Rabbits

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來自 The University of Edinburgh 的課程

EDIVET：如何成为一名兽医？

758 個評分

The University of Edinburgh

EDIVET：如何成为一名兽医？

758 個評分

This course is for anyone interested in learning more about Veterinary Medicine, giving a “taster” of courses covered in the first year of a veterinary degree and an idea of what it is like to study Veterinary Medicine.

從本節課中

Basic Animal Care

In this week, led by Kay Aitchison, we will be looking at animal care. We recommend that you start with the overview reading under the week 1 overview and then work through the core materials. We hope you enjoy the week.

Week 1 Introduction1:42

與講師見面

Dr Jessie Paterson
BSc (Hons) Agricultural Chemistry, PhD, PgDip
Lecturer in Student Learning
Kay Aitchison
BSc Agriculture (Hons Animal Production Science)
Lecturer in Farm Animal Husbandry
Prof Susan Rhind
BVMS, PhD, FRCPath, PFHEA, MRCVS
Professor of Veterinary Medical Education
Dr Gurå Therese Bergkvist
BSc Hons (Vet Sci), BVM&S, PhD, MRCVS
Lecturer, Preclinical Veterinary Sciences
Rachel Whittington
BVSC MRCVS
Lecturer in Professional Skills
Dr Catriona Bell
BVetMed, PhD, PGCAP, MRCVS
Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Education
Dr Andrew Gardiner
BVM&S, Cert SAS, MSc, PhD, MRCVS
Veterinary Clinical Senior Lecturer

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.

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