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my rabbit snowy

1796 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  sarahxx92, 
sarahxx92
Hey guys,
So I don't know how many of you on here are from Australia.
But last summer there was an outbreak of myxomatosis (myxo), which is a disease carried by mosquitoes that kills rabbits :(

There is a Vaccine for it, but in Australia its not legal because the Australian government think it will make wild rabbits immune to Myxo.

Last summer, both my friends rabbits died within a week. At school one of our teachers breeds and shows rabbits, and nearly all of hers died too.

I was terrified all summer that I would wake up in the morning to find snowy had been bitten from a mosquito and would have died over night. Or I would worry about her while I was a t school. The disease can kill a rabbit as fast as 24 hours, and its painful and cruel.

The days are getting warmer and mosquitoes are coming back out.

There is a Petition to make the Vaccine available in Australia, Please sign it and help keep our rabbits safe :)

http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41908.html

snowy:
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FaeryBee
Hi, Sarah!

Your little Snowy is beautiful!!
I'd be terrified too! :eek:

Can you wrap his cage in mosquito netting
:S to help protect him?

I'm in the US, so I don't know if it will help :rolleyes:, but I signed the petition anyway.
I sure hope they will change their rulings and allow the vaccine for the pet rabbits! :hug:
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sarahxx92
FaeryBee said:
Hi, Sarah!

Your little Snowy is beautiful!!
I'd be terrified too! :eek:

Can you wrap his cage in mosquito netting
:S to help protect him?

I'm in the US, so I don't know if it will help :rolleyes:, but I signed the petition anyway.
I sure hope they will change their rulings and allow the vaccine for the pet rabbits! :hug:
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thankyou! yes you can do that last year I covered the cage with a blanket type thing and she was up under shelter where there are less mossies but that is a very good idea :)
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V
Oh no! We have myxo over here too and have to have a vaccination against it, infact my 3 are due this month (every 6 months)

It is a horrid disease and its not a nice way to die :( Our wild rabbits do not get vaccinated, so I don't know why your government wont let you Vaccinate your pet rabbits, like we do.

I will pass the petition onto the rabbit forum I visit too. Poor bunnies :( I hope Snowy stays safe xx
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B
Snowy is very beautiful! :)

I hope the Petition is successful.

.
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Erika
Snowy is beautiful. I will second Deb here, i think mosquito netting would prevent snowy from being bitten by mosquitos :) i have heard of people using netting or regular flyscreen on hutches here :)
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sarahxx92
VickyLouise said:
Oh no! We have myxo over here too and have to have a vaccination against it, infact my 3 are due this month (every 6 months)

It is a horrid disease and its not a nice way to die :( Our wild rabbits do not get vaccinated, so I don't know why your government wont let you Vaccinate your pet rabbits, like we do.

I will pass the petition onto the rabbit forum I visit too. Poor bunnies :( I hope Snowy stays safe xx
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thanks for passing the petition on Vicky, I appreciate it :) For some reason the goverment think that people will realease their rabbits into the wild and then the wild rabbits will be immune... but who would bother getting their rabbit vaccinated and then let it out in the wild. And most pet rabbits wouldn't survive in the wild anyway. So yes they are being unfair!

Budgiebud said:
Snowy is very beautiful! :)

I hope the Petition is successful.

.
Click to expand...
thankyou :) I hope it is too.

Erika said:
Snowy is beautiful. I will second Deb here, i think mosquito netting would prevent snowy from being bitten by mosquitos :) i have heard of people using netting or regular flyscreen on hutches here :)
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Yes it is a good idea, I will be sure to get some :)
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Linaeth
That's awful! I'd be so afraid to let my bunny out at all! :( I see no way that would affect the wild population at all. One dog getting a rabies shot doesn't pass immunity to other animals...Is there any way you could keep Snowy inside 24/7 until mosquito season has passed? A friend of mine set up a big indoor play area for his rabbit. I'll sign the petition tomorrow, for sure (gotta go to bed now; work tomorrow).
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V
Even if pet rabbits are released into the wild (very bad thing!) It still wont affect the wild rabbits. The vaccine only lasts 6 months and can't be passed on... No rabbit can be immune to myxi... :( Even if a rabbit has had the vaccination all its life and it could still catch it. The vaccine just helps prevent it and if the bun does catch it with the vaccination then it wont be as bad as without the vaccination. Your government needs a good talking to about rabbit care :(
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Lisa P.
Sounds like a horrible thing to happen to a rabbit. I hope Snowy stays safe!

One thing you can do to cut down on the mosquitoes you get in your yard is to spray your yard with a mixture of dish soap and water. For example, you put Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle that you can attach to your hose and hose down your yard in the evening. The mosquitoes don't like it and very few if any come into the area you have sprayed. We do this for outdoor events in the summer so we can be out and not be bothered with them. Hope this helps, and your bunny stays safe!

Lisa
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sarahxx92
Linaeth said:
That's awful! I'd be so afraid to let my bunny out at all! :( I see no way that would affect the wild population at all. One dog getting a rabies shot doesn't pass immunity to other animals...Is there any way you could keep Snowy inside 24/7 until mosquito season has passed? A friend of mine set up a big indoor play area for his rabbit. I'll sign the petition tomorrow, for sure (gotta go to bed now; work tomorrow).
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hey thankyou for signing the petition. No I can't keep snowy inside unfortunately I live with my parents and they won't let me and we don't really have the space anyway! but would be a good idea if I could! :)

VickyLouise said:
Even if pet rabbits are released into the wild (very bad thing!) It still wont affect the wild rabbits. The vaccine only lasts 6 months and can't be passed on... No rabbit can be immune to myxi... :( Even if a rabbit has had the vaccination all its life and it could still catch it. The vaccine just helps prevent it and if the bun does catch it with the vaccination then it wont be as bad as without the vaccination. Your government needs a good talking to about rabbit care :(
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yes you are so right, the government just doesn't really seem to understand, and they are letting people innocent pets who people care about die for a really silly reason they haven't even researched!

Lisa P. said:
Sounds like a horrible thing to happen to a rabbit. I hope Snowy stays safe!

One thing you can do to cut down on the mosquitoes you get in your yard is to spray your yard with a mixture of dish soap and water. For example, you put Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle that you can attach to your hose and hose down your yard in the evening. The mosquitoes don't like it and very few if any come into the area you have sprayed. We do this for outdoor events in the summer so we can be out and not be bothered with them. Hope this helps, and your bunny stays safe!

Lisa
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thankyou for the tip, I will make sure to try it :)
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