on our plot we have a few rabbits with mixi .What should we do?
Leave them to wander or move them to where there are more rabits on the plot so they spread the mixi.
If you see one being sick dont worry its probably been mixingitstoasties.
It depends on how you like to see animals suffer.
If you don't and it's allowed, then find someone who hunts with air rifles and get them to shoot them then burn the dead bodies or if you are able to catch them(they tend to move slowly with mixi) and you don't mind doing it then put them out of their missery yourself.
If you don't care about suffering then Davy's way would work.
Neil
p.s Davy, that was a terrible joke :)
They should be put out of their misery, but there are always complications using weapons in a public area. Try and find someone who has been taught how to kill a rabbit by hand to show you what to do. In their weakened state they will die very easily.
Put the poor little buggers out of their misery.
Quote from: davyw1 on February 21, 2009, 20:04:48
Leave them to wander or move them to where there are more rabits on the plot so they spread the mixi
It's illegal to spead myxi and also very immoral to spread it, just kill the infected rabbits and stop their suffering
A rabbit with mixi is the best kind around allotments.
The only good rabbit is the one in the pot. Even if they've got myxy, some will survive to devour your veg.
I always remember my dad, a dyed in the wool countrylad with little sentimentality for animals , surprising me once by insisting on putting a rabbit with myxi out of it's misery and explaining to me very carefully what a slow and torturous death it would have otherwise. Of course at the time I didn't believe him and being a child didn't talk to him for about a week afterwards for killing a cute fluffy bunny.
As a grown-up I have little sentimentality for them myself, but some things just ain't right. I would vote for the quick dispatch, myxi don't seem to control the varmits anyhow!
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 24, 2009, 16:13:41
The only good rabbit is the one in the pot. Even if they've got myxy, some will survive to devour your veg.
So is it OK to eat rabbits that have mixy? (after cooking of course). I was told it's quite safe to do so.
Happy enough to end a rabbits misery and have done more than once.
We do eat rabbit often but don't think I could eat one that had mixy.
We have a number of stoats around our lotties and at the minute they are taking care of the rabbits with mixy.
If there are plenty of slow moving rabbits as easy prey then hopefully the stoats etc will leave people hens alone.
It's perfectly OK to eat them as you can't get the virus. Can't say I've done it, but I've had roadkill rabbits and they were lovely.
I wouldn't feed a rabbit full of mixie to my dog or my ferrets ne'r mind myself..
It is a horrible way to control any animal pest..
In my opinion the boffins that thought it up, ought to have caught a dose of it >:(
Despatch it as soon as you can if you see a rabbit suffering with this .
There is some info on the viral infection below.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=18+1803&aid=3422
you can try using Human hair sprinkled around the garden,sprinkling vinegar, hot pepper flakes or moth flakes
Dont hurt them....even though many die , they can recover from it and are then imune from it for the rest of their lives .
they *can* but its very rare. my rabbits sadly got mixi a few years ago. the first one I didn't spot for a couple of days, as she was prone to conjuntivitis, so for 1-2 days I treated that. It then became clear she had mixi as the grut in her eyes spread. I had her put down. I was told by the vet that her "male friend (unentire!) may or may not get it and the incubation period is 2 weeks... just as the two weeks was coming up and I thought he was safe, he hot it... as he never got conjuntivitis I knew immediately what it was, even though he had just minutes amount of grut in his eyes. I took him immediately to the vet who said that although I had caught him in a very early stage, before most people, the chance of him surviving, even with intensive treatment (combined with the fact he was pining for his dead friend) meant he was very unlikely to survive... I was gutted, but knew the kindest thing was to haev him put to sleep... mixi is a terrible disease.
something I didn't know till then - mixi is not spread by contact, it is spread my midges. the midges that autumn were very bad. the vets were putting down many animals a week... I was told having them innoculated doesn't stop them getting mixi... bit like the flu jab, it cannot help against all varieties... so he didn't recommend the mixi jab in the future as it can cause complications (e.g. my sisters rabbit died from a mixi jab...)
My rabbits are house rabbits but they have 2 mixo jabs a year as well as cylap for the haemoraging virus. Apparently Myxo is rife here in Sutton Colfield.
Strange time of year for myxi !! normally its rife at the time the blackberrys are about as the midges live in the soil around them.
Having been a show judge and breeder for 15 years if you see a rabbit with myxi get someone to knock it fast !
Hubby used to get asked to do this quite often as he knew how to do it cleanly !
VHD in rabbits was brought into this country in infected rabbit meat from China ! the rabbits basiclly explode inside and bleed to death :'( it is not seen very much now thank goodness.
I would not eat the meat from and infected rabbit !
If you cant kill it then call the rspca in to do it.
Perhaps the infection has been getting passed on since last autumn. I don't know a lot about how they contact the disease. Just know that after seeing what it does to the poor things, I wouldn't like to see mine get it. Thanks for the info Dawn
the midges are out there, I have them at home and in the fields I am already seeing large clouds of them...
The disease is spread by fleas and not by midges.
Well if my rabbits get fleas they have to have got them from my Tone cos I ain't got no fleas. ;D
snip...
Blood-sucking insects, including mosquitoes, fleas, lice, ticks, and mites, are the main method of spread. Direct transmission is possible, usually by the aerosol route
..snip
I suppose that could mean it's spread by midges. My horse suffers from sweetitch which is spread by midges and it's a horrible thing to deal with. I've sort of got to hate midges more than wasps over the years!
QuoteIt's perfectly OK to eat them as you can't get the virus
Ewww!! I wouldnt even touch a diseased animal let alone eat it. AIDS and CJD started as animal viruses.
Not sure I could kill anything, I'd probably put a bucket over it so it couldnt run away, and phone the RSPCA.