RABBITS © Annette Gladh
Member of ARBA,NARBC,Sveriges Kaninavelsföreningars Riksförbund, Stockholms läns Kaninavelsförbund, Svenska Angoraföreningen
Before you get rabbits.....
There are some things you should be aware of. If you get rabbits your life will never be the same again. Just as when you get a puppy that make a disorder when it chews on your shoes, pees on the floor, or howls so that the neighbours think that you handle it roughly And just as the kitten that climbs the curtains, knock down the flowerpots and scratches the finest furniture, the rabbit have its mischiefs too. The difference between these animals and the rabbit, is that we laugh at the mischiefs that the dog and the cat makes, but becomes angry at the rabbit and throw it in a cage. Why? Well, in most cases because it is not rank equal with the other pets. One seems to think by some unknown reason that the rabbit have less common sense and is unable to learn things. This is entirely wrong.
There is another thing that you should know. A rabbit require just as much maintenance as a cat or a dog, so if you figure about a pet with little or no maintenance i suggest that you get an other animal.
What is required before i buy the rabbit?
There is things that you should have at home before you buy the rabbit. Partly for the things shall get your "smell" and partly to decrease the elements of unrest for the rabbit when you finally comes home with it . These things are ;
How do I decide which kind of rabbit i want to have?
Maybe you already have been to an exhibition for rabbits and seen a breed that you think is nice. Otherwise that is a good beginning. You can also talk with friends and acquaintance which breed that may fit you.
You should also think what kind of rabbit you want to have. Shall it be a rabbit for exhibitions? A rabbit that competes in bunny-jumping? Shall it become a cuddly pet? Or do you want to gather the wool and do something of it? You must also think how large the location for the animal is. There are rabbits that becomes all from about 1.5 kilo when grown up to over 7 kilos. A rule of thumb. The larger animal the bigger space! Do NOT purchases the first lovely rabbit you see in the petshop since the animal will be with you for many years to come.
At the moment of purchase.
If you've decided for which purpose you buy the rabbit it is time to reconnitre the market of rabbits. A good place for this are the links for buying and selling pets on our rabbitsite.
When you have decided what breed, which seller and so on, then it's time to see the rabbit. BEFORE you buy it. (It's silly to buy a pig in a poke..)
Carefully observe;
Recently arrived at home.
So now you have purchased your new rabbit. The transport did hopefully turn out well and you'll now introduce your new friend to the family.
We've a motto for this; Hasten slowly!
It's very easy to be rash when you come home with the small animal. One is very eager to hold and cuddle with it because it is so sweet and looks so alone and orphane. Don't do it! Put it in the in the recently refitted cage instead and let the be alone! It needs this! Not only have it recently been taken from its mother, everything it knew have been changed into something entirely new. Even the food!
Let the rabbit get accustom with its cage and food at ease. After someday you can let the rabbit begin to sniff on you and the environment, but just for a short while at a time. Let the rabbit jump in and out of the cage it self. Let the cage be the rabbits territory where it feels safe from you and other members of the family so don't lift it out of the cage! It will only become afraid of you. Remember that everything must happen on the terms of the rabbit , not yours! Sit down on the floor a some meters from the rabbit the first days and let the rabbit come to you. By and by it will become more and more fearless and adapt to you. Let it take the time it takes.
Can the rabbit learn to become housetrained?
Rabbits can just as the dog and the cat learn to become entirely housebroken, to come when you hollers on them (but if they want obey you is another item, just as which domestic animal as preferably!) and in most cases love to become cuddled with.
In order to realize this a better maybe you can do the comparison with the dog and the cat. Rabbits is said to be an admixture between these both animals. What is valid for the resemblance to the cat, is foremost found at the tomcat. When the buck rabbit becomes sexually mature at about 6 month age (depending on the size of the breed), it should be desexed in order to avoid it to commence the territorymarking of the apartment or the house. If this is done in time, you will get a very calm and harmonious rabbit that is tremendously clean (You can of course not desex a rabbit that you want beget or exhibit, but this text is intended for the novice).
The doe rabbit doesn´t have to be operated in the same extent, if you are aware that they can have their periods of false pregnancy just like female dogs that also mark their environment. This period of false pregnancy pass in most cases over on a couple of days. During the false pregnancy they pull all sorts of things that lies around the rooms to their dwell. Believe me, the entire behavior looks funny and it is too, until you in all of once can't find one of your socks that look for! Hint, search in the dwell!
Automatic chewers?
Many people have the rabbit in its cage because they think the rabbit chews on everything they come across. They have to question themselvbes, would they also put a puppy in cage just because they chew on everything they come across when it itches in the teeth? The answer is probably no.
You have to remember that the rabbits teeth grows the entire life with the consequence that it itches in them and that they constantly grows and acquires to be grinded in order to not become overgrown.It is the owners liability to see to that the rabbits need is appeased. This is easiest done by giving the rabbits e.g. fresh branches and crispbread to gnaw on.
Lonesome animals?
The rabbit is an animal that lives in flockes in much higher extension than for example the cat. It want to have company, either by you and your family (the presumption in order for the rabbit to accept you as it's family is that it get to jump around and discover your world), or by an another rabbit.
If you want to have several rabbits together, this works in most cases very good, and it doesn't matter if they are of different breed. The best time to introduce a new rabbit to your old, is if your rabbit have recived kids that you allready have sold, alternately if it already have an comrade that has died. If you want to introduce a new rabbit to the old, you do this gently. You must count on that it will take at least a week before the older rabbit accepts the new.It can occasionally take longer time depending on how meny rabbits you have since you must go through the same procedure of approval with each and everyone of your rabbits.
The introduction of a new rabbit;
Here follows a simplified description of how you introduce a new rabbit to an old that you already have;
Put the new rabbit in a cage close to the other rabbit. Let the rabbit become acquaintance with each others smell and become avare of that the other is there.
After someday you can take the two rabbits to a neutralt place where none of them have been before, e.g. the bathroom, the dining table and so on. And let them "say hello" to each other for a brief moment. Pat both simultaneously and speak calmly to them. Does one of them an attack against the other, admonish then the rabbit that did the attack to say its name sharply and ward off the rabbit. Put back the new rabbit in its cage (and the other in its, if it's not used to jump around freely) repeat same procedure for every day until they can be close to each other without fight. Remember that certain rabbits yearns after company that it can be difficult to see the difference on aggresion and eagerness to greet the new rabbit!
If you want to have two rabbits in a cage you shall remember that the cage must be big enough for two rabbits (according to the law that is valid from july 1998) You must also scrub it very carefully so it doesn't smell of the rabbit of the rabbit that you already have, since it probably not will approve that it receive an "intruder" on its territory. You also have to put the bowls whith food so that the cage looks different.
To have two does together are almost never any problem, not either a buck and a doe. (If you don't want them to have kids you must disex the buck, remember that you may not put them together again earlier then a month after the operation since it's as long time that it takes for the bucks spermatozoons to die). To have two bucks together is almost impossible, however there exists exceptions from this rule.
Whose are the rabbit?
Many parents get a rabbit to its children. It's okay, providing that it also is cared for and looked after when it is grown up (when it may not be all that cute as prior). If this happends and it doesn't become frightened by to loud sounds or becomes carried in a inappropriate way, the rabbit will become tremendously devoted. It can actually follow you like a dog if you gives it enough love. You can however never as an adult put the liability for the rabbit on the kids. It's always the liability of the adult to see to that the rabbit is alright and that it don't suffer.
Rabbit-behavior?
Rabbits doesn't bite, providing it isn't frightened, or threated roughly. It can however gnaw on your clothes in order to indicate that it for example want go down, or that you shall itch it some other place.
Remember that the rabbit can not tell you what it want, so it's you that must learn to notice its special movements in order to realize what it want to say to you. When you have learned its "language" you will realize that the rabbit constantly communicates with you!
Rabbit-treatment?
Rabbits have a gland beneath the chin that they uses in order to mark up its smell with. This means that they don't like when you touch them beneath the chin on this gland. Neither do they like to be touched on the stomach, but then of an entirely other reason; namely depending on that many the rabbits are ticklish there! They can also be somewhat swollen if they have eaten wrongly, which means that you should avoid touching them there.
There are few rabbits that likes to be carried. They don´t like to lose the controle over the situation, which they do if you lift them up.
To put them on the back is additionally a situation that they dislike. Some rabbits becomes "paralysed" when they land upon the back, something that an owner can utilize if you acquires e.g. to give the rabbit medication. You shall however not let them lie on back more than a couple of minutes at a stretch on behalf that the rabbits respiration can be affected.
If you have to lift the rabbit this is the easiest and most lenient way to do it:
Place yourself with your face turned against the rabbits face. Put your hand beneath the backside on the rabbit and the other hand behind the forelimbs on the rabbit. Lift the rabbit fast upwards and put it against your breasts (just like when you hold a baby in order to make it belch!) Support the rabbit with one hand beneath the rabbits behind and put the other hand on the rabbits back. Speak calmly and gentle with it while you pad it on the back and itches the ears.
If you have to put the rabbit on the back it is easiest if you initially does according to the description above, and then sets you down. Bend the upper part of the body forward so that the rabbit will lie between your upper part of the body and your femur. When the rabbit lies on your bones you can slowly lean backwards again.
If it is almost impossible to get the rabbit to lie gentle, you may have to make a "bundle" of it. Place a big towel on the bed. Place the rabbit on the towel and fold a corner of the long side of the towel over the rabbits frontlegs. Fold the short side of the towel quickly over the back of the rabbit and put it beneath the rabbit (against the stomach). Do the same with the other short side of the towel. Fold at last the remaining side of the towel that lies against the legs beneath the rabbit. Voila, the rabbit lies now hopefully in a "package" in a certain way. Safe for you, and safely for the rabbit. (This is however no guarantee that the rabbit will accept its medication anyway!)
Cage-animals?
Rabbits are a freely living animal in the wild. There is therefore no reason to have these in cage other than in a emergency. Rabbits are actually more cleanly than cats, which maybe can explain why animals that have not had their "box" managed properly prefers to do its needs on the floor in a corner. The rabbit can also pee on the floor in front of your eyes, then in order to tell you that you haven't payed it enough attention! It can also pee on the floor in order to show that you've offended it by saying; "you may not do that! Fie!". (A pure revenge with other words!) Remember. The rabbit may look inoffensive, but it is not stupid! It have pre-eminently its own thoughts, opinions and reflections! And, it can be very stubborn if it want to!
That rabbits still are put in cages maybe can be explained by force of habit. The rabbit was originally an animal that mankind held becuase of the meat , simultaneously it was discovered that it also was good together with the children as their toy until it was time to use it as food. Nowadays rabbits are divided into pets, jumping-rabbits, exhibition-rabbits, food and fur-rabbits. And the management of them is very different.
Are your home safe for a rabbit?
You can very simple do your home safe for a rabbit. There is e.g. small pipes that you buy and is used for all kids of electrical wires, so that the rabbit can not chew on them, and if you don't want the rabbit to be in a special room you can simply put a gate in the doorway.
Outdoor-animals?
It varies much between different rabbits how much they want to be out or not, likewise this varies during the seasons. Certain rabbits don't want to go out, while other wants to be out almost always. One can't say that a certain race prefers to reside out more than other, even if i have seen a certain tendency that angorarabbits are out less than the other breeds. Rabbits that run around freely prefer to be out in the mornings and in the evenings when the temperature is most pleasant (during the spring, summer, and the autumn). On hidecous late autumn, spring, and in the winter our rabbits is rarely outdoors. (They can instead sit in the doorway and look demanding at us to fix the weather so they can go out. When nothing happends they turn around and goes inside to be noisy instead!)
If you want have the rabbits outdoors, you must remember to separate their behavior from the wild hare. The hare build its dwell above ground which makes it stand an entirely other climate than the rabbit. The rabbit builds its dwell beneath the ground which insulates the dewll on an entirely other way. Normal temperatur in the dwell for the wild rabbits in the winter is around 0° C. regardless what the temperature above the ground and in the air is. To believe that rabbits manages as much chill as possible is to condemn them to diseases, suffering and maybe the dead! Lowest outdoor temperature that a rabbit should reside in is - 17° C. If you have the rabbit outdoors beneath this temperature, several organs of the rabbit begins to take damage. If you have the rabbits outdoors in the winter you must arrange so that they have well protected and dry locations to dwell in.
Are your garden safe for a rabbit?
It's fairly easy to do a garden safe for a rabbit so the rabbit can run freely in. This is easiest done with chicken wire, even if it takes a little time. The garden may be hilly so that they have something to run up and down on and detecting. Remember to have the rabbits outdoors only when you are home yourself so that you can supervise them, and always take them in during the night!
If you dig, I dig...
Rabbits digs of course, but many off them digs very little and comes into the house to nest (if they are in the mood for it) since it's a lot better and simpler inside. (Safer, even temperature, not dirty or rainy and so on.) However, if i were to dig in the garden i can be asure that my rabbits readily would "help" me dig.
Does rabbits play?
Rabbits loves toys and renewal. When we comes home with a new toy or manufactures a new, e.g.by filling a small empty Coca-Cola bottle with pebbles in that hey can throw around, or a cat-toy that sounds, they can play with this for a long moment. Readily on the night when they think that we skall play with them instead of slacking in the bed!
Freely running rabbits
We've chosen to have ours rabbits run around freely both indoors and outdoors. This means that they can choose themselves were they want to sleep, were they want to have their food, and their litterbox. The natural(?) choice for them is to sleep beneath our bed, and that their boxes shall stand beside. This is a certain disadvantage for us, but and advantage for them. They are constantly in our close and can see what we are doing - it can as be so that we comes with food!
The advantage for us is that we indeed can study the rabbits social life in detail. How many have seen a rabbit dream like a dog, with fore legs that moves to and fro, have rapid-eye-movements, and "talk in the sleep" with the mouth that moves to and fro? Not too many i believe. This is an example of the unique situation that you may experience when you live so close to domestic animals that we do. Another advantage to have them so close tou yourself is that you at once can see when a rabbit becomes ill. If you have the rabbit sitting in a cage it can be difficult to determine this. If you have it run around freely you see directly when its behavior differs from the normal and when it doesn't look well.
The ill rabbit.
It's tremendously importantly to early notice if a rabbit becomes ill since the rabbits metabolism is entirely different than the dog or the cats. You can approximately say that if the rabbit don't receive treatment within 24 hours after it have fall ill, it will with probably die. The rabbits worst enemy is called diarrhea. If the rabbit receives this and don't comes into treatment (unless the diarrhea stopped within 24 hours) the rabbits fate is sealed on behalf of desiccation. A common reason to that the rabbit receives diarrhea is that it have eaten inappropriate food, e.g. lettuce that is'nt fresh or it might be sprinkled with insecticide.Therefore always wash vegetables that you have bought in the shop before you gives it to the rabbit! If you should see that the rabbit have diarrhea and are sitting curled up in a corner with a very bubbly belly, then you can give it drops of minifom for (available in the pharmacies). It usually helps fairly fast.
En annan orsak till diarré är tarmcoccidios. Coccidios består av bakterier vars kretslopp innefattar en del av kaninens magtarmdel. Då kretsloppet även fortsätter utanför kaninen är det mycket viktigt med ren bur och matskålar. Veterinärbesök i tid är nödvändigt för att kaninens liv skall kunna räddas.
En tredje diarréorsak kan vara kolibakterier. Återigen, veterinärbesök är nödvändigt!
Kaninen kan också drabbas av förstoppning. En orsak till detta är att den fått i sig hårbollar som orsakats av till exempel stress, långtråkighet (då den sitter och noppar i sig sitt eget hår) eller att den har långt hår som inte sköts ordentligt. (Avföringen blir till små sammanhängande bollar) På apoteket finns parrafinolja för djur att köpa för detta ändamål. Dosering står på förpackningen.
Honkaniner (och hanar) kan också väldigt lätt få urinvägsinfektion alternativt underlivsinflammation. Detta ofta på grund av att deras underliv befinner sig så nära marken. Börjar din kanin av någon anledning kissa lite var som helst i huset utan anledning, kan detta vara ett tecken på en inflammation som gör att den inte kan hålla tätt, och som därför måste antibiotikabehandlas.
Kaniner kan tyvärr få en rad olika sjukdomar under sin livstid. De flesta går att bota. Det finns dock ett par stycken som man verkligen bör frukta. Den ena är en sjukdom som heter Myxomatos och som är en virussjukdom. Den går också under namnet kaninpest. Den går inte att vaccinera emot. (I Sverige) Den planterades ut av människan själv för att få bukt på alla vildkaniner på Gotland. Sjukdomen finns också än så länge endast där, men sprids oerhört lätt. Det behövs bara att en kanin befinner sig på samma gräsplätt som en tidigare smittad kanin befunnit sig för att den ska insjukna. Sjukdomssymptomen är att kaninen får bölder på olika ställen på kroppen. Ofta är sjukdomen dödlig.
Den andra sjukdomen heter RVHD; Rabbit Viral Haemorragic Disease, (Haemorragic disease innebär att det är en blödande sjukdom som angriper levern) kallades för X-sjukan i "folkmun" innan man visste vad det var för sjukdom som det var frågan om. RVHD är troligen samma som kaningulsot eftersom båda angriper levern. Sjudomen går att vaccinera emot. Finns än så länge främst på Gotland Skåne och Halland men sprider sig sakta uppför landet. Det är en mycket dödlig sjukdom, med ett mycket snabbt sjukdomsförlopp.
En tredje dödlig sjukdom som det inte nämns så mycket om är Encephalitozoonosis (Nosematos på svenska). Det är en parasitsjukdom som är väldigt vanlig, även om den oftast finns latent hos djuren (bryter alltså inte ut). Den slår sig på nerverna och orsakar förlamning, nervryckningar, sned nacke osv.
Det finns också mindre allvarliga men kroniska sjudomar som kaninen kan få.
Pasteurellos är en av dessa sjukdomar. Det är en bakteriesjukdom som yttrar sig på många olika sätt beroende på vilka organ den angriper. Bland annat kan den ge övre luftvägsinfektioner med varigt sekret och hosta, snuva med nysningar. Den kan ge lunginflammation, ögoninflammation, öroninflammation, mellanöreinflammation ( Wry neck), livmoderinflammation, testikelinflammation, bölder och juverinflammation på ammande honor, samt rotspetsbölder, infertilitet, muskelinflammation, ledinflammation eller skelettinflammation. Diagnos kan ställas genom tester, dock kan de ge falska negativa svar. Pasteurellos kan vara mycket svårbehandlad. Man ger antibiotika i minst tio dagar, ofta längre period. Återfall är vanligt. Man bör inte avla på kaniner som har behandlats för Pasteurellos eftersom sjukdomen överförs till ungarna. (Det är ofta så den smittar).
Okastrerade honkaniner kan med stigande ålder få livmoderscancer. Använder man inte sin hona i avel bör kastrering (sterilisering) vara en skyddsåtgärd som man tar under starkt övervägande.
I många kaninböcker står det att lucern- och alfalfahö ska vara så jättebra. Det är det också. För HÄSTAR! Kaniner har en helt annan ämnesomsättning än hästen vilket gör att det kalk som fodret innehåller tas upp i för stor mängd av kaninen. Detta gäller även för vårt vanliga foder; Maskrosen. När kaninen får för mycket intag av kalk lagras detta i kaninens kropp och bildar slagg och till slut stenar som täpper till urinblåsan. Många är de kaniner som fått lida för detta.
Det finns få veterinärer som verkligen KAN kaniner. I Stockholmsområdet finns det en mycket kunnig veterinär som djursjukhusen rekommenderat oss till. Hon heter Gunnel Andersson och arbetar på Djurkliniken Roslagstull, och har telefonnummer: 08 - 612 57 60.
Raser?
Kaniner finns i otalet raser. Vanligaste zookaninen är dvärgväduren som tillsammans med den större franska väduren mycket väl lämpar sig som kelkanin. Man kan även ha kaniner som man tävlar med i olika hoppklasser, eller rena raskaniner som då är utställningskaniner. Dessa behandlar jag dock inte här.
Som sagt. Detta var lite grann om kaninen. Kaninen är ett kärt glädjeämne som ständigt kommer att hitta på nya upptåg för många år framåt i tiden. Men, det är upp till dig att avgöra om den får visa detta och ge all sin kärlek till dig genom att få gå lös och bli behandlad med den respekt som ges till en familjemedlem, eller, att vara tvungen att ha det långtråkigt instängd i en bur dagarna i ända. Valet är ditt. "A rabbit is just an angel with big ears! "
Hälsningar, Annette.
Back to the rabbitsite!