Mary Allen
Even rabbits are not immune to accidents. Anyone who recognizes tricky situations and defuses them can save their animals from pain and premature death.
Rabbits are curious creatures who stick their noses everywhere and explore everything. Unfortunately, this can also have fatal consequences; Dangers lurk everywhere, regardless of whether a rabbit lives in a box stall, an outdoor facility, or in the apartment. However, an attentive animal owner can prevent many dangers and thus protect his animal from serious damage. The best thing to do is take a tour of the stables and take a close look at where there are tricky spots.
Let’s start with the hutch: rabbits that live in outdoor pens need a solid hutch with a solid door latch; Foxes and martens are always interested in easy prey and will fiddle with a loose door lock until it gives way. Such closures are often found in cheap stables; they definitely need to be improved.
Outdoor enclosures, in which the animals stay at night, make high demands: They have to be built as an aviary from particularly strong wire mesh, which is also extended at least half a meter deep into the ground. This prevents rabbits from burrowing into the open – the grass outside the enclosure is always greener and lusher – and also thwarts hungry foxes if they want to dig into the rabbits. An additional live wire at fox snout height is recommended for remote barns or in areas with a high density of foxes.
The equipment in the rabbit hutch must be such that the animals cannot get caught anywhere. Wire racks can be tricky for young animals. Wooden racks are safer, but they invite gnawing and therefore have to be replaced from time to time. In group housing, the retreat houses must have at least two entrances so that there are no dead ends from which weaker animals cannot escape.
A rabbit hutch can be made animal-proof quite quickly, but when kept in an apartment, this is a major undertaking: If rabbits are allowed to roam freely throughout the apartment, power cables must be kept out of reach or secured with covers that are proof against gnawing. Water vessels such as watering cans or aquariums must be covered. When kept in an apartment, the rabbits are usually housebroken and have a box as a toilet. The litter must not form clumps: If the rabbit nibbles at it and swallows it, life-threatening digestive problems can result.
Rabbits are curious, they examine everything, while indoor plants naturally have a special fascination for the long-eared connoisseurs. However, many indoor plants are quite poisonous (see link at the end of the text); they, therefore, belong out of the reach of animals.
Summer Joys and Dangers
Anyone who feeds vegetables from the garden and uses slug pellets with metaldehyde must ensure that none of them end up in the rabbit hutch. Especially with lettuce that shoots up and is therefore fed, slug pellets that are spread too generously can hide in the leaf axils. Metaldehyde is a deadly poison, not only for snails but also for rabbits and other warm-blooded animals. Slug pellets based on iron phosphate are harmless and much better for hedgehogs and the environment.
Rabbits have a hard time on hot summer days, and unfortunately, death from heatstroke is not uncommon. In the heat, their wild ancestors retreat to cool burrows, which domestic rabbits are usually denied. But you can also make the heat more bearable for them: A PET bottle filled with water and frozen in the freezer placed on the rabbit’s favorite resting place ensures a pleasant coolness. It is important to remove the labels on the PET bottle. They are often made of plastic and can be dangerous when nibbling and swallowing. You can also give the animals a cool place with tiles on which they can lie down. Hot days can be spent particularly pleasantly in shady and airy outdoor areas.
In the long term, it is worth planting bushes around the rabbit hutches, which provide shade and a fresh forest climate. When building new stables, it makes sense to plan a stable height of at least 70 to 80 centimeters; the additional height improves air exchange and ensures a more pleasant stable climate.
No Vacations Abroad for Rabbits
Flies are also an issue in summer. While most species are just a nuisance, the iridescent green blowflies can be dangerous. They also lay their eggs on live animals; Rabbits with diarrhea, poorly cared for long-haired animals and obese animals that can no longer keep their anus area properly clean are particularly at risk. But to save the honor of the flies, it should also be mentioned that they play an important role in the cycle of nature and ensure that excrement is broken down.
When holiday trips are coming up, it pays to look for a temporary rabbit carer in good time. Please do not take any animals with you on holiday! Traveling and changing locations means a lot of stress for rabbits. Traveling in the hot season is particularly stressful. In addition, animals are exposed to an unnecessary risk of myxomatosis or the viral hemorrhagic disease VC. Both diseases are caused by viruses and are particularly common in countries where wild rabbits live. There have also been local outbreaks of VHK in Switzerland in the last two years, but thanks to the rapid introduction of compulsory vaccination for exhibition animals and the lack of wild rabbits, our country has so far been spared a major epidemic. In France and Germany, on the other hand, the epidemic was rampant. It is less easy to contain because the wild rabbits represent a constant virus reservoir. Myxomatosis, which is extremely dangerous and extremely painful for the animals, also occurs frequently in these countries. So the long-eared ones are better off staying at home in their familiar surroundings.