Urgent care for rabbit family
Pregnant rabbit Dotty already had nine baby rabbits with her when she was brought to our member Blue Cross in desperate need of help. Due to give birth any day, the exhausted mum was struggling with back-to-back pregnancies because of her unsuitable living conditions.
Just nine days after arriving at Blue Cross’ Southampton rehoming centre, Dotty gave birth to five new bunnies — Cabbage, Sprout, Pea, Swede and Pepper. The team needed to act fast to make sure all of the rabbits could receive the care they needed.
As well as her newborns, Dotty had arrived with a group of three-week-old baby rabbits born a few days before Christmas, along with several eight week olds.
Ellie Assistant Manager for On-Site Services at Blue Cross Southampton, explains: “The rabbits were in desperate need of our help. Dotty had obviously given birth and then became pregnant again almost immediately afterwards. Some of them also needed extensive vet treatment for eye infections.”
An older youngster named Mushroom – who was almost completely blind – had been mistaken for a female in his previous home. This meant overwhelmed mum Dotty hardly had a moment between pregnancies.
Mushroom needed immediate vet treatment for persistent conjunctivitis in his eyes, while he and one of the babies, named Radish, were diagnosed with a painful genetic condition called entropion — or inverted eyelids — and both needed more intense clinical treatment for their eyes.
Poor Radish had a very bad case of entropion in his right eye with long eyelashes growing into his cornea, while Mushroom was suffering a similar painful problem in his left eye.
Both bunnies had surgery to fix the excruciating condition and, after 10 days of recovery time, had a new lease of life.
After more than three months of intense care at Blue Cross, many of the rabbits have already found loving new homes, while the rest are just waiting to hop into a caring spot to enjoy the attention they deserve.