Bits for Pets Blog

I’M great with arithmetic. My maths is correct 93 per cent of the time and who cares about the other eight per cent?

I’m even better with statistics, despite the fact that 49 per cent of them are completely made up.

But when it’s all boiled down, rabbits are the boys when it comes to number crunching.

To start with, there are 67 breeds of rabbit with 537 varieties. They range in size from 1kg (that’s the Netherland Dwarf) to more than 6kg (the burly and aptly named, Flemish Giant).

Life span, if properly looked after, is normally six to eight years, but we do see rabbits living for more than a decade.

Females are called does, males are called bucks and generally you get between six and eight youngsters, called kittens, in a litter. The largest recorded litter size is 24.

It may surprise you to know that rabbits are the third most popular pet in Britain, with more than two millionrabbits living with us. Remarkably, one in 20 households now owns one or more pet rabbits.

But round about now is when the numbers begin to be bad news.

Unfortunately, around 33,000 rabbits are handed in to rescue centres every year.

That’s 33,000 owners who didn’t think long and hard about whether they really wanted a rabbit and whether they could devote the time and energy required to keep them fed, cleaned and occupied. If you are thinking about the work required, speak to the Rabbit Welfare Association ( 0870 046 5249 or www.houserabbit.co.uk).

Rabbit Rehome (www.rabbitrehome.org.uk) lists details for rescued rabbits looking for new homes and can put potential owners in touch with local rescue centres. Or contact the SSPCA.

And, as you might expect, the numbers get worse.

At least 80 per cent of rabbits in the UK are fed incorrectly and one of the most common reasons for rabbits becoming unwell is a poor diet. There are a number of reasons.

Firstly, rabbits’ teeth continue to grow throughout life.

While they chew 120 times a minute, it is crucial that rabbits are fed high-fibre diets to grind down these teeth. Hay or grass should be the bedrock of this diet, not the aesthetically-pleasing-to-humans muesli type mix that is still sold in many pet shops.

This type of diet allows selective feeding so that the rabbit just picks out the tasty bits, rather like a child presented with a huge finger buffet.

Consequently, 75 per cent of rabbits have dental abnormalities.

Next problem is that rabbits pass two forms of faeces. The hard pellet that is genuine waste and a soft caecotroph which must be re-ingested by the rabbit for proper digestion.

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Hundreds of pet owners across the city will face expensive veterinary bills after a surgery offering free treatment announced it is to close.

More than 200 families on low incomes or benefits have been able to get their animals treated for free at the Howard veterinary surgeries at Hall Road and St Faith’s Lane.

But the only vets in the city which operates the PetAid scheme funded by the PDSA, which provides free treatment for one pet for clients on benefits, is to close at the end of March.

Susan Howard, who has run the family-owned practice for more than 20 years, said: “We have had over 260 clients on the scheme last year and have had to inform PDSA clients whose registration is up for renewal that we can’t renew it.

“This is very distressing for them, especially for those whose pets are on long-term treatment. We had hoped the PDSA would be able to get one of the other Norwich practices to take on the scheme, but so far they’ve had no success. We’re very concerned about what will happen to these clients and their pets.”

Miss Howard will be turning the Hall Road surgery into a neutering clinic after the practice closes at the end of March, but she will not be doing any veterinary treatments or out-of-hours emergency work.

She would love to see another city vet take on the PetAid scheme and to ensure people on low incomes or benefits have somewhere to go.

“The only alternative would be to expand and take on an assistant again, but the amount of legislation imposed on small businesses now, especially on veterinary practices makes this unattractive,” she said.

Fiona Watts, who has been taking pets to Miss Howard’s surgery, was not a member of the PetAid scheme.

But she said: “I really hope another vet in the city can offer the scheme to help those who were members.

“Otherwise there will be no PDSA scheme in the area for people on low incomes to have help with taking their animals to the vets.”

PDSA, the UK’s leading veterinary charity, provides free veterinary treatment to more than 4,650 sick and injured animals every single day.

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