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So, you (or your kids) have seen some cute bunny vids online. Maybe that one of the bunny playing with sheep? And you (or your kids) think "hey, a bunny would make a great pet!"
Let my bunnies, some of their cousins, and I explain to you how very wrong you are. #EasterBunny
Let my bunnies, some of their cousins, and I explain to you how very wrong you are. #EasterBunny
So let's start with some basic care stuff.
Housing.
Don't even LOOK at those shoddy little wooden hutches in Pets at Home. Are you crazy? Would you keep a terrier in it? No? Then it's no good for a rabbit. https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-housing/why-hutch-not-enough/
Housing.
Don't even LOOK at those shoddy little wooden hutches in Pets at Home. Are you crazy? Would you keep a terrier in it? No? Then it's no good for a rabbit. https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rabbit-housing/why-hutch-not-enough/
Rabbits are active little fluffs. They love to run, jump, dig and investigate things to find out if they are food. They need a large space to carry out the full range of their natural behaviours.
In that space they will need hay. Lots of it. Wild rabbits eat grass, and whatever weeds they come across. Grass is mostly fibre. It has very few nutrients. But that's fine. Bunny digestive systems are designed to extract every last calorie and nutrient.
Rabbits use fermentation to get extra nutrients from grass. Bacteria in a special organ called the caecum break down and ferment food, creating little poops called caecals that the rabbits REINGEST. That's right. Bunnies eat their poop. It is smelly, sticky, and they love it 
If rabbits eat anything too rich, like a big piece of carrot or too much cabbage, the bacteria go into overdrive, producing huge amounts of sticky, smelly poop. Yey, poopy butt! Poopy butt can become infested with maggots in HOURS. Horrendous, and fatal. https://rabbit.org/journal/2-12/fly-strike.html
OR the digestive system shuts down, commonly called gut stasis. This can be fatal in as little as 24 hours. It needs IMMEDIATE vet attention. Even at 2am. And yes, I have been to the vet after hours on many occasions. £130 just for consult, yo!
Speaking of vets... rabbits need two vaccines a year (3-4 in high risk areas). These are Nobivac, which protects against myxomatosis (ya'll know that one), and Filavac, which protects against rabbit viral haemorrhagic diseases (RVHD1, RVHD2).
Haemorrhagic means bleeding. Nasty.
Haemorrhagic means bleeding. Nasty.
RVHD2 is currently working really hard to wipe out rabbits across Britain, has jumped to America, is endemic across Europe AND is suspected to be killing hares in the UK.
Get your rabbits vaccinated! https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rvhd2-update-november-2017/
Get your rabbits vaccinated! https://rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rvhd2-update-november-2017/
Side note; Filavac, and possibly Nobivac (I've struggled to find out) are produced in France, so UK peeps may face problems obtaining them post-Brexit. Get your bunnies booked in now. They need to be done two weeks apart, so make sure you do that. Vets can order in early.
STILL speaking of vets... rabbits are fragile. They are not built terribly well, and we have bred them to be even more fragile. Lops, miniatures, & flat faced breeds are more prone to dental, eye, and respiratory problems.
Vet bills can quickly mount up. My big lop, Milo, has to have his teeth filed two to three times a year, at £90-£140 a time. Why? Because bunny teeth never stop growing. In lops, minis, flat faced breeds the teeth can be misaligned, due to breeding, & don't wear properly.
Ear infections are a serious issue in buns, especially lops, whose ears can become easily clogged. The Wub had to have surgery for her ear infection. She lost an ear drum, had slight nerve damage in her jaw, and needed a variety of meds, twice a day, for several weeks.
She looked like a neglect case. It was awful. Worst hair cut ever, & at a cost of... wait for it... £2000!
I have insurance. £11-15 a month. It has literally been a life saver. Shout out to @PetplanUK, the best bunny insurers. I have had thousands out of them, without a quibble.
I have insurance. £11-15 a month. It has literally been a life saver. Shout out to @PetplanUK, the best bunny insurers. I have had thousands out of them, without a quibble.
The Wub is special. Upon looking at her CT scans (which she had to determine how bad the ear infection was), they discovered she has a fused spine, slipped disks, arthritis, spots on her liver, and growths in her chest cavity. So she gets a CT scan every year. £240.
She gets meds twice a day to control the pain. No ifs or buts. Twice a day, every day, without fail. Milo gets meds twice a day for his arthritis. As did Sophie. Bunnies get old. They get age related diseases.
Sophie; I don't like my meds. You better sleep with one eye open,
Sophie; I don't like my meds. You better sleep with one eye open,
As you might imagine, going on holidays is HARD. There are some bunny holiday carers, but buns don't like change (they don't even like it when you clean their living area). So the change can be hard on them. I have a friend stay over to look after my buns.
Now I hope I've scared you about vet bills, let's get back to living arrangements. They need space, yes, but if there's nothing to do in that space, they're still going to suffer. Rabbits love to forage and chew. ESPECIALLY chew... ... ...
What I mean is; rabbits are destructive. There is no getting around this. They will chew carpets, walls, floor boards and skirting, furniture, books, cables, doors... and anything else they feel like chewing.
This is ALL Isaac. The little troll. My rabbits free roam, so they of course have the chance to find things to chew. Most anything valuable is generally kept WELL out of reach, but sometimes you forget, and put a cord down on a chair...
Of course, it's best practice to provide things for them to chew on. Cardboard boxes, sticks from safe trees (plenty of lists out there), newspapers (only good use for most tabloids), toilet rolls... but they're always going to prefer something else.
Buns need companionship. They are prey animals and feel most safe when there is at least another bun around, to help keep a look out for danger, snuggle with, and groom. A single bun, ESPECIALLY in a hutch in the garden, is a lonely bun.
But... buns breed... ...
But... buns breed... ...
So you need to get your buns neutered. We now know that guinea pigs make TERRIBLE companions for rabbits. They have different dietary requirements, different ways of communicating (high pitched piggy noises hurt rabbits), and different ways of playing.
A neutered pair of rabbits are the best way to keep them. Well, a small group is best, but rabbits are fickle, and ferocious when it comes to protecting their resources from newcomers.
Many rabbits end up in rescues because they are "viscous", or "difficult to handle". This is because they are being interacted with wrong. Bunnies don't like to be picked up, they don't like it when a human they don't trust touches their things. They don't trust us instantly.
So, to give a good home to a bun you need to;
have at least 2.
get them neutered & vaccinated.
provide a large space full of toys.
provide a proper diet.
keep an eye out for signs of illness & be prepared for LARGE vet bills.
take things slowly.
accept your house will be trashed.
have at least 2.
get them neutered & vaccinated.
provide a large space full of toys.
provide a proper diet.
keep an eye out for signs of illness & be prepared for LARGE vet bills.
take things slowly.
accept your house will be trashed.
And now I have to go and clean a chicken coop out and give carol some maggots because she is NOT happy about me ignoring her for two hours. (picture to follow)
Re bunny fragility & vets; I got home at 11:30pm on Wednesday to Milo not wanting to eat. This is a massive DANGER sign. Gut stasis kills. He could easily have been dead when I got up, if I'd left him. So off we went to the vet at midnight.
Unfortunately, that night they didn't have a rabbit savvy vet in. Rabbit vet care comes under "exotics" because their bodies are SO different to cats and dogs. For anything beyond the very basics, you need an exotics qualified vet.
However, stasis is very common, and unless a blockage is found (through palpation, an x-ray is usually not necessary) the treatment is straight forward. I could have talked them through it, I've dealt with it so often. Trouble is, you need prescription drugs.
So we got the drugs, and I stayed up until nearly 3am to syringe feed Milo, and hand feed him greens until I was confident he had some appetite back, and would get through the night.
I was an absolute state on Thursday. I do not function on so little sleep.
Bunny care is HARD.
I was an absolute state on Thursday. I do not function on so little sleep.
Bunny care is HARD.
So heeeey, it's #RabbitAwarenessWeek! This year the focus is on vaccines. But I'm not here to tell you how to look after your rabbit. I'm here to put you off buying one. Because these little stinkers are trouble.
[20 seconds of a black & white bunny licking a chair]
[20 seconds of a black & white bunny licking a chair]
So just scroll back up, and see what you're in for if you get a bunny.
Nothing is safe.
Nothing. I'm not sure what it was made of. Heat proof material but kind of looks like wood fibre. Hard stuff, whatever it is.
Okay, let's talk about bunny communication, and why it makes caring for a bunner much more complicated than caring for a dog or cat.
Rabbits do not vocalise like dogs or domestic cats. They might growl when pushed to angry extremes. Some honk when excited or in the presence of a potential mate. Isaac even whines when he gets told off. But that's about it. This makes knowing how they feel very difficult.
We have to learn to read bunny body language to have a chance of knowing what's going on in their world. This is not instinctive.
Dogs have been with us for millenia. We're pretty good at reading them. Though not great, hence angry chihuahuas & "unprovoked" dog attacks.
Dogs have been with us for millenia. We're pretty good at reading them. Though not great, hence angry chihuahuas & "unprovoked" dog attacks.
Bunny body language requires an entirely different dictionary. For example; a dog bowing its head can mean submission, or is a play request. A rabbit bow is a demand for grooming. This is a dominance behaviour, not submissive.
Although Isaac looks terribly polite when he does it
Although Isaac looks terribly polite when he does it
Let me tell you a cute story. My BF went away for a couple of days. Isaac thought he'd been eaten by a fox, so when he returned Isaac was ecstatic & ran to him & sat with his nose in the air.
BF said "hello" & then went for a nap. Problem? Major...
BF said "hello" & then went for a nap. Problem? Major...
Bunnies greet friends by touching noses. They boop snoots. By not booping Isaac's snoot, BF basically blanked him. After Isaac was SO EXCITED to see he wasn't dead.
Result? Isaac ran away when BF finally went to pet him. Two weeks later & Isaac's still not forgiven BF.
Result? Isaac ran away when BF finally went to pet him. Two weeks later & Isaac's still not forgiven BF.
But aside from comedy misunderstandings why is this a problem?
Sometimes, as with angry chihuahuas, communication failures result in aggression. If a human is failing to understand "no touching", for example, an animal has to resort to struggling and then biting.
This is one reason rabbits (& dogs) wind up in rescues or dumped.
This is one reason rabbits (& dogs) wind up in rescues or dumped.
If you don't take the time to learn bunny body language it can result in upset for both you and bunny. It could also mean disaster if your bunny gets sick. Your bunny won't tell you, like a whining dog. You have to learn to read the bunny.
Trouble is, bunny body language is very subtle. It's partially in posture & movement, but much of it is in the ears. Which means lops are even harder to read. http://language.rabbitspeak.com
Rabbits are hard work. Save yourself the energy and get a small dog. They're less destructive, cheaper, and will love you unconditionally from the start. Unlike rabbits, who will love you if you treat them like royalty for at least a year, and until you mildly offend them.
Apparently it's #InternationalRabbitDay So here you are. I'm sure these two will celebrate by doing exactly what they always do; eat, sleep, poop, and cause trouble.
It's coming up to Easter. Which means rabbit breeders have babies they'll be advertising, ready to toss away to any Tom, Dick or Harry that has been pestered into getting an #EasterBunny for their kids.
Eugh. And don't get me started on #PeterRabbit2...
Eugh. And don't get me started on #PeterRabbit2...
