Basic knowledge about having a rabbit

To enusre that your rabbits are healthy, here is some of the basic knowledge that one should take note before having any rabbit. Hope it will help all beginner owner of rabbit:)

Food: Rabbit only need basic food, which is pellet, timothy hay and fresh water! Pellet below protein level of 16% is encourage as high level of protein can cause wet poo. Alfafa based pellet is normaly used for kids, pregnant female. However, it can also be given to adult rabbit with a controlled sum (we here feed max 50-70gram per day. Once they are finished, it will only be top up the next day). For timothy based pellet, it will be best suit to adult rabbit whereby some may have wet poo everytime they taken alfafa based pellet. Timothy hay is important. We feed unlimited timothy hay per day (top up once finish) as it give the rabbit a chewing food. Timothy hay can provide the rich fiber that all rabbit needs. The digest system of a rabbit is the top priority of the health of a rabbit. High fiber provided by Timothy hay serve a very good souce to rabbit. Fresh water is a must to rabbit. Change the water at least once every two day (it would be best if it can be change once a day)!

Treats (to be given sparingly)
Carrots, apple, banana, pear, grapes, raisins, craisins, dried fruits. Be careful with sugary treats that make rabbits fat and are bad for their teeth. Cereals, breads, crackers, grains, seeds or nuts should be fed only occasionally as a special treat. One need to be careful when giving treats. It can sometime cause some complication to the stomach if the rabbit are in low immunity situation and thus lead to diearhea. Treat are only for adult rabbit. Never ever take the risk to feed them to kids. The safest treat that we use is seeds, shredded wheat and rolled oat. We somehow never feed them other treat as we do not want to risk it!


Litter: In the litter pan you can use many products. Pelleted paper litter are very absorbent  Watch your rabbit to make sure he does not eat the litter. For safety, you may want to create a space between the wire of the rabbit cage and the tray so that your rabbit unable to steal and chew on the pelleted paper. Hay can be sprinkled over the top of any litter to encourage use.
NEVER use clumping cat litter. It is deadly if inhaled or swallowed. Clay cat litters are too dusty and might cause respiratory problems in rabbits. Do not use cedar or pine shavings that contain toxic oils.

 Cage: The bigger the better! Rabbit will always feel stress when they stay in a small place. The ideal cage should enable the rabbit to do small running around and provide sufficient place for them to lie straight after the space of putting food, water, litter pan, toy, etc. The height of the cage should also enable the rabbit to stand straight on the two back leg. As rabbit loves to view high and stand on both back feet, they must be able to do this. Remember to also monitor the size fo the hole for the place the rabbit stand. If the rabbit size is small, the hole should be small as well to void the legs to step on their own litter! A rubber map can also be provided to avoid shorehock problem and as a rest place to them. Cleaning the cage is essential. Regular clean of the poo tray is encourage (especially daily). Do not use chemical when you clean the rabbit cage. And if you do, it should be diluted with lots of water and rinse throughly before the rabbit is back to the cage. Rabbit do have very sensitive nose and strong smell of chemical will affect the rabbit.

Toys: Rabbit do not need expensive toys!! The best toys is a box without printing. Cut into a small hole/ tunnel to them providing a place for them to hide, dig, and chew! Empty toilet paper roll stuck with hay will also serve a good toys to them!. These are all goods toys suggestion that are definately safe for your dear rabbit!

Hope everyone can enjoy their great holiday and 2012 years with your pets! Happy 2012!

 The above is only meant for information sharing and shall carry no liability. Judgement is required from your own before any application.

4 Health benefits of Having small pets in house

Lots of people that i know love animals. But their major concern of having a in house pets is their health factor. Some older one always believe that furry rabbit created health problem to human, especially if they have infants/ kids in the house. Today, i would like to share something that i read about this topic. No idea how true it is but is based on part of the research done by those researcher overseas. Here it goes the extract of the article 4 health benefits of having small pets in house:-

1. Pets Lessen the Risk of Allergies & Asthma
researcher James E. Gern, MD, a pediatrician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology says that a number of new studies suggest that kids growing up in a home with “furred animals”–which can include dogs, cats and RABBIT, as well as farm animals–will have less risk of allergies and asthma.
In his recent study, Gern analyzed the blood of babies immediately after birth and one year later and found that infants/ kids were less likely to show evidence of pet allergies when they have pets in their house. They also were less likely to have eczema; and they had higher levels of some immune system chemicals–a sign of stronger immune system activation.

2. Pets Reduce Stress
With the world of technology, people are found to be less interactive. Having a pets can helps this as you will have no ways to interact with an animal using your computer! Interacting with a pet is a profound and effective stress reducer. It increases feelings of contentment and relaxation.”. Among all the pets owner, it has found that more than half of the pets owner has treated their pets as part of the family. They play, they rest, they interactive with each other, which easily stimulate the love between them. Your pets will always be your most honest friend that you can tell everything under the sky. Reduction of stress and anxiety can also lead to lower risk of cardiovascular disease. A simple action of petting your pets can relax you down, just as simple as that!

3. Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol and weight control
Taking care of a pets can often leads to increases in physical activity and facilitates the development of social contacts, which may enhance both physiological and psychological human health. When you are walking the garden with your pets, simple cleaning work for your pets, play ground time with your pets, etc do explain this. You will at least create a simple exercise for you and your pets. By having a pets, you have indirectly increase your physical movement and activities which lead to healthier lifestyle and even weight control (instead of having to sit and sleep all the time. lol)

4. Pets Can Help People with Serious Illness
Some medical doctors  recommend “pet prescriptions” to their patients who are alone and need companionship. That’s because physicians have discovered that a family pet can actually motivate some patients to give their best effort when dealing with serious illness such as cancer. Having a pet to care for and feed can stimulate ailing individuals to take better care of themselves. 

The above is only meant for information sharing and shall carry no liability. Judgement is required from your own before any application.

Red Urine vs Bloody Urine

Me and one of my bunny friend has recently discussed about this topic, red urine. From my own experience and some of new breeder/ pets owner experience, one would tend to feel worry when the first time they encounter this with their bunnies. I am not exceptional as well. I can still remember that i bring my rabbit to vet for more than 3 times just because of this red urine. It would be good to share with each of us just to educate and enlighten us when we face this with our bunnies.

What is red urine? You may see that your bunnies having urine in red/ dark red colour. This is mostly what we call a red urine. Red urine is very COMMON and will not bring any harm to the health of the rabbit while BLOODY urine is very very rare and can be very serious. Below are some extract of the article on this red vs bloody urine issue:

Red urine is caused by a plant pigment. You will see the rabbit's urine in colour from normal pale yellow to dark yellow, carrot orange, brown or bright/ dark red. The bunny will normally return to normal state after few days/ weeks. Even when all the rabbits eating and drinking the same menu of foods everyday, red urine may occur only to few of them (due to excessive urinary pigments) and not to other. Some of the reason that lead to red urine are:

• While on antibiotics
  
• Cold due to sudden change of weather (tremendous change)
• After eating food that contain beta Carotena like carrots, spinach, veggies, etc

While red urine is not dangerous to rabbit, bloody urine IS! Bloody urine can occur due to disease anywhere in the urogenital system. An unspayed female rabbit might show a bloody discharge from her vulva, or drops of blood after urination, which could be confused with urine. Either of these occurrences could be a sign of uterine cancer. An unneutered male rabbit could have genital cancer or trauma which could cause blood to appear in his urine. BLOOD IN THE URINE (HEMATURIA) When we see red urine, most of us worry about a bladder or urinary tract infection. However, actual blood in the urine is usually DIFFICULT TO SEE with the naked eye.

The next question you may ask is then how could i know if this is red urine or bloddy urine? No choice, you will have to monitor your rabbits closely to see if your rabbit need unusually long period of time on the tip toes of the back feet, with the tail very high in the air before he/she can pass urine, this may also be some kidney deseace. Close monitoring is required then to ensure that he is producing urine. If he may only produce a drop or two of urine at a time because of the frequency with which he is attempting to urine. There may be a blockage on its urinary track, immediate vet treatment is necessary.

Last but not least, you must make sure that your rabbit is eating and drinking well EVERYDAY, not only during the above period. If its not, do take immediate action.

I hope the above can give more information to everyone who read this on the red urine vs bloody urine.


~With love we breed~
www.bberryrabbitry.com

The above is only meant for information sharing and shall carry no liability. Judgement is required from your own before any application.

What to do when your bunny is not eating??

One of the main problem face by rabbit owner is when their bunny stop eating out of a sudden. This can be due to various reason like stress, hot weather, heavy travelling, etc. Most of us will ask, what to do if they are not eating? First and foremost, check their water if they are drinking. Change to fresh water (cold one if the place is too hot) and monitor them. If they are not drinking, they are not eating. If this does not work, force feed them  with water using syringe is neccessary.

If they are drinking, they should be better. However, if they stil not eating (any hay or pellet), in that case, some steps need to be taken. Below are some of the methods suggested by some breeder in US and for my own experience as well :)

1. Sweet potatoe cutted into small chunk (do works for some rabbit), old fashion oatmeal (rolled oat), shredded wheat or nutridrop. Try those, the rabbit should eat at least one of those when offered. However, the quantity of offer should be small and the poo should be monitor closely (just in case any diarhea or wet poo).  

2. good green grass hay. Fresh greenish grass hay is good in smell and can be offer to trigger their appettie


3. green carrot tops, romain lettuce and parsley too helped. However, this shall be in small quantity again (preferrably organic too to avoid the chemicals!). 


4. Some US breeder also suggested banana as one of the favourite treats for Netherland Dwarf, Holland Lop and other rabbit.


5. oral electrolyte supplement may helps especialy when they are not drinking...you mix it in warm water so it's a watery paste and then give it to him by syringe, he would eat it on his own after that. it's a nutritional supplemnt and slows fluid loss. 


6. oxbo crittal care oat hay works well too


7. For my own, this is always what i do. I keep it simple - rehydration (by force feeding water) and Nutridrop 3x daily, via syringe. Nutrdrop is high in nutrients and also stimulates appetite. Excercise & tummy masages gently also help.


For all the above, it is not suggested to do all or few methods in one time. That will mess up the tummy more. Take one measure that you think best suite you at one time. And one very very important note to take is to monitor their poo, no matter which method you taking. Make sure that the poo doesnt not turn wet/ diarhea. However, no poo at all is also a very bad sign. 


Hope everyone's bunnies can always stay healthy!!! My favourite pass time is always to watch my Netherland Dwarfs, Holland Lops jumping and binky!! Thats the fun of having them, man!

B Berry Rabbitry

www.bberryrabbitry.com

~With love we breed~

All the above are only meant for information sharing and shall not bear any liability.

Tattoo pen or clamp for tattooing your rabbit?

Some must be asking why a rabbit need tattoo. Every pedigree rabbit shall be tattoo. This will serve as the identity of the rabbit and the ear number should also match the ear number stated in the pedigree. As for the ARBA show, all rabbit must be tattoo at their left ear. 

The next question is how do we tattoo a rabbit? Basically they are two general type of tattoo kit that we can use, clamp and tattoo pen. What is their difference? I have glanced through some of the discussion board and my own experience, below are some point that you may want to consider when choosing the right tattoo kit for your rabbit:-

1. Clamp tattoo kit is quick and easy as it needs only one time punch to make the tattoo but tattoo pen takes more time as the words need to be written on the ear by the needle. 
2. Clamp tattoo is more painful to the bunny but it’s in very short term (just like when you punch your earing hole). It needs to be used very carefully. From my experience, if clamp tattoo is not handled well, it may cause the rabbit to struggle and break it backbones, and die. However, this can be better prevented by using Restraint. Tattoo pen create much lesser pain but over the slightly longer time.  
3.  Clamp tattoo comes in various sizes. The dwarf, especially Netherland Dwarf, with tiny ear (eg. those with 1 ¾ inches) may only be able to use the smallest size clamp while one tattoo pen can use for all type of rabbit the size depends on your handwriting.  
4. One should be caution on pinching the nerves around the ear of the rabbit, especially Netherland Dwarf with tiny ear, when using a clamp as it may be harder to avoid the nerve due to the fixed sized of the wording. While using a pen, this problem can be avoid due to the flexibility on the writing. 
5. Clarity – If you ask the rabbit judge, some will tell you they like tattoo pen as long as the person has decent hand writing. As you are writing when using tattoo pen, the words will be clearer than a dotted line created using clamp tattoo kit.  
6. Some rabbitry (like mine), I do keep both whereby I will use the clamp tattoo kit to do the initial tattoo. And if there is any touch up required in future, I will use the tattoo pen to do the touch up. This is because double clamp on the ear will cause the words to be even blur and hard to read. A rabbit will be considered disqualified under the ARBA if the tattoo is not clear enough to read. 
7. Clamp is easier to use for beginner. Another way of suggestion may be to start with using a clamp tattoo kit. When you are better in tattooing, then switch to a tattoo pen. 
8. One of the best tattoo pen recommended by most of the breeder in US is Inkinator and EZ Tatt. 
9. When you choose the clamp tattoo kit, make sure you choose one with rubber on the opposing surface rather than an awful foam pad. This will make the tattoo much easier. 
10. For those who are left handed, a tattoo pen maybe harder to use compared to clamp as the tattoo pen is designed to fit those with right handed. However, some small adjustment can always be made to suit it if that is the preference. But this is all very personal. Some left handed person will still find tattoo pen is easier than clamp.Bottom of Form

Hope you will find the above comments useful if you are currently choosing which to use.

B Berry Rabbitry

www.bberryrabbitry.com

~With love we breed~

All the above are only meant for information sharing and shall not bear any liability.