Summer has arrived and we're seeing the usual flurry of cases of fly strike in rabbits. Fly strike (proper name myiasis) is an extremely distressing condition for the affected rabbit and can be very challenging to treat. Due to a variety of possible reasons, the rabbit's perineal area (back end underneath the tail) becomes contaminated with urine or faeces. In the summer months, this will attract flies - especially bluebottles and greenbottles. They lay their eggs in the contaminated fur and when these hatch out the maggots infest the rabbit and literally start eating them alive. It is a dreadful condition and still so common. Healthy rabbits do not get fly strike.
Continuing from our last post, vet Kevin Wood tells us more about Paws' emergency visit to the clinic. Paws presented out of hours as an emergency after vomiting for the previous 24 hours. He had managed to bring up two small balls of what appeared to be part of a toy, although it was difficult to be sure what they were. In kittens, both diarrhoea and vomiting are potentially very serious conditions, just as they are in human babies and infants, due to rapid dehydration and changes in blood chemistry.
Our Summer 2011 newsletter is out! You can read it below or your can download it here: Cherrydown Vets Newsletter Summer 2011 pdf.
This is the story of a young Mr Paws Marney. The very cute 12 week old (or thereabouts!) black & white kitten came to us after having somehow managing to swallow what appeared to be parts of a toy! Unfortunately Paws had to be operated on to remove the offending toy parts, luckily though Paws came through and is doing very well now. His mum, Clare Marney wrote us a lovely letter: "Paws and Paddy arrived at the Marney household on Thursday May 26th 2011 from The Cat Protection League.
Read more: Small toys are best off the menu for kittens: The lucky Paws Marney!
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