Rabbits are social animals, so adopt additional than just one

Q: I’ve fallen in adore with my friend’s rabbit, and I want just one of my own. I ponder if the rabbit is lonely when my close friend is at perform and no matter whether I ought to receive two alternatively of a single. Also, do shelters have rabbits, or really should I go to the pet keep?

A: Rabbits are the third-most-frequently surrendered species at animal shelters, and February is Adopt a Rabbit Thirty day period, so your timing is great.

Adopting a rabbit from an animal shelter or rescue organization delivers numerous advantages.
The rabbit will likely appear to you currently sterilized or with a voucher for reduced-value spay/neuter medical procedures. Sterilized rabbits live lengthier and have much less medical and behavioral problems than unsterilized bunnies.

Compared with pet store rabbits shipped from breeding mills, rescued rabbits are previously socialized and properly trained to use a litter box. Shelter and rescue workers users know the temperaments of their rabbits and will aid you choose the suitable 1 for your personality and life style. They also offer assistance through just about every adopted rabbit’s life.

In addition, adopting a bunny is a lot more worthwhile than getting a single at a pet retail store due to the fact you save a life and absolutely free up space for one more homeless rabbit.

Rabbits are social creatures that require the companionship of their personal species, so please consider adopting a bunny and a buddy. If the shelter or rescue has a pair that’s now bonded, select them. If not, introduce your rabbits with the enable of somebody who is familiar with rabbits perfectly, and check with the Property Rabbit Modern society at https://rabbit.org.

A bonded pair will try to eat and play alongside one another, groom each other and snooze jointly. Viewing their interactions will carry you much more pleasure than residing with a solitary rabbit.

Your rabbits will by no means be bored with every single other’s corporation, so they won’t get into the trouble a solitary rabbit can. When you are at function, you will know your bunnies aren’t lonely.

Visit your area animal shelter, or discover a rabbit rescue organization at https://rabbit.org/unbiased-rabbit-rescue.

Q: My Weimaraner Axel experienced a regime blood examination that was positive for Lyme condition. He has by no means proven any clinical indicators, his Lyme vaccination is constantly current, and he uses a tick preventive through the 12 months. Specified all this, how substantially can I rely on the test final result? His veterinarian desires to deal with him with an antibiotic. Can this hurt him if he doesn’t really will need it?

A: The reply to your quandary is unclear, so allow me commence with what we do know.
Lyme disease, prompted by Borrelia germs transmitted via a tick bite, is characterized by a unexpected onset of lameness, lethargy, hunger decline and fever. The micro organism hurt the joints and kidneys, producing the kidneys to excrete protein in the urine.

Urine really should not comprise protein, so most veterinarians who get a optimistic Lyme examination end result in the absence of clinical signals test the urine for protein.

If a pet has no scientific indicators of Lyme disease and no protein in the urine, most veterinarians would not prescribe an antibiotic. Nevertheless, this situation is controversial.

To choose how greatest to diagnose, deal with and protect against Lyme disorder in pets, board-licensed veterinarians with unique knowledge in Lyme disease achieved to assessment the study details. Their consensus assertion is posted at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jvim.15085.

If you scroll down to the topic titled “Should Treatment plans Be Made available For Nonclinical, Nonproteinuric Seropositive Canine?” you are going to see that most of the gurus did not recommend antibiotic remedy for canines like Axel.

In section, this is because antibiotics are not harmless. They can cause tummy upset, vomiting and/or diarrhea in some canines. Utilizing an antibiotic when it is not required can also market bacterial resistance, so the antibiotic will not be productive in the future when it is necessary.

I advocate you inquire your veterinarian to test Axel’s urine for protein, which will give you a single much more piece of info on which to foundation a therapy choice.

Lee Pickett, VMD, methods companion animal medication in North Carolina. Call her at https://askthevet.pet.