By Julia Butler – GEMS Reporter
The Hop to it GEMS 4-H rabbit and cavy club had their last business meeting March 10th. After the meeting started out, the 4-H pledge and the Pledge of Allegiance were led by Zach Byrd. After the pledges, some club members started giving presentations.
The first presentation was by Abby about ear mites, signs of it, and ways to treat and prevent them. There was also a presentation about ear mites from Jillian Zeller and Caesen. They gave all the different ways to treat the condition, the life cycle of a mite, and a lot of different ways to prevent them. After this there was a brief conversation about ear mites in rabbits. After the ear mite discussion, Zach Byrd and Mikey informed the club about Myxomatosis, a disease in rabbits and what to do with rabbits that have it. After Zach and Mikey, there was another brief conversation about Myxomatosis. The next presentation was from Autumn. Her presentation was about Walking Dandruff, also known as fur mites. She also gave a few ways to treat it and what it looks like on rabbits. After her presentation, there was a conversation about cages and ways to make sure that rabbit cages are clean so walking dandruff doesn’t happen. The next presentation was from the club president and the club vice president, Dianne Anderson and Jaycee Zeller, about RHDV (Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus) and what to do with rabbits that have it. In the last presentation of the meeting, Maharie and Rhianna talked about sore hocks and all the ways to treat them.
After the presentations were concluded, there was a conversation about the Easter Eggstraravaganzia fundraiser at Donahue Fromeyer Park in Medford March 29, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The club talked about who would run the booths and games, what the games would be, and the merchandise and food booths. We also talked about the different forms of payment that will be accepted at the event. The games at the event will include a carrot toss, spin-the-wheel and a petting zoo.
After the discussions about the Easter Eggstavraganzia fundraiser, roll call was taken. After the roll call, dates were set to stuff eggs for the Easter Eggstravaganzia egg hunts. Club leader Deb Brown showed samples of the prizes for the eggs. After the egg stuffing dates were set, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be in April when the club starts meeting weekly to practice with our rabbits and cavies.
