TEXAS RANGER, MY BUNNY

Question
Texas has a little red hairless bump on her side and i was just wondering if you might know what it is or if it needs treatment. Also, she is about 8 1/2 months old, and, just a wild guess, about 6 or 7 pounds; i hoped you could feel me in on how much daily food she should be getting, and maybe a list of some healthy treat foods. Thanx alot. oh, and Texas Ranger says Thanks too! =)

Answer
Hi Sam,

I can't tell you what the bump is.  I can guess it could be a number of things.  If the bump has a little 'hole' in the middle of it it could be a botfly larvae.  Otherwise it is some other kind of irritation.  It will require a vet to deal with.  As a pet owner you can't deal with a botfly (if it is one) by yourself.  A vet has to sedate the rabbit and make the hole bigger (cut) to extract the botfly larvae without squishing/breaking it, as doing so would release toxins into your rabbit that could kill it.  

The best thing to do is go to a good rabbit vet and have her examined.  It would be even more appropriate if she's never had an annual exam (all rabbits need an annual exam, like a cat or dog).

If you don't have a good rabbit vet, go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet near you.

Diet:

She is under a year so she is still growing.  Diet changes at age 1.

She can have unlimited amounts of timothy grass hay, and alfalfa grass hay.  Make sure she gets timothy hay because after age 1, you should gradually stop giving her alfalfa (too much calcium for adult bunnies can lead to kidney stones/bladder sludge).  

Food Pellets: guidelines are 1/4 cup timothy/alfalfa pellets (just pellets, no extra junk in them) per 5 pounds body weight, per day.  Your gay is 7 pounds so you could give her 3/8 cup of pellets per day.  

Greens:  small amounts of greens, if they do not cause gi tract problems.  Good safer greens are: romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce (NEVER ICEBERG!).  Flat italian parsley/regular parsley are good.  A combined regular-sized handful of 1-3 of these greens per day should be okay.

Carrots: 2-3 coin slivers of a carrot are okay.  Not much more because of the sugar/carbs.  A few dried carrot pieces from a pet store or Busy Bunny are okay.

Really limit high calorie/high sugar treats.  This causes gi tract problems.  A very small pinch of quaker oats (regular, not quick/instant) is okay once a day for most rabbits.  A few papaya pieces per day are okay.  A couple of cheerios (instead of oats) can be okay.

Other good safer treats: hay cube pieces, from a pet store.  Doesn't replace regular hay.  Wicker chew toys (wicker balls, baskets, etc) from a pet store are good as they can eat wood like this.

They don't need salt licks.  Avoid hi sugar high carb foods, all people foods are bad, no dairy, no meat.  

Lee