The
other vet should not be licensed to practise!
Asiahomes.com's Be Kind To Rabbits educational story.
"The vet did not know how to treat my rabbits' skin disease," the
pet shop owner complained to me. "After the vet had injected the
rabbits, the skin disease still persists and there are now crusty all
over the body. I want you to put them to sleep." He put the 3
big rabbits on the examination table. He shook his head sideways and
his eye whites turned reddish,
"The other vet was very incompetent! He should not be given a licence
to practise."
This was the first time I met him. He wanted to euthanase the 3
adult rabbits
with crusty skin all over the ear edges, face and paws because
nobody
would buy diseased rabbits and it cost him money to maintain them.
"The rabbits suffer from Sarcoptic Mange. They can be cured
within 2 weeks," I assured him. "If not, you get your money
back." Money back guarantees from a veterinarian? It was too good to
be true. Be careful when it is too good to be true, the consumer rights
advocates must have warned him. Would he accept this guarantee? If
he did, the 2 rabbits would live.
The pet shop owner squinted his eyes and wrinkled his forehead skin. Why
should he throw away good money after bad? He had already paid for
the previous veterinary treatments. These not so attractively coloured
rabbits would not be cute now and therefore would not have any prospects
of sale.
He could have abandoned the rabbits but he was kind enough as to ask a
veterinarian to put them to sleep.
"It is not the veterinarian's lack of competence," I
explained. "Your
rabbits had been re-infested by mites present in the
cages or from your new batches of infested rabbits."
 |
 |
| Rabbit mites infesting ears, nose and feet can be eliminated by your
vet. |
Rabbit mites
dying in the crusty areas of the ears, nose and feet. Should be normal
in 14 days' time. |
He tilted his head to look at the ceiling fluorescent lights. His eyeballs rolled upwards. I could sense the thoughts of a veteran pet shop
owner who has lost faith in animal doctors: "A veterinarian defending
the honour and integrity of the veterinary profession by covering up the incompetence
of another professional." He was wise not to name the
offending veterinarian nor did I ask him. He decided not to treat
them and gave them to me. They were cured
by one anti-mite injection, isolated for 3 weeks and given good
nutrition.
On his second visit, another 3 rabbits
with the crusty skin on the ear edges, nose and paws were put on the
examination table. "The disease
is curable provided you have hygienic practices like isolation of
the infested rabbits from others, asking your employee to use
 disposable gloves to handle the diseased rabbits and
disinfecting the cage floor and the environment," I said, to
pre-empt him from seeking euthanasia. The rabbits had grown up as he had
delayed seeking veterinary advice. All vets dislike putting
rabbits to sleep when they have curable skin diseases. The rabbits were
given the anti-mite injection.
In the third
visit, he came in with a 4-month-old brown, black and white rabbit with very early signs of Sarcoptic
Mange mite infesting its front paws only.
"The 3 rabbits had recovered," he said matter-of-factly.
"That is excellent news," I said.
He knew the infection control measures. Now, this 4-month-old rabbit should
recover faster and be marketable.
"How did it get infested?" I was puzzled. I
went to his shop house to see how he housed the rabbit. It was housed in the
same area as the 2nd batch of infested rabbits. The floors of
the area had mites. These mites had gone into the
front paws. Slight patches of hair loss on the front paws.
Redness of the skin of the toes. Quite obvious if you really scrutinize the rabbit.
This young rabbit recovered within two weeks and went to a good home.
Newly purchased very young rabbit
with itchy paws. Recovered within a month, after 2 veterinary treatment 2
weeks apart.
The earliest sign of the disease may be one or a few crusty and
itchy toes as shown in the pictures here. Diagnosis is by scraping the
infected skin and finding the mites under the microscopic examination.
 Time is needed to educate the pet shop owner about the Sarcoptic
Mange in the rabbit. Time is what the busy veterinary surgeon does
not have
if he handles over 40 consultations a day.
Yet, without education, pet
shop owners tend to perpetuate the infestations and lose money on a
curable and preventable disease like the Sarcoptic Mange in the rabbit.
The recurrence of the disease happens when the rabbit gets infested again
from a new rabbit introduced into the pet shop or home. Some mites
may still be present on the floor or cages. The skin mites are microscopic
and so cannot be seen by the pet shop owner.
This
is a common rabbit skin disease seen in practice. Vets
may need to emphasize that, without good hygiene, the disease will present
itself a few weeks later. Some vets do advise two injections at two
weekly intervals. As for the pet shop owner who cursed the
veterinarian, there were no more cases from him for the past
year.
 ASIAHOMES.COM'S
TIPS FOR A LONGER LIFE FOR YOUR PETS
is a Community Education project
using narrative stories. It is sponsored by
Asia USA Realty (Singapore)
asiahomes.com Pte Ltd. Update:
15 Aug 2004 |
