The right cage for a rabbit is very important in keeping your little friend safe. However, I discovered that if your rabbit loves to frolic on the ground outside her cage, she can run into a threatening predator that you and she will be unaware of.

One day, while holding and petting my beloved pet rabbit, I noticed a bump on one of her sides. I parted her gray hair and saw a cystic-like lump with what I thought was a puncture wound. On closer inspection, I saw something wiggling in the center of the wound and thought I was seeing parasites such as maggots. I was horrified and ran right into the house and picked up the phone to call my veterinarian. I was told to bring the bunny in right away, which was surprising, if not a bit alarming. How often do you get into a small animal veterinarian's office right away?

What I learned was that I wasn't far off on my uneducated diagnosis of parasites; it wasn't however, maggots. My bunny had warbles. Two of them. The veterinarian took the bunny to the surgery to enlarge the holes with an incision and express the warbles out. She administered an antibiotic then brought the bunny back to me and said she had done just fine and didn't fight her at all. The vet offered to show me the warble, warning me that it isn't a pleasant thing to see and I told her I could handle it.

I couldn't believe my eyes when she brought it into the examination room. It was a dark brown larva that appeared to be nearly as big as my thumb! She explained that this creature had been eating away at my bunny underneath the skin. I could not understand why I had not seen this thing sooner and I felt like a bad mother.

She reassured me by explaining that because the early stages of the larva is under the skin, it is not noticeable until the warble grows large enough to be felt or seen. The hole in the skin in which I had seen the wiggly larva was actually its breathing hole.

A warble is a botfly larva grown from an egg that has usually been deposited on grass at the bunny's burrow and then enters the bunny through an opening like the nose or mouth, then travels through the body until it grows and emerges from the skin. It will eventually exit the skin on its own, but it is best to have your veterinarian excise it and treat with antibiotics. If the larva dies inside of the bunny, the bunny will likely die from infection. If you try to prod, puncture or kill the larva, you will kill your bunny because of the toxins emitted from the larva.

Though my bunny had an appropriate cage to live in, she loved to hop freely in our fenced back yard and had dug a burrow underneath our garage which is where she likely made contact with the larva. The veterinarian recommended using insect or fly repellent on the ground around the cage and the burrow.

When you discover a warble, seek a small animal veterinarian who has experience with warbles. A large animal vet will have also seen plenty of warbles on horses, so they can assist you as well. Do not be frightened as I was. It is a nasty thing to encounter, but it can be taken care of and you will likely save your bunny's life if you take her to the vet as soon as you see evidence of a warble.

Learn more about this author, Lisa A. Goff.
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