Hello, my name is Anna Meredith, and I'm a vet that specializes in exotic and wild animals. Now, I'm going to be talking to you today about rabbits. Sandra here is a very nice looking rabbit, and actually rabbits aren't particularly exotic, but in veterinary terms, they come under that category because they're not dogs, or cats, or farm animals, or horses. So, exotic animal vets deal with all sorts of species, but including rabbits, and guinea pigs, and small mammals. So, rabbits are very popular pets. They are increasing in popularity. And we know there are about 1.7 million pet rabbits in the U.K. but unfortunately, they don't get a very good deal sometimes when it comes to their health and welfare. So it's really important to know how to look after rabbits properly to keep them healthy and happy. Now rabbits being prey species can get very easily stressed, and one thing that often stresses them is being picked up. So it's really important to be able to do that properly without injuring them and without them getting too stressed. So one way to pick up a rabbit is to use your right hand just under the chest and gently lift the rabbit. And then place your fingers, your index and third finger, in between the front legs to secure those. And then with your elbow and forearm, you scoop up the back end of the rabbit and hold that against your body. You can use your other hand if you want to just support underneath. But here you can see I'm managing to do that with one hand, and the rabbit feels nice and secure. She's held tightly against my body. And very importantly, I'm supporting the spine and those long powerful hind legs. Now, rabbits, when they get stressed and struggle, often kick out with their hind legs and they can really damage their spine, and even fracture it. So, it's very important that you do that and support that back end of the rabbit. Now, Sandra here is very used to being handled, but if he were to get a bit stressed, another thing I could do would be to cover her eyes with my hand. And that again, has a calming affect, and minimizes any stress to the rabbit. When you put a rabbit down, it's important you don't let them leap out of your arms. So essentially you do the whole process in reverse and put the hind end of the rabbit down on the table first, and then release that and then replace the front end down and release that. And that way you're doing the whole procedure without the rabbit getting stressed and without any damage to them. Now the other thing to know about rabbits is that they're very sociable animals so its really important that if you're thinking about getting a rabbit you actually get two or at least two. So one of the things we know is really important to rabbits is that they are kept with at least one other rabbit that they get along well with it. So that's very important. And we also must make sure that we nurture those rabbits as well. So Sandra here is a female rabbit obviously and we know that rabbits such as Sandra are very prone to getting cancer of the uterus if we don't neuter them. So, that's a really important thing to do to keep them healthy. And male rabbits as well, we should get those neutered. And that stops unwanted aggressive behavior, spraying with urine, and other things you might find unpleasant if you're going to keep a male rabbit as a pet. It will also stop two male rabbits fighting with each other. Now, the other really important thing with rabbits and what we see a lot of as vets is disease related to an inappropriate diet. So feeding your rabbits correctly is probably one of the most important things you can do to keep them healthy and happy. Now rabbits in the wild graze, they eat mainly grass. And their teeth and their digestive system have adapted and evolved to cope with that type of diet. Now unfortunately a lot of people when they keep rabbits as pets don't feed them the correct diet at all. And they feed them things such as a muesli type mix based on cereals. And we know that that's really bad for rabbits. Rabbit's teeth grow continuously throughout their life, so they need to be continuously worn down by eating a very abrasive and high fiber diet like grass. So that's what we should be feeding them when we keep them as pets. So a rabbit like Sandra here, basically she should be eating either grass all day long If she can have access to that. But if you can't let your rabbit have access to grass and go out in the garden, you should just feed them plenty of good quality hay. And they should have it available to them all the time. In addition to that, you can feed just small amounts of a soft pellet, like this. Now, these are specially made for rabbits. And they are very high fiber and they will help to keep teeth and the digestive system healthy. But you shouldn't feed just bowls and bowls of this, just a very small amount. And a rabbit like Sandra would only need about two tablespoons of a diet like that everyday. So plenty of hay, plenty of grass, as small amount of a high fibre pellet like this one here, and then you can also feed nice green leafy vegetables. They really enjoy those as well. And they will also provide some dental wear and keep their guts healthy. Actually, it's a bit of a myth that rabbits like carrots and should be fed carrots. They do enjoy them but carrots and other fruits, such as apples and pears, although they like them they're not actually particularly good for them because they don't provide that Wear on the teeth and the fiber for their digestive tract. So, if you are going to feed a carrot or an apple, just a small piece, maybe once or twice a week is all that they need. [SOUND]
