Fly Strike

Fly strike occurs when greenbottle flies lay their eggs in moist tissue around a rabbit’s bottom.  The eggs hatch within a few hours and the larvae begin eating the rabbit alive.

Rabbits with large dewlaps (the fold of skin under the chin) or which are overweight may find it difficult to bend around and keep their rear end clean.  A diet which is too rich in carbohydrate and protein and low in indigestible fibre, can lead to over-production of the sticky caecal pellets which rabbits normally ingest.  The two often go together with an overweight rabbit unable to remove the over-production of soft pellets sticking to its bottom!

The smell of the rabbit’s scent glands also attracts these flies, as does the smell of urine, so no rabbit can be considered safe and all rabbits should be checked morning and evening in the summer months when fly strike is most likely.

Fly strike is very dangerous and you should take the rabbit to an emergency vet as soon as possible.  Your vet will advise you on preventing flystrike using Rearguard, Xenex or other treatment.  Rearguard (which contains a larval growth inhibitor) should not be used on open skin and there have been adverse skin reactions reported with Xenex Ultra Spot On which contains permethrin.

See vet Glen Cousquer’s article on fly strike.  For more general information and recommendations see our flystrike page or Rabbit Information