Rabbit advice please

ClareEmily

Blimely £49 that's good, normally between 50-100 for each bunny.

I'm sure your bunnies are very much loved and cared for, I think people are just trying to point out that bunnies can be expensive and when looking at a cute fluffy bunny in a pet shop don't realise how much care they do need.

The issue of rabbits always fires people up as they are still one of the UK most neglected pets, and some people who post on here are involved in bunny rescues which see bunnies abandoned just because the children have got fed up with it.

Loopy_Girl

Good advice given and I can only echo that it's not as cheap as you think to keep a bunny - a healthy bunny anyway.

I was in Pets @ Home the other day getting Max his 'posh' hay (he gets that to eat and gets the bog standard stuff in his bedroom!! and there was a family in and I heard the kids pester their Dad for a bunny...and I heard...and I heard....and eventually he caved him and they showed him the cute fluffy bunny they wanted. Now it was cute, but it was a lop eared and it wasn't a dwarf and that bunny is going to be pretty big in a few months and not so 'cute looking'.

I got chatting to the little girl (yes, I engineered it!) who was about 9 and asked if she had had a bunny and she said no but that her friend has one and that it had bit her as her brother was teasing it....jesus, it took all my strength not to grab the poor bunny and run for the hills.

They clearly had no intention of getting a bunny when they went in and the hutches Pets @ Home sell are just rubbish apart from if they were housing a family of mice and then it would be a perfect size!!

(not quite sure why I told that story actually but I was awfy upset for the rest of the day with it )

Anyways, I also agree about kids and bunnies. They generally don't like to be handled (bunnies not kids!) and if they have an child who isn't confident then the bunny will just panic and if he panics then there is a chance that he could break his back. I have Max (who was 1 yesterday:j) and my daughter still isn't allowed to handle him and probably won't as he is so small (he's a dwarf), he's not overly keen on getting lifted (will let me do it and give a cuddle but soon lets me know when he has had enough) and the slighes movement he makes and my daughter panics...panicky childen tend to drop things!!!

I actually believe that bunnies are a 'grown up' pet to be honest. The main thing they want to do is feel safe hence when I pick him up I cuddle him right into me and speak quietly to him to calm him down and I don't think they will get that from a child.

Pair of piggies are the way to go I think if your daughter is really set on having furry things...much more hardy that bunnies and much more funny imo!!!!

potsofmoney_(I_wish)

Hi there, I recently rescued an unwanted female bun as a companion for my neutured male. Very sadly she must have been ill when we got her as she passed away after 2 weeks. I want to get another friend for him as he seemed so much happier. He's not handled much as he's not very people friendly. Although he's got lots of space I do feel he's missing out not having a friend. Can they be bonded twice?

I'm definitely going to go through a rescue centre next time as it was very upsetting for the whole family, even though it was only two weeks we got attached to her and she was friendly, which was wonderful after our antisocial fellow, (still love him though).

clutterydrawer

emweaver wrote: »

They very rarely need to go to the vets, had mine 2 years now and only been for the yearly injections. I have two.

Then initial expense is no more than a dog, you can get a hutch and run for about £80.

I had rabbits as a child too and mum said they were not expensive to keep.

I really dont see why so many of your rabbits have huge vet bills, with proper care youll have a healthy happy bunny.

I am pleased that your rabbit is healthy however you can 't extrapolate from two individuals to say that the majority of rabbits don't have expensive vet bills. For one thing they have been selectively bred for looks rather than health so a lot of them have congenital problems especially with their teeth.

In addition they can live up to 12 years, towards the end of its life even a previosuly healthy rabbit is likely to become more expensive.

Where do you get such cheap hutches? I would love to find a good source of cheap housing for the many rabbits I hope to keep in future

dolally_2

He could definitely be "paired" again.

Going to a rescue is a great idea as they can give advice with bonding and if it doesn't work out with the first bun you try then they should let you try a different one.

You rabbit will be much happier with a friend so I say go for it.

Loads of advice on bonding on the rabbit rehome website and you might even find a bunny through them too,

Turtle

There's a bunny in my 'how to keep a house rabbit' book that has been bonded more than once. I'm not sure how easy it is or how long it takes and I guess it depends on the individual bunny, but I see no reason why you can't try. We took our house bunny to a rescue where they did the bonding on site in a stable where both buns had loads of room and hidey holes. Unfortunately they didn't take to each other, the rescue said this was because it was 5 years since Bob had been neutered and had no little boy bunny hormones and didn't know how to dominate the little girly bunny. Bob was a very happy bunny though and as he lived in the house had loads of company. Very sadly we had to have him put to sleep on 21 March (he was nearly 7), but when we get another bunny I think we'll look to get a bonded pair from a rescue then I wouldn't feel guilty if we were out for the evening.

Sorry, a lot of waffle there. To summarise the above, I don't see why you can't try! Good luck.

clutterydrawer

In a word, yes.

although it will depend on the individuals as to whether they get along, in the same way it would for a first pairing, if you follow me.

I got a boy to pair with my girl, she sadly passed away a while later but he was successfully paired with another girl afterwards and they were very happy together. I also know people whose rabbits have had multiple different partners during their lifetimes. best of luck anyway

TomandBarbara

emweaver wrote: »

They very rarely need to go to the vets, had mine 2 years now and only been for the yearly injections. I have two.

Then initial expense is no more than a dog, you can get a hutch and run for about £80.

I had rabbits as a child too and mum said they were not expensive to keep.

I really dont see why so many of your rabbits have huge vet bills, with proper care youll have a healthy happy bunny.

I think years ago rabbits probably were inexpensive but only because (in my opinion anyway!) there wasn't as much info available such as all the books and websites there are now, so all their needs were not met. I had one VERY basic rabbit book, had about 8 rabbits at one point, none of them were vaccinated, the food they had was awful pet shop stuff and they all lived in different hutches so none of them were neutered. Basically I reckon they lived quite an unhappy life

Can I ask if the last line of your post was directed to anyone in particular?

LurcherGirl_3

Personally, I would never get a rabbit for a child - unless the parents are prepared to take full responsibility! Rabbits are not ideal children's pets because most don't like being picked up (though many like being petted on the floor) and are not as affectionate as people often expect!

They are also not cheap. Although the day to day care can be fairly cheap, getting a decent size hutch/cage and vet fees are not. Just a dental (something that some bunnies can need every couple of months if there is something wrong with their teeth) sets you back over £100 easily... There is however insurance available for rabbits to help with vet fees (though dentals for example are excluded in most).

In addition, rabbits are sociable animals, so you shouldn't really have just one, but two. This means that they would need to be neutered, which again isn't cheap! Having said that though, there are thousands of rabbits of all ages in rescue, and there are often bonded and already neutered pairs available.

If you'd like your daughter to interact as much as possible with the bunnies, then you might want to consider adopting large or giant rabbits as they tend to be more laid back and are less likely to be picked up by a child! They do however need huge accomodation as they are big.

Vera

LurcherGirl_3

emweaver wrote: »

They very rarely need to go to the vets, had mine 2 years now and only been for the yearly injections. I have two.

You're lucky. I agree that most bunnies are fairly healthy, but the vet bills can run into the hundreds easily if they do become ill! Just a dental (which is fairly common for rabbits) will set you back over £100 in many cases! One of my rabbit cost thousands over his lifetime of 7 years due to various things he had wrong like abscesses (resulting in a very expensive ear operation), calcium imbalance and cancer. One of my older rabbits fell ill this Easter Sunday when she could hardly breath. The emergency vet at 10 pm, where x-rays were done and antibiotics prescribed, cost around £150...

So vet fees are definitely an expense that needs to be taken into consideration. (But insurance is available for rabbits, but because I have 8, it is too expensive in my case and not worth it).

Vera