Now don’t get me wrong, I love my two little girls to bits, but wow are they a lot of work! I’ve spent hours cleaning up litter trays, cleaning out cages, sweeping up poo, stopping them chewing the lamp, making them toys so they stop chewing the carpet! Hours learning what they’re body language means, because unlike a dog bunnies can’t tell us if they are happy or sad with a bark or a whimper, you have to be able to read them. And they have not been cheap! Sure their food seems cheap, but include, hay, straw, litter and toys on top of that and then there is vet bills, each one needs £50 worth of shots every year so they don’t get nasty disease like Miximotosis, they need to be neutered, which cost us in excess of £100 EACH! And if you choose not to neuter you’re looking at extra damage to your house, and if more than one bunny more vet bills when they start fighting, I’m presuming here you didn’t get a girl and boy cause that of course is a whole different problem!
Having said this I would fight with everything I have if someone tried to take them away from me! They are wonderful company, great stress relief and can always make me smile even after the worst day. So I would of course recommend them as pets to most anyone, but wow you need to be prepared and as cute as a surprise bunny would be on Easter morning, they’ll look a whole lot less cute when they pee on your carpet and chew your sofa up, and as for the poor sods that end up in a hutch in the back garden, I think this video says it all!
I’m a fan on facebook twitter etc of a lot of rabbit groups/charities etc and I’m hearing the same thing again and again from them, that every year thousands of bunnies end up unwanted and abandoned by May. Lots don’t even make it to a rescue they just get released into the wild, you’re not freeing that bunny, your sentencing it to almost certain death, generations of selective breeding have made it so the average domestic bunny is very, very ill suited to the wild.
So if you are thinking of getting a bunny just wait a little and take on a rescue, if you get lucky they might have already gone through the worst of puberty! If you think that someone special would love a bunny then why not get them the cage etc with a voucher saying you’ll go to a rescue and pick one out together after Easter.
It doesn’t matter where you live, there are lots of rescues out there, some run by big charities like RSPCA some run by one hard working person just trying to help. Bibbles Bunny Sanctuary is an example of one person trying to make a difference, this woman has turned her house and garden into bunny playground and on top of that has put lots and lots of bunny information online for people to see, so if you do decide you want a bunny or you already have one this is a great website to check out information from, or maybe even adopt from?
Thank you for sharing that. I completely agree. Bunnies and all smaller animals really need to start being viewed and treated appropriately. It drives me mental the allowed mistreatment of these beautiful animals x
ReplyDeleteYep the poor sods don't get much attention at all, I'm of course completely behind looking after dogs cats etc but I'm going with bunnies as my thing :) and I think one of the saddest things is quite often people think they're looking after them fine, there seems to be very little info on bunnies unless you go really really looking! I did my research before I got the girls and I've still been blindsided with a few things!
DeleteI love my bunnies and I totally agree - people need to understand that they are complicated and need a lot of attention (and fresh veggies) - both my are bunnies are adopted (Zara we more think of rescued from a popular pet store as a giant she had been in there for months in a space not really big enough for a giant rabbit for that length of time - cant knock the staff at the store they clearly cared and tried their best to make sure she did get exercise).
ReplyDeleteAnd never underestimate their size because it has dwarf in the title doesnt meant that dwarf lops are small - this is a reference to the size of their ears.
:)
True! My girls are soooo much bigger then we expected! We thought one 2 story cage would be enough for them, we now have two 2 story cages! As well of course as having free run of most of the house most of the time!
DeleteThank you for the mention and keep spreading the word about how to make rabbits'lives better. If we all chip in, we will make a difference.
ReplyDeleteYep, I think a lot of the problems in rabbit welfare can really be sorted by information, people often just don't know better! which is why your site is great!
DeleteWell Said. Found you on Etsy and I'm so glad I did! Not only superb jewelry but a bunny freak like myself. :) I have 2 house rabbits also. They can be seen on my blog. I love them to bits. Glad to see more people getting the message out there!!!
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