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BlackRabbits

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I've always adopted adult or young adult rabbits, but now I have a 6 week old Flemish baby. I want to make sure he gets a good start in life.

First of all, do baby rabbits require any vaccinations? If so, which ones and at what age(s)?

Secondly, do they need to be wormed? If yes, is a wormer available to the public or must the rabbit be wormed by a vet?

At what age can they be spayed or neutered?

Do they need any other preventative checkups? Are there any disease symptoms I should be on the lookout for in a baby rabbit?
 
Vaccinations depend HIGHLY on where you live- most places in the US don't recommend any.

Deworming also depends on his history, in my opinion. If he lives outside or has lived outside (particularly where there may be fecal matter from other hindgut fermenters like horses) it might be a good idea. I personally would rather spend the money to test for worms (done at a vet with a fecal sample) than treat anything unnecessarily.

Spaying/neutering can be done at 2 lbs (although most vets like to wait a little bit longer for the larger breeds) and is best done by 6-8 months of age (in my opinion).

Personally, I believe that ALL rabbits should be checked annually, regardless of age. However, I'd get him in for a check/to establish a baseline file with him and the veterinarian- since you will need to do this before a neuter/spay anyways! My veterinarian requires blood work before spays/neuters on rabbits- which is a good idea, just to get baseline values. However, most vets don't require this- but it is something to consider!
 
6 weeks is very young, so I would look out for weaning enteritis which can happen when you wean the rabbit before 8 weeks. Diarrhea is the main symptom.
I never dewormed a rabbit but mine are all inside rabbits and have no contact with other animals. I vaccinate every year but, like RavenousDragon said, that depends where you live : in France, we unfortunately got VHD and myxomatosis, so it's those two vaccines every year. It's best to spay when your rabbit is mostly grown but before her first birthday so your rabbit is in the best condition to recover from the operation and to avoid having to get all the uterus out (rabbits can develop tumors really young and once there is one, the uterus has to go which makes for a more severe operation than just getting the ovaries out). 7 months is ideal, but it depends on your rabbit's general health and weight. The best is generally to go to the vet to ask for his opinion when your rabbit turns 7 month. It's also a way to assess the vet's knowledge before the operation which I prefer to do if it's not a vet I'm familiar with asking questions like 'Do you spay rabbits often?' 'Should my rabbit be on an empty stomach for the operation?' (if the vet say 'yes', he will never see me again ^^) 'How do you do the anesthesia?' (gaz is best), 'Do you give meds for the pain and antibiotics after the operation?'...
 
The good news is that I'm in Canada where rabbit vaccinations aren't required. Also, I went to his rabbitry when I picked him up, it's indoors and there are no horses or similar animals around.

I will have his blood work done when he's neutered. Vets charge insane prices for "exotics" here, they are like used car salesmen. Pushing overpriced low quality "prescription" diets on healthy pets is a common tactic, along with pushing unnecessary tests to jack the bill up even further.

Based on my experience with vets around here, if I took him in this week for blood work, then went back a month later for a neuter, they'd demand another full set of tests to the tune of $2-300 dollars "just in case something's changed". This happened to me once when I was trying to get a kitten spayed. They demanded I bring her in for blood work 3 weeks before the spay, then after the spay presented me with a bill which included the exact same tests a second time, which they performed without my consent right before the surgery.

These vets here are so bad that a national TV consumer program did a story about their greed. They took a dog which had been checked by their vet, to several vets along with a hidden camera. Every vet gave different findings, almost all falsely diagnosed non-existent ailments, all pressured the owner to buy prescription diets, and all demanded that unnecessary and expensive tests be done. The greediest vet featured was an exotics/avian vet I had used for my parrot. The first time I walked in their door I was handed a folder containing a lengthy list of tests totaling $700 and told I "must" get these done every year! I was just there for a beak trim - which they charged $75 for. And, they demanded I buy their overpriced "organic" pellets, $50 for a two pound bag. I ended up learning to trim his beak on my own rather than hand my money to that shark.

So it's good to know he doesn't need shots at least, but I'm glad I asked about it. I'd feel terrible if he got sick and died because I didn't know he needed certain shots.
 
You probably should watch for signs of enteritis, but not because the youngster was weaned at 6 weeks. A change in diet and/or stress level, more often than not, will cause this at a young age. Our does typically will wean their kits at about 4-5 weeks and very few have any problems.

As to worming, if your rabbits aren't allowed to run in the grass/dirt then they normally shouldn't need anything.
 
You probably should watch for signs of enteritis, but not because the youngster was weaned at 6 weeks. A change in diet and/or stress level, more often than not, will cause this at a young age. Our does typically will wean their kits at about 4-5 weeks and very few have any problems.

As to worming, if your rabbits aren't allowed to run in the grass/dirt then they normally shouldn't need anything.

So far, everything is A-OK in the poop department. The little scamp alternates between eating, sleeping and binkying. Of course he stops the binkying as soon as he sees me holding up my phone, so we'll just have to settle for these pics from today:

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2017-01-16%2019.38.11_zpszcw1aixg.jpg
 

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