For Vets
Health
Good health care is essential for rabbit welfare, helping prevent illness, support wellbeing, and ensure a good quality of life.
Key points
Diseases
Find out how to protect your rabbits against potentially fatal diseases. Learn how to spot the warning signs so treatment can be given and further spread prevented.
Illnesses
Rabbits can suffer a number of painful and often deadly conditions that can easily be prevented with the right diet and environment. Find out how, and what to do when your rabbits are unwell.
Medical Treatment
How to make sure your rabbits have the medical care they need when they need it. Discover how to keep them healthy and help them recover after treatment.
Articles
Rabbit Dirty or Sticky Bottoms
A happy bun has a healthy bum! Healthy rabbits with a good diet don’t get dirty, sticky bottoms. They produce two kinds of...
Rabbit Dental Problems
Teeth are a rabbit’s most famous feature but if something goes wrong it can be disastrous. The mechanics of rabbit...
Rabbit Bladder Problems
It can be alarming to see rabbit urine. It varies in colour from fairly pale to orange or sometimes red...
Arthritis in Rabbits
A problem for all ages Arthritis (osteoarthritis is most commonly seen in rabbits) is inflammation of the joints. It’s a...
Abscesses in Rabbits
What is an abscess? An abscess is a walled-off pocket of infection. Abscesses can be found in soft tissue or...
Rabbit Snuffles
Rabbits don’t get colds – this is serious. Snuffles is a bacterial infection in rabbits. It can be caused by...
Bunny MOT
Keep your rabbits running smoothly Keeping your rabbits in tip-top condition isn’t difficult, but it’s important to recognise problems early....
Trancing
Tonic Immobility, often referred to as “Trancing” or “Hypnotising”, is a technique for handling rabbits that has been around for...
Caring for Senior Rabbits
Even as recently as a couple of decades ago, it wasn’t typical to see many senior rabbits. Nowadays with increasingly...
Accidental Litters
The RWAF does not encourage breeding Rescues are bursting at the seams with abandoned rabbits, and on top of that,...
Euthanasia – when to say goodbye
Having a rabbit put to sleep because of old age or ill-health is a very difficult decision to make and...
Insurance and Care Plans for Rabbits
Insurance Several companies offer pet insurance. We are not promoting any in particular, but Pet Plan* (please use our agent code...
Rabbits and E. cuniculi (Encephalitozoon cuniculi)
What is “E cuniculi”? E cuniculi (EC) is a microscopic brain and kidney parasite that affects rabbits along with a...
Rabbits and Myxomatosis
Myxomatosis is a severe viral disease of rabbits that decimated the wild rabbit population when it arrived in Britain 70...
Rabbit Skin and Fur Parasites
Parasites are creatures that get their nourishment from other creatures. Parasites that live off rabbits are mites, fleas, ticks and...
Rabbit Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (RVHD)
There are two strains of RVHD, known as RVHD1 and RVHD2. Both strains are lethal and you must vaccinate to...
Scent glands
Rabbits have scent glands at various parts of their body. For example, they smell really sweet just behind their ears,...
Moulting
As all rabbit owners are aware, rabbits moult (often referred to as shedding) regularly. Initially when rabbits are young, their...
Handling Rabbits
Rabbits are a prey species. They are ground (and subterranean) dwelling. In the wild the only time they would be...
Grooming Rabbits
Like cats, rabbits spend a huge amount of time grooming. Keeping clean is very important to their health. How often...
Caring for Giant Rabbits
Giant rabbits can make wonderful pets. Their larger than life characters and enormous stature make them delightful to own. However,...
Rabbits and Tonic Immobility (TI)
We have recently been made aware of the paper on Tonic Immobility (TI) and the discussion about it on social media. The...
Beware of OTC Bloat Treatments
Here at the RWAF we are often asked about over-the-counter (OTC) medications for rabbits with gastrointestinal disorders, such as bloating....
