Sunday 3 June 2012

Conjunctivitis in Rabbits

Conjunctivitis in rabbits is a common occurrence. All that matter is how you treat it. The type of conjunctivitis of which is caused by a virus, is well known as the name 'pink eye'. That is because it looks like a 'pink eye' due to the symptoms.

This causes a bunnies eye to produce a watery discharge which can occasionally come out as pus as well. It is very clear weather or not your bunny has this. If they do they will have noticeable watery eyes and it will look almost like they are crying with this discharge possibly running down to their nose.

A way to describe it also, is that it is an inflammation of the tissue around their eye's. 

some causes of the conjunctivitis in rabbits could be from some sort of upper respiratory infection such as snuffles. This is because their eyes, nose and mouth are in such a small range of each other which can easily cause infections on other parts of the body.

A bunnies tear ducts can easily become blocked so you have to be careful with what you do, also making sure that you bunny stays healthy. Younger bunnies are more at risk as they are more open to infection. So you will want to keep your bunny in a clean environment which is less of a risk for infection.


Here are some signs to look out for for conjunctivitis in rabbits:

  • the eye(s) are bulging
  • a swollen eyelid
  • the area around the eye appears red
  • hair loss around the eye
  • a clear discharge produced from the eye
  • tear stains on their cheek (looks like they are crying almost
  • The eye could be swollen shut

How to get rid of it:

They will need to be treated by a veterinarian and you will most likely be prescribed for some eye drops which will help reduce the swelling. IF you think that your bunny may have this, its best to go and visit your local vets to see what it is and they can tell you weather it is caused by bacterial or viral. Also, they will know what will help your bunny to be more relaxed and comfortable whilst they still have it. They will be able to prescribe you to some antibiotics (if necessary). 

Here are some rabbit products which I thought you may like. Have a look if your interested:


Saturday 18 February 2012

Clicker Training a Rabbit

Clicker training a rabbit will require much training and hard work. By doing this you can teach your bunny many useful skills which you can use later on when you are either in the garden and playing a game, or when you are going to compete your bunny in either bunny agility or bunny hopping. These events are most popular in the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia. I personally think that this is something worth doing!

All you need to do this is:
  • a clicker (this can be purchased at pet shops or online)
  • as well as a small amount of treats to use (try to get more of the natural ingredient ones)
You can start off simple at first such as teaching your bunny to come when their name is called. What you would do for this is be a few steps away kneeling facing them and call his/her name. Whilst you are doing this get a treat out and show it to them.

Once they realize, they will probably hop over to you and try and get the treat. When they are by you, click the click and reward them with a treat! Repeat this until you have used up all of them treats, but when they are getting used to it, go a few steps further back and then do it. If you want you can continue practicing with them without treats and clicking the clicker and giving them a bit of a fuss. You don't want them to become obese!

When you feel you can move on from this, you can start getting them to hop over a large branch or something like that so you can just use it like a jump. What you would do here is stand at the other side of the jump and call them over.

At first they will need a bit of persuading, but once they get the hang of it, it is much easier. You would click the clicker and reward them with a treat when they jump over it successfully! I remember when I tried this with my bunny and it went very well!

I'm sure that after you have done these two exercises of clicker training a rabbit successfully, you will be able to think of ones on your own making higher jumps or buying a small hoop and getting them to jump through that!

Here are some bunny product which I thought that you might be interested in! Click the pictures below for more information!

I hope that this post about clicker training a rabbit helps you to train yours!

Thursday 16 February 2012

Rabbit Hopping

Right now you may be thinking "This is the same as bunny agility!". These are quite different as in the agility you will travel round a course as fast as you can trying to get the best time without knocking over any obstacles. In rabbit hopping, you are ONLY doing jumping and is also known as show jumping. Also agility is commonly off the leash whilst the hopping is on a leash. I hope that you now know the difference and now I will tell you more about rabbit hopping.

This is very popular in Scandinavia, the UK and Germany. There can be a competition every week along with up to 200 competitors. Some of the lengths and heights in which these creatures jump can be amazing! Even if you didn't want to compete straight away, I would recommend that you go to watch at least one competition so you can see what it is all about.

The jumps which your bunny goes over can vary, and they may be going over a series of different shaped and sized jumps or just one large one. The idea of this, is you bunny to jump far and high.

Even though these two events are different, they will both be focusing on your bunnies agility and they work the same way. The one with the least faults and the quckest time wins!

If you were ever going to start doing either of these events, I would suggest that you lead train your bunny and you could do some clicker training work as well. This would require much training and hard work, so you need to remember to this everyday to keep your bunnies abilities very high. You will also need to find out when events in your area/region are taking place and where.

Here are some products which you may be interested in.

I hope that this post helped you to gain more information about rabbit hopping and how it is different from the bunny agility!

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Rabbit Agility

You may be thinking "What is rabbit agility!?" Well I am here to tell you all about it. If you have heard of dog agility before then you might have some idea of what rabbit agility is. This is really similar to what dogs do, although it is on a much smaller scale and the jumps are mainly the same but there are some different ones.

The way in which you can come first is completing the circuit without your bunny knocking over any jumps and doing this is in the fastest time. This can be a very entertaining sport for people very keen on bunny exercise, rabbit agility along with loving to spend many hours of fun and training with their bunny!

This species is more intelligent then what you may have expected. They have been easily litter trained like other domestic animals along with being capable of performing a trick for a treat! That is after MUCH practice of course!

Having a good breed


All that I mean by having a good breed is that you make sure to pick a breed which is very active and not too large. The large breeds which I have heard people not suggest to race is the breeds like the English Lop as it has large ears which could be stepped on by himself as he is running and their is a possibility that his/her ears could get caught in an obstacle or jump. This could result in a very hurt bunny.

I have also heard that it is not a good idea to use angora bunnies in OUTDOOR races as their fur is long and could easily pick up many twigs, leaves or anything else in the grass, which means that this is a danger as well. People have said that this breed has done quite well in indoor events though.

I personally think that people are recommending you to have breeds such as the dutch bunny or any which may be this size, with this sort of fur, along with being quite active like them. I am not saying that you should but a dutch bunny just because of this, also I am NOT saying that they are the best, I am just saying that they fir the description for ONE of the better types. You may know of another breed which does quite well in competitions as well though.

Here are some products which you may be interested in! Click them below for more information!


I hope this post helped you to have a much better understanding about rabbit agility!I would love to know if anyone is involved in any!