Burgess Pet Care

Wood Green, The Animal Charity Presents Story time – Guinea pig Adventures

Are you attenting the London Pet Show 2012?

Wood Green, The Animal Charity invite you and your children to come and listen to the adventures of wise Peggy and her nine friends.  The two chapters presented on both Saturday and Sunday at this years London Pet Show will follow the guinea pigs’ first few days at the Charity and the adventures they have during their quest to find a new family to love them.

Wood Green, The Animals Charity is also offering the opportunity for 10 children at each story time to interact with wise Peggy and her friends whilst they listen to the teacher reading the story.

To be in with a chance of taking part in story time visit the Wood Green stand to register, 10 names will be drawn at random 30 minutes before the story.

For further information about the charity and the opportunities available visit www.woodgreen.org.uk or follow them on Facebook www.facebook.com/woodgreentheanimalscharity

Basil is a beautiful French Lop rabbit who, according to specialists at a local small animal rescue hospital, survived one of the worst cases of neglect they have ever seen.

Basil was taken to Paws Here Animal Shelter after being treated badly in his previous home. He had been kept outside in a tiny covered hutch that was too small for him to even move properly and caused several problems for Basil. The hutch was just covered enough to keep him warm and survive, but Basil suffered from scalded and raw feet from standing on urine-soaked ground for too long. His lungs were also badly affected from the ammonia in the air, which eventually lead to chronic pneumonia.

Basil, with his Burgess Wetnose Award

When Basil was first rescued, his eyes could not cope with natural sunlight after so long in the dark. He needed extensive veterinary treatment costing over £1500, including three hours in surgery to remove part of his damaged jaw and teeth from years of a poor diet. Basil will continue to need this kind of care for the rest of his life, and is considered a permanent resident of Paws Here Animal Shelter living with foster carers Marie and Andy.

Basil’s health problems could all have been avoided if he had been cared for correctly. Luckily, his story is now a happy one full of hope and love. He is now thriving in his new home and gradually recovering from the bad experiences of his past, touching people’s lives and with Facebook fans around the world.

Have you entered our competition to win £1000 of Burgess Excel? If so, and you’re a CVS practice, you can also receive a free copy of the Burgess Excel Veterinary Guide to rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas. Terms and conditions apply- while stocks last.

CLICK HERE to enter the competition and get your free copy.

Did you know that similar to a cow your fibrevore (rabbit, guinea pig or chinchilla) ferments fibre to get its required daily nutrients? But of course your tiny little friend does not have the stomach capacity of a cow and so needs to operate a different system. This system is based on eating LITTLE and OFTEN, consuming sufficient quantities of fibre for good, healthy nutrition. But as with all living creatures, what goes in must come out…

Keeping your fibrevore’s digestive system moving is VITAL!

Fibrevores require 2 different types of fibre, which we call digestible and indigestible. Digestive fibre offers essential nutrients and the indigestible fibre keeps the digestive system moving. However, fibrevores cannot get all the nutrition they need from the fibre they eat as it passes through their gut. They therefore need to consume it again.

Have you ever noticed that your fibrevore has 2 types of dropping? The sticky droppings, often found in sticky clumps, are called caecotrophs. Your pet will actually eat these caecotrophs, from which they extract essential nutrition as the digestible fibre passes through their body for the second time. You have perhaps noticed that this happens mostly at night?

This behaviour evolved in the wild, where fibrevores eat little and often throughout the day, re-processing their caecotrophs when hidden away at night in their burrow.

The Burgess Excel range of rabbit food, guinea pig food and chinchilla food ensures that your fibrevore maintains good digestive health as it contains the optimum balance of vitamins, minerals, nutrients and added prebiotics whilst being high in beneficial fibre.

Rabbit owners should be aware of the potentially fatal disease which typically occurs during the warm, summer months; Flystrike.

Flystrike is caused when the rabbit develops a sore area. This sore area is usually around the rabbit’s bottom as a result of faecal or urine soiling. This unclean area is a magnet to flies, which lay eggs in the sores or on the skin within the soiled fur. The eggs hatch into maggots that literally eat away at the skin tissue in the surrounding area. If this problem is left untreated it is usually incredibly painful and ultimately fatal, as the maggots reach the rabbit’s abdomen.

If you spot any signs of flystrike on your rabbit, such as eggs or maggots then you should immediately contact your vet.

An area affected by Flystrike

Preventing Flystrike

There are steps you can take to help prevent flystrike including:

• Always ensure the hutch is kept clean and dry. Sweep out the toilet area and remove any wet straw/bedding daily
• Feed a high level of fibre on a daily basis. No single rabbit food is complete, so aim to feed a diet based around hay and supplemented with fibre rich nuggets and fresh greens.
• Check the health of your pet regularly for signs of illness, injury or abnormal behaviour. In warm weather check the area of fur around your rabbit’s bottom at least twice a day.
• Keep your rabbits actively healthy. An obese rabbit will struggle to clean himself effectively, or to reach the caecotrophs (which then build up around their rear end)
• Use a suitable insecticide – ask your vet for advice

Your rabbits need to be offered the maximum amount of space possible to ensure they lead a happy life. If you have a large, secure garden then why not create a rabbit paddock for your rabbits? A rabbit paddock makes a great alternative to a hutch and run and offers your furry friends more of an opportunity to behave as they would in the wild.

Here are our tips on how to create a rabbit paddock:

• Corner off the desired area using picket fencing and mesh wire. Make sure that the fencing is placed up to half a meter below ground level so your rabbits have less of a chance of burrowing their way out. Make the height of the enclosure as high as possible – rabbits love to jump; a binkie is a sure fire way to know your rabbit is having fun!

• Make the area as big as possible. Around 7m square is a good minimum starting size. Cover it with mesh so it is predator proof.

• Think about the landscape of the paddock. If you can create it around a tree or shrub then fantastic. Rabbits are prey animals and will feel safe and secure if they have lots of places to hide. Make sure that the plants within the paddock are not harmful to rabbits. You can read up on this by clicking here.

• Place a hutch within the paddock where the rabbits can go to shelter, hide and sleep if they want to. If the space allows then a wooden wendy house or even a garden shed are a great alternative to a hutch.

• Grow some rabbit friendly food within the hutch. Rabbits love to nibble herbs, nettles and dandelions in addition to grass and hay. Get green-fingered and if you have children encourage them to do the same.

• Provide a digging area and lots of foraging toys – rabbits love to dig and forage. It is a natural behaviour which keeps them mentally stimulated. Fill a plastic container with soil or sand or hide snacks such as Excel Nature Snacks within a box full of hay.

If you have any other ideas you would like to share with us, or any photos of your rabbit paddock then please get in touch. We would love to hear from you!

Anyone owning or considering owning rabbits should give serious consideration to the housing they offer these animals. A small hutch hidden away in the garden is not sufficient and we need to move away from the notion that rabbits can be locked away 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is WRONG!

Find out about the RWAF's A Hutch Is Not Enough Campaign

In the wild a rabbit will cover an area equivalent to 30 tennis courts each day. Think about your own rabbits; if they are locked away inside a hutch all day it would simply be impossible for them to cover even a fraction of this distance. You should also consider the fact that wild rabbits also love to jump, dig, forage and hide – you should therefore offer your rabbits the opportunity to do the same.

Bear these factors in mind when shopping for a hutch and run. Buy the biggest you can afford and don’t forget that it may be cheaper to make your own.  The hutch should offer each rabbit its own “bedroom area”, with a separate toilet area and a larger area for eating and play. Your rabbit should be able to hop at least four hops in a variety of directions and should be able to stand on his hind legs without his ears touching the roof. The minimum recommended hutch size is 6′ x 2′ x 2′.

Ideally the run should be connected on a permanent basis, meaning you can leave the rabbits to roam free between the hutch and outside space. However, if you are concerned about predators then you may prefer to keep the rabbits in the hutch at night. Make sure the run is strong enough to keep predators out and is secured to the ground at various points around its perimeter.

Pay close attention to the position of the hutch. During the hot summer months you need to ensure it is not positioned in direct sunlight for any prolonged periods of time. In winter you should weather proof your hutch with breathable, water-proof fabrics. Alternatively, consider moving the hutch into a shed or bringing the rabbits indoors at night (remember in the day to allow your rabbits free-range time just as you would during the milder months).

Look for good quality bedding.  You can line the hutch with newspaper and cover with straw. Remember to keep it clean. A sweep out every day is preferable, with a full clean down once a week.

Think about the existing outbuildings in your garden before buying a hutch. A shed or child’s summer house make good accommodation for rabbits and they are far more likely to offer your rabbits more space to move. You can construct levels within these buildings with ramps for the rabbits to climb.

If your rabbits are house rabbits and have free run of the house then don’t forget that they will benefit from time outside. Not only will they enjoy munching on fresh grass, dandelion leaves and tree bark, but they will also produce vitamin D from the sunlight.

Rabbit owners should recognise that rabbits are social animals who in the wild would like together in a social community. We therefore always recommend that rabbits are kept in pairs (single sexed or neutered).

During May we celebrated Rabbit Awareness Week 2011, a nationwide event to promote rabbit welfare and a better understanding of how to care for, house and feed rabbits. The event was sponsored by Burgess Pet Care, RWAF, RSPCA, PDSA, Pet Plan, Panacur Rabbit and The Blue Cross.

To promote the event we travelled the UK with Burgess, our Giant Bunny. Did you Spot him? Here is his photo account of the week:

Day 1 - Lake Windermere

On Day 1 of Rabbit Awareness Week Burgess the Bunny visited the beautiful Lake District in the North of England. He enjoyed a visit to the World of Beatrix Potter attraction. The team enjoyed chatting to rabbit owners about the importance of a fibre packed diet and gave advice on local vet surgeries offering free health checks to local bunnies.

Day 2, beneath the Humber Bridge in Hull

Day 2 saw Burgess travelling from West to East. Here he is waiting patiently by the Humber Bridge before meeting up with people to stres the importance of companionship and play. Rabbits need lots of space to hop and play and hate being confined to a hutch all day!

Day 3, Heaton Park, Manchester, with school children

Day 3, Heaton Park, Manchester, with Apricot the Rescue Bunny

On Day 3 Burgess the Bunny headed over to Manchester’s Heaton Park. This day was great fun, not only becuase of all the free range space to hop and play, but also becuase Burgess and the team got to chat with the school children from a local school. Several of the children had rabbits as pets, so we passed on lots of tips and advice.

Day 4, at Bunny Primary School, Bunny, Notts

Day 4, the children of Bunny School read up on RAW2011

Day 4, and the giant Bunny headed over to Bunny. Surely the best named town in all of the UK!! We chatted with children from Bunny C of E Primary school, who learned a lot about rabbits, feeding, behaviour, play and emotional well being.

Day 5 in Edinburgh, meeting Scottish rabbit owners

Day 5 and Burgess the Bunny headed up North to beautiful Edinburgh. We enjoyed a prize spot on the famous Pricess St and the bunny caught the eye of plenty of passers by! Here he is with a Scottish friend who has promised to spread the word about RAW.

The Giant Bunny spent a Windy Weekend at Wood Green Shelters

To finish the week Burgess the Giant Bunny visited our friends at Wood Green Animal Shelters and spent the weekend with their friendly team.

Wood Green Shelters are a key sponsor of Rabbit Awareness Week and every year they rescue and rehome hundreds of rabbits (in addition to cats, dogs, guinea pigs, ferrets, goats and a variety of other field animals).

It was a windy weekend (as you can see in the photo) but we had a great time chatting to potential new rabbit owners about rabbit ownership and how to correctly care for these wonderful pets.

A HUGE thanks to all who have supported RAW this year and many thanks to the members of the public who took the time to come and see our Giant Bunny. The team have really enjoyed meeting you. Now for Rabbit Awareness Week 2012… Watch this space!

There are two major health problems seen in rabbits which can be avoided if you feed a good diet and offer plenty of exercise in conjunction with regular health checks.

Dudley, enjoying his daily hay

Dental Problems

You rabbit’s teeth grow continuously throughout his life. They grow between 10-12cm each year. Vets report that three quarters of all rabbits that they see have problems with their teeth – the most common problem being overgrown molars and spurs which can cause extreme pain and in some cases, death.

This problem generally occurs because the rabbit is not eating sufficient amounts of hay on a daily basis. Hay is a naturally abrasive, fibre rich food that helps to wear down the teeth. By feeding sufficient amounts of Excel Herbage you can actively combat this problem.

Common symptoms are:

• Excessive drooling
• Loss of appetite

Check your rabbit’s teeth on a weekly basis and visit the vet for a dental check up every 6 months as you will struggle to check their back teeth.

Obesity

When a rabbit is kept as a pet it will probably be much less active than in the wild. Being overweight is therefore a big risk. Obesity puts pressure on the rabbit’s heart and joints and can create “bed sores” on the hind legs. Some obese rabbits find it hard to clean themselves and this can lead to flystrike. Also, if they cannot reach their bottoms they cannot re-ingest caecotrophs – the sticky droppings they need to eat as an essential aid to survival.

Prevention is better than the cure so make sure you ask your vet about your rabbit’s ideal weight. Have him weighed regularly to make sure he falls into the target weight range. And make sure your rabbit has as much time exercising outside the hutch as possible.

If your rabbits do become overweight you should seek the advice of your vet. Burgess Excel Light Nuggets are a calorie controlled food that may help.

You must never withhold food from your rabbit. Rabbits must always have fibre in their digestive systems at all times. If their digestive system stops moving, rabbits will die.

Dental Health

Did you know that your rabbit’s teeth are constantly growing? In fact, they grow around 10-12cm each year so it is vital your rabbit is fed good quality, long fibre to gnaw on. Sadly, all too many vets encounter rabbits with overgrown teeth and in some cases, the consequences are fatal. Rabbit owners need to understand the importance of hay (fibre) and should be feeding around the rabbit’s body size in hay each and every day. A dish of muesli simply isn’t healthy, does not grind down the rabbits teeth and does not deliver a complete diet. If rabbits do not eat enough hay, which is naturally abrasive, they will struggle to wear down their teeth, meaning their molars and spurs will become painfully overgrown.

How your rabbits teeth should look when healthy

Emotional Wellbeing

A wild rabbit will graze constantly throughout the day, munching on grasses and tree bark. Your pet rabbit should be offered this same luxury and this is where the hay comes in. A large handful of hay will allow the rabbit to eat throughout the day. Not only is this good for the teeth, but also great for preventing boredom.

Try and interact with your rabbit on a daily basis. A rabbit will enjoy being stroked and held, but only if they receive this interaction regularly. Try feeding your rabbit healthy snacks from your hand to help to build up this emotional bond. Also, hide these snacks in the hay, so the rabbit can have some “play time” foraging – another great way to prevent boredom.

There are a number of great rabbit snacks you can offer, either from the Excel Nature Snack range or foods like broccoli, carrot tops and savoy cabbage.