With seven GP branches and a referral practice in the North East of England, Moorview rabbit specialist, Rieke Hettrick (BVMS, MRCVS), holds the belief that “rabbits should be given every bit of respect and excellent care that other species are given.” With 20 years’ experience in rabbit care and medicine, we caught up with Rieke and her team to find out how they promote RAW.

Getting involved with RAW

During RAW, Moorview host informative rabbit evenings at their practices with special guest speakers and Rieke contacts rabbit owners to seek their permission to deliver presentations on their interesting cases. Clients and rabbit owners can attend these evenings to learn more about each year’s RAW theme and important aspects of rabbit welfare such as bonding, diet and dentistry.

RAW provides an opportunity to not only connect with existing clients, but reach out to unregistered rabbit owners as well. After a conversation with a representative from Burgess Pet Care, Rieke noted that a large number of rabbits aren’t registered with a vet and are not vaccinated as a result. With this in mind, Moorview started offering free health checks and reduced-price vaccination courses during RAW to encourage unregistered rabbit owners to bring their rabbits in for a check-up.

“Our clients really enjoy our events for RAW. I believe they particularly enjoy the information evening; it’s a chance for them to be updated on any new areas in rabbit medicine and surgery and great point for discussion and sharing helpful hints and tips from one client to another.”

Rieke’s top tips for a successful Rabbit Awareness Week

• Get your staff involved! It’s an opportunity to share knowledge within the team.
• Consider an open evening or an information evening. Our clients have said they found the lecture/talk aspect very interesting and the chance to chat with other rabbit owners was appealing.
• Don’t be afraid to contact rabbit-focused companies for help. We have been able to offer free samples of hay, leaflets and information thanks to the involvement of different companies.
• We have found that sometimes the nurses are better at talking through rabbit care as they can offer advice on handling, grooming, diet and may be considered more approachable for some owners.

Why take part in RAW?

Regular health checks could help identify a lot of underlying issues and present vets the opportunity to advise on vaccinations and increase rabbit welfare awareness.

“For me, the most important thing is improving rabbit welfare. Whether that’s a regular visitor who gets an improved understanding of rabbit care, or a rabbit that has never been seen before and receives their vaccinations. The more involvement you have with RAW, the more interesting and rewarding it becomes, not just for us, but for our clients and their rabbits too – watching a rabbit binky just because they’re happy is fabulous!”

Find out what Moorview Vets are up to for RAW 2020!

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