THE RABBIT. 



leaves, split peas, and oatmeal. Sweet herbs are excellent, 

 marjoram, sage, &c. Morning and evening let them have a 

 quarter of a giU of water that has been boiled and got cold. 



Unless, however, the malady is detected' at its outset, it will 

 be worse than useless to attempt to cure it ; for if the scabbi- 

 ness of the ears and nose be allowed to get fast hold on the 

 poor creature, cure is hopeless. Worse still, it becomes con- 

 tagious, and your rabbit hutch wiU assume the character of a 

 pest-house. So irradicable is this disease^ that I have known 

 Ecabbiness to he dormant in the progeny of a doe so afflicted 

 for two and even three years, and then suddenly break out 

 most virulently. 



Pot-belly dropsy is occasioned by wet vegetable diet. The 

 importEince of this subject is my excuse for again alluding to it. 

 Arsenic is hardly more inimical to human Ufe than is wet green 

 stuff to rabbit life. It is a well-authenticated fact that even 

 in a wild state an indulgence in such food is fatal to these ani- 

 mals, for in very wet seasons they may be found lying dead in 

 all directions in the neighbourhood of their warrens. 



Pot-belly is incurable. Ton may patch up an animal for a 

 month or so, but you may depend on the disease again making 

 its appearance. Giie best plan, therefore, is to get rid of animals 

 so afflicted. 



Liver complaint is another ill to which rabbit flesh is heir. 

 You may know when an animal is so affected, by its breathing 

 hard and short. It in no way interferes with a rabbit's good 

 looks, and hardly with its chance of longevity. It would be 

 folly, however, to breed from a Uver-diseased doe, as the certain 

 result would be unhealthy little ones. A rabbit with this dis- 

 ease will eat as hearty as any, and his flesh will be not a bit 

 the worse. If I had an animal so circumstanced I should 

 fatten him for kiUing, bearing in mind, however, that if I 

 loaded him extrcwaganfly with fat, he would be sure to die 

 suddenly. 



Snuffles is to the rabbit pretty much what a cold in the head 

 is to us, and arises from the same causes — cold, wet, or draught. 

 Make the sick rabbit as comfortable as you can, by coveiing 

 him in snug, and providing him with warm, food, such as aro- 

 matic herbs, oats, and bran. Some keepers recommend the 

 use of hemp-seed in such cases, but really I have lost so many 

 pets — furred and feathered — by the use of this heating and 

 oleaginous seed,, that I am loth to indorse the recommendation. 



For " red-water" (occasioned chiefly by sour food), the best 



