post or thread will be edited or deleted by any of us moderators, is to help clarify something like a persons thread title or a change of status with the rabbit, to delete links or personal info that a member shouldn't be including in a post, or because of a forum rule violation.

There is no reason for us to edit or censor any thread or post, except because of rule violations. And those rules are clearly spelled out in the forum policy, which is in place to help keep interactions civil and helpful for all members here. I spend multiple hours a week moderating on this forum, answering members questions, all voluntarily with no compensation. And I do it because I care about the well being of all rabbits, like most of the members on here. Trust me, I (and the other moderators) have better things to do with my time than go around editing members posts unnecessarily, and then only if warranted because of a rule violation.

And just as a refresher for anyone unsure of what the policies are, here is the link to the thread.
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/rabbitsonline-forum-policy-and-decorum.10320/

Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.