problem with rabbits..

[t.asha]

We are lucky enough to live in an area where there is loads of wild and open places full of rabbits, foxes etc where we walk our dogs every day, however this is not as nice as usual at the moment as we have in the last few days found several rabbits with myxymitosis (sorry if its spelled wrong but I'm sure you know what I mean) This is a disgusting disease, and this is very distressing, does anyone know if there is anything we can do to help these poor creatures, and should I be informing anyone about this ????

[sponsmith]

Buy a gun and shoot them through the head.
A quick and humane way of dealing with them.
Not bad in a stew either!

[blue eyes ;)]

i would inform the local rspca as they deal with wild animals x

[doglady]

They will probably come along and put gas down all the rabbit holes to kill the whole lot. They've done it twice near where I live, after I've found loads of dead rabbits lying around.

You don't see any rabbits at all for a couple of weeks, and then they start to come back and are a lot healthier for it.

I know it seems harsh, but it really is the kindest thing to do. To try and deal with a wild rabbit yourself would cause it even more stress.

[YvonneM]

Keep you dog away from them as a friend 's corgi contacted it I know its rare but don't take any chances

[lankeela]

Dogs cannot contract myxomatosis. Rabbits are the only animals that can catch it. Myxomatosis caused by the myxoma virus. It was first known in South America and it was deliberately introduced into Australia to control rabbit infestation.

Left alone, an infected rabbit will usually die in about 12 days, usually from lung damage.

If I see any myxy rabbits I let my dogs despatch them which they do very quickly.

[Thunderbird+]

I'm afraid there is not much you can do for the rabbits, as they will not recover. brobably the kindest thing you can do for them is to club them over the head to bring their suffering to an early end, although its not something everyone can stomach.
They dont make good eating either as they get very emanciated towards the end even though they carry on eating but they are no longer selective in what they eat, even poisonous plants like yew foliage.
Myxy is a disease that's carried by the rabbit flea.

[gelda]

Dogs CAN contract it , I had a friend who had 2 spaniels who both got it!

[clair3934]

From a rabbit website

www.rguppy.freeserve.co.uk

The most commonly asked question "CAN OTHER ANIMALS CATS , DOGS ETC.. OR HUMANS CATCH MYXI" the answer is that there has never been a recorded incident of the virus crossing over to any other animal or human the virus was man made for the sole purpose of controlling wild rabbits

[t.asha]

thanx for all yor comments,I don't think I'll report it to anyone yet if the outcome is going to be that they gas all the rabbits as most of them seem to be fine its just a few so far. We did dispatch these unfortunate creatures as humanely as possible as it was very obvious that they weren't gonna recover, I have heard that other animals can contract the virus from eating infected animals - my boyfriends ferrets got a nasty virus where their eyes got lots of green gunge coming out of them and they died but wether thats the myxi virus or wether they have contracted a secondary disease I don't know...The local foxes , crows , magpies etc don't seem to be interested in these bunnys either alive or dead. So maybe they have been ill after eating them ????

[paddywak]

It's a horrible desease and all you can do is dispatch the infected animal as humanely as possible. Back in the late 50's early 60's when it was rife,we'd walk over the fields and see hundreds of the poor things,we'd dispatch as many as we could but I've seen reports where it was claimed as many of 95% of the rabbit population died.Fortunately the ones that survived gained a form of natural and the rabbit population is once again quite healthy.At that time we'd have rabbit two or three times a week either in pies or stews but since the great myxy out break I've never eaten it.