I have been a little reluctant to introduce to you the newest member of our family, due to the recent heartbreak of losing Presley, so I decided to wait until our new baby had settled in nicely and been given the all clear by the vet before I shared him with you.
We went to the vet this morning with Bambi and Bear to have their annual health checks and vaccinations and we also had our newest family member checked over and vaccinated too. He's nearly finished with his first course of Panacure which is a preventative treatment for Ecuniculi and now I can proudly introduce you to our new bundle of joy, Ziggy Stardust.
Ziggy is a baby Lion Head rabbit which is a long haird breed. He's happy and healthy and very active. He's always jumping around and trying to get in to everything. He's a very curious little guy and he's absolutely besotted with Bambi and Bear.
We look forward to having many happy years with Ziggy as a part of our family.
Also, keep an eye out for future blog posts in the Pet Tips section on how to care for a rabbit.
I had lots of very interesting blog posts scheduled for this week, and unfortunately they won't be happening until next week as I am having a few days of down time.
Last week I introduced you to my new baby bunny, Preslesy, but sadly after just 5 days of being in our family, he passed away suddenly and quickly in my arms.
The consensus is that the high street pet shop sold him to us even though he had a deadly and horrific rabbit disease called Ecubiculi. Ecuniculi is a parasite that works its way through the animal and eventually attacks the brain. It is easily preventable and treatable, but clearly the pet shop in question do not care enough about the pets in their care to take the necessary steps to prevent their animals from getting it. Despite stocking and selling the worming paste in their shop, (we brought some as a preventative measure for Presley on the day we got him, but sadly the disease had progressed too much) the don't actually use it themselves.
We had no idea we had a sick bunny, as he was acting normally until his final day. I picked him up to cuddle him as i thought something was wrong and he fitted and died in my arms.
We took him back to the shop after he had passed and they offered us another bunny, but we decided against it as Ecuniculi spreads through infected urine so it's likely that the other rabbits he was with would be infected too. When I asked what they would do about the other rabbits that had been living with him the response was that they "would keep an eye on them." Seeing as Ecuniculi is often undetectable until it's too late, I don't see what good that would do.
They also took Presley and kept him, which in my eyes was to protect themselves so that we couldn't have a postmortem performed at our vet. No postmortem - no proof.
Hopefully we can all learn from this story.
If you have a rabbit, treat them with Panacure every 3/6 months to prevent them from getting this horrible disease.
If you are thinking about getting a rabbit, DO NOT get them from a well known high street pet shop. When I shared Presley's story on Facebook, I was astounded at how many people had experienced similar things from this place. It is disgusting.
Go to a reputable breeder or really research the pet shop. Don't be afraid to ask questions and find out where they source their animals from. Is there lots of animals there at once? Do they have fresh food and water? Do they have plenty of hay and clean bedding? Lots of animals in the cage suggests they have mass breeders and possibly aren't as reputable as they seem.
The only positive that I can bring from this story is that we got to have a beautiful kind soul as part of our family for even such a short time. He didn't die alone, and he didn't doe having spent his whole life in a pet shop cage.
