The yin and yang of life can play its alternating game in multiple time frames and on multiple levels. A week ago we went for a walk in one of our most favourite places in North Yorkshire, and to our abject horror, standing on the path in front of us was a young man dressed in a hazmat suit, wearing earphones, (and yet ridiculously he had no mask), carrying a plastic container on his back and wielding a spray gun. He was spraying weed killer on all the paths throughout this beautiful landscape; the paths where children and dogs were walking. He had no concept that this might be a problem. I could taste the glyphosate in the air and felt sick to the stomach. In that moment the joy that would normally have been my morning walk was replaced with anger and massive disappointment.
Having removed ourselves from the paths, we then found ourselves walking up behind a woman who was out for her own morning walk amongst the trees. As we approached to pass her we started to exchange the normal pleasantries, but it was clear that there was emotional charge in her voice that stopped us in our tracks, and very quickly and easily a conversation began. This lovely warm person was slowly but surely emerging out of a seven year period of traumatic life events. She was seven years older than me, which gave a poignancy to the number seven, as that seven years of difference had served her up misery, and highlighted just how easily life can flip from good to bad, and thankfully in this person’s life, back again. We parted with a hug, like long lost friends and went about our lives, but each I think a little richer for the encounter. It was this person who gave me the subject for today, as she shared that her granddaughter had organised the UK’s first ethical rescue-based event to celebrate rabbits in the UK; The National Rabbit Festival, no less, that took place on August 23rd this year.
Quoting from their website ‘The UK is currently in the midst of a rabbit crisis. More rabbits are being surrendered and abandoned than ever before; rescues are under an enormous amount of pressure and there are no signs of this improving. To change this, we need to advocate for rabbits and change the public perception of them as ‘starter pets’. Looking further into this I found data revealing that approximately 67,000 rabbits a year end up in rescue centres, which is a shockingly high number. What is going so very wrong?
One of the biggest issues is that the rabbit is often viewed as an ‘entry level’ pet for children, but nothing could be further from the truth. That is not to say that in the right hands they cannot make amazingly good pets, as they can, but it is vital that potential purchasers are fully educated about rabbits before they commit to purchasing them. A good place to start is an understanding of the average lifespan of a rabbit in captivity, which is 8-12 years, often well beyond the average child’s capacity to maintain interest in their pet even if they don’t leave home within the time frame.
Rabbits are prey animals, which means that they instinctively fear being caught by a predator. This can initially make them nervous and defensive until they are able to build a relationship with their guardians. This takes quiet gentle handling and a lot of patience.
Another common mistake is to think that they don’t need exercise like a dog does. Just sit and watch rabbits in the wild to correct this common misunderstanding. They run, bounce, burrow and play in social groups, clocking up around 5 miles a day. So they most definitely do need daily exercise and they do need companionship to thrive. Bonded rabbits in pairs or groups will groom each other, snuggle up together, play together and generally always do better than solitary individuals.
They need daily cleaning, fresh hay, bedding, species specific food and water. They will need attention to their nails and teeth plus vaccination (or other preventatives) against Myxomatosis and Viral haemorrhagic disease as a minimum of potential veterinary care. All of this means that they incur financial cost; a pair of rabbits can cost over £10,000 over their lifetimes.
If you have read this and still want to commit to having rabbits in your life, please consider contacting a rabbit rescue rather than buying from a pet shop, as so many are at crisis point.
ISOXAZOLINE MYTHS
Over the course of the last two weeks I have had reported some eye wateringly incorrect advice that has been given to clients regarding the use of isoxazoline ectoparasiticides (flea and tick treatments). These preparations have become increasingly popular as the treatments of choice, particularly in veterinary practice pet plans, partly due to them being available in long acting palatable tablet form (now one is in an injectable form also) and partly due to some aggressive marketing by the companies that produce them!
The worst two pieces of misinformation that I have been told were:
‘They are safe for epileptic dogs and are in fact the drug of choice for treating fleas in these animals.’
WRONG
‘Unlike the older spot on flea preparations, they do not harm the environment and are the safe options for dogs that go into rivers and waterways.’
WRONG
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