Caring for Your Rabbit's Health
What Type of Health Care Does My Rabbit Need?
Rabbits are delicate. Their bones are hollow and break easily, so you need to handle them gently. When a rabbit gets sick, it needs immediate health care, so it's a good idea to find a good rabbit vet BEFORE there is a problem.
List of Rabbit Vets Recommended by Petbunny Members
Why Should I Have My Rabbit Spayed or Neutered?
Spaying a female rabbit removes the chance that she can develop
uterine cancer. Unspayed females run the risk of developing uterine cancer
which is nearly always malignant and can spread quickly. Spayed females
have the ability to live to 9 years and older. Spay surgery is somewhat
traumatic for a female, if only because the surgery is so invasive,
however, the transient discomfort is far outweighed by the health
benefits. Some vets will provide painkiller for your bun. The one time
injection seems to block the pain enough that she can get started on the
road to recovery. This is not always necessary, but has helped many
females at our shelter.
Neutering a male rabbit, when done by an experienced vet, is less of
a problem. Most males come home from the vet looking for something to
eat, and are ready to play within 24 hours. Neutering can decrease the
rabbits aggressiveness. Unneutered males typically have very strong
smelling urine which goes away following neutering.
Do I Need to Bathe My Rabbit?
No. The healthy rabbit should not have to be bathed. Sometimes, however,
if your rabbit has diarrhea, you may need to give it a spot bath, but not a whole
immersion. When a rabbit is wet, it is very difficult to fully dry it. This may cause the rabbit to catch a chill, which could cause the rabbit to become ill and die.
When Snowball had a particularly messy case of diarrhea, I used moist towelettes to clean his fur. Then I used a damp hand towel to rinse the chemicals from the moist towelettes off his fur, so he cou