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If you don't check your bunny's bottom every day, your bunny could die. Within a space of only 24 hours an otherwise healthy bunny can enter a state of terminal shock due to maggot infestation, death could follow very quickly.

We recently took possession of two does, each belonging to different owners. Our vet contacted us to ask if we would give them the TLC they deserved as the owners felt they couldn't cope and had decided to give them up.

Misty was a beautiful 7 year old rabbit with a severe case of flystrike and possible underlying health problems. Sadly, she died.

Snowball is a lovely 'lemon and white' two year old lop who also had flystrike, although not quite as severe as Misty, and she is very overweight. She is now recovering nicely and on a diet.

Flystrike is a sickening affliction, and although we hope never to see a case like Misty's again, we fear it won't be the last.

How does it happen? A fly lay's it's eggs on your rabbit's bottom

Why will that be a risk to my bunny? These eggs then hatch out as maggots which will feed on the debris around your rabbit's bottom. When they're finished with the debris, they start to eat the rabbit. Bluebottle maggots have the ability to eat into perfectly healthy skin and feast on the tissue underneath.

But my bunny doesn't have a messy bottom Even if there is no debris visible, your rabbit may have a small cut or wound which might not be immediately visible to you because of the fur around it. ANY type of fly maggot can then eat into the wound.

Rabbits at risk include:

- all rabbits, even ones kept in the cleanest hutches

- outdoor and indoor rabbits (you get flies indoors too!)

- those that are overweight and unable to reach their bottom to keep it clean

- those with arthritis

- old rabbits

- disabled rabbits

- those with large dewlaps or folds of loose skin or fat on the abdomen

- those with dental problems (a rabbit uses it's teeth to pull the caecal pellets from it's bottom)

- long haired rabbits

- those which have had flystrike before

- those which have wounds or draining abscesses

What should I do if I check my bunny's bottom and something doesn't seem right? Take your rabbit to the vet immediately, THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!

This is a picture of a flystrike bunny. Note the maggots at the top of the wound. Wounds like these develop over a matter of hours. Sadly this bunny had to be put to sleep as she had gone into toxic shock. Could you live with yourself if this happened to your bunny?

Now, are you sure you love your bunny? Do you want to go through all the feelings of grief and guilt just because you couldn't be bothered to check your bunny's bottom?

For further vital information go to www.houserabbit.co.uk/rwf/articles/Flystrike.htm

Please, please, please don't let your rabbit die from flystrike, check your bunny's bottom at least once a day, preferably twice a day. It only takes a couple of minutes but it could save their life!