Worming

I wanted to ask about this because I don't know if I should worm the bunnies or not. There seems to be a lot of different opinions but I really want to keep them as healthy as possible. There also seems to be a lot of opinions on the amount of time they should be wormed for and how often.
Archie is 1 year old and Izzy is 2 years old and neither of them have ever been wormed, I read a lot about it before I got them but because there were so many different opinions I decided not to but now I think maybe I should.
I look after dogs, and although I always clean up after them, I don't know if the bunnies would come into contact with any dog faeces on the grass when they free range. Also, I have a cat, so there are a lot of different animals around and I don't want the bunnies to get ill.
Should I worm them? If I should, how often and how long for? What wormer should I use?

I'm taking the bunnies for their myxi vaccinations this afternoon so I'll ask the vets but I thought I'd just see what other people think too

I have never wormed any of my rabbits in 26 years, I would of course if I had multiple pets or one of my buns had worms

this may help

http://www.medicanimal.com/viewarticle/~contentId=MA19749/~nodeTrailCsv=AR-SMALL_ANIMALS-RABBIT_SPECIFIC,MA19749/~category_id=MA_SMALL_ANIMALS

I seen a thing on a site that said buns dont actually get worms, it does make me question it, cats get worms because they eat wild bird/mice etc, but where do the birds etc get it from. I think if they get out where other animals do there business I would deffo make sure they are wormed regularly.

dizzylynn wrote:I seen a thing on a site that said buns dont actually get worms, it does make me question it, cats get worms because they eat wild bird/mice etc, but where do the birds etc get it from. I think if they get out where other animals do there business I would deffo make sure they are wormed regularly.

Yes rabbits do get worms

I cant even remember the site, it was a bunny site I remember that. When you think about it if mice give it to cats then they must get it, should have flagged this site up for missleading new owners.

My thoughts are that for buns like mine, where they don't come into contact with dogs and cats and most importantly they don't eat grass that dogs and cats have peed and pooed on, I would not routinely worm them.

I remember reading in on of the guinea pig books that they can pick up wormed from dogs and cats from grass that has previously been weed or pooed on by them. If my rabbits were grazing on such grass or if cats frequented the garden I would be considering the occasional preventative dose.

I think that as humans we do know the mantra that you shouldn;t takes meds unless we really need them and yet we are only too ready to dose up our pets without conclusive proof of illness.

Thank you I have quite a big garden and most of it is grass. As I have so many different dogs stay, they all go to the toilet in different places, and as I said I do always clean up after them (I'd never let my rabbits go on the grass if there was still dog poo on it) but even if I clean up the poop it probably hasn't all gone even though it looks like it has.
It didn't bother me much before because I only looked after dogs once every few months, but now I have dogs every few weeks and the rabbits have recently started free ranging again I think I might worm them. It's not just the worms, I've read more about e.cuniculi and I'm worried about them getting that.

I've spoken to the vet about it and he told me about e.cuniculi and gave me a leaflet about panacur rabbit. I think I want to worm them because I don't really want to risk them getting worms or e.cuniculi, but as you said, cheryl'n'bruce'flo, I don't want to give them any uneccessary meds.

As far as I understand it, e.c. is spread very differently to normal worms. I think e.c. has spores that are airborne. And the rabbiting community are greatly divided about preventative use of panacur. I would definitely advise that you find a way of making a space on your grass that is bun only.