rachelrabbitworld-blog

[rachelrabbitworld-blog]

Not Just For Easter

A guide to all things bunny by Archie and Auden

In Memory of Claude

First, let’s introduce ourselves. I am Archie, a brown and white Holland lop. Although I don’t know by actual age, my humans think I’m around two or three years old. I was rescued along with my brother, Claude, from a back yard in Hollywood and we were adopted three months ago by our lovely humans Rachel and Joshua. Unfortunately, Claude fell ill and sadly passed away just two months later. I was very sad, but my humans adopted another bunny for me to hang out with. We don’t always get along but it’s nice to have another bun in the house again.

 My name is Auden. I’m a grey lionhead, and between 6 – 12 months old (roughly). I was abandoned and then taken in by a family who already had rabbits, and not enough space for me. They didn’t feed or look after me very well, and then I was put up for adoption by a bunny rescue center, where Rachel and Joshua found me. I was adopted and brought home to live with them and their other bunny. I am very energetic – sometimes too much for Archie – but I do like to cuddle and play with my humans, too.  

We would like to stress how important is not to buy rabbits as gifts for Easter. Lots of us end up mistreated, forgotten about and abandoned. Whilst some of us do enjoy the company of children, they should NOT be our sole caregivers and we are not ideal “starter pets”. We may be small, and have no voice, but we have very specific needs, just as much as cats and dogs do, if not more. There are lots of common misconceptions about us rabbits, and we want to put you right. Before thinking of adopting or even buying (but please remember it is always better to adopt!) a rabbit, here are some really important things to consider first:

Diet

Yes, we do like carrots – who doesn’t?! - but please do NOT overfeed us carrots! They, like all fruit, are full of sugar and should only be given in small quantities, as treats. Our humans only feed us small carrots once a week. We also LOVE bananas, but again, please don’t overfeed us with them! We can eat a wide variety of fruit: raspberry, blueberry, mango, apple, strawberry, banana, orange, grape, pear and peach. These should only be given in small amounts, and viewed as treats. We have very delicate tummies, and need a variety of food each day. In our house, each morning our humans give us 1 cup full of fresh veggies (and sometimes we sneak outside and help pick them from the garden). It is good to give us three different leafy greens a day, and good to alternate what they are every three or four days. We go crazy for romaine lettuce (and please do NOT feed us iceberg lettuce – it is not good for our tummies!), and bok choy, radish tops, beet tops, parsley, mint leaves, basil, radicchio, carrot tops, green and red cabbage and arugula. We also love fresh spinach and kale but our humans say we can only have it in small amounts (and only occasionally) as it is bad for our tummies, just like too much broccoli. Carrot tops, romaine lettuce and parsley are especially good for us, and we eat them very regularly!

In the evenings we get 1/8 cup of dry pellets (ours are made up of timothy hay) which we come running over for as soon as we hear our humans open the bag. Although we love them and would munch them all night, please don’t give us more than allowed as that wouldn’t be good for our tummies or our teeth. Our teeth grow continuously so we need to make sure we file them down by eating lots of hay throughout the day and night. Hay is the only thing we have unlimited supply of. Alfalfa hay is not good for us as it contains too much protein. Our humans have a big bale of orchard grass hay for us, but timothy is also a good hay (unfortunately our human mommy is allergic to timothy). We also need unlimited fresh water in bowl or bottle, because we do get quite thirsty sometimes!

Housing and Exercise

Contrary to popular belief, we are very clean animals. We do prefer to have a specific place to do our “business”. Our humans supply us with boxes lined with newspaper and filled with hay for us to comfortably go potty in, which they clean two or three times a day. When we move to a new place, or meet a new bunny for the first time, we do like to poop outside of our boxes to mark our territory but once we are used to the new situation, we prefer to just use the litter box.

We are very lucky here because our humans love and understand us enough to give us the run of the house. We like to explore and find new places to hide (usually under the sofas) and should not be cooped up in tiny cages or pens. So long as we know where our litter box and water bowl are, we can quite happily roam around the house in much the same way as cats do. However, we don’t generally get along with other animals and it is best to keep us separate from them. Our humans do get annoyed when we chew the phone or lamp cords though, so now they keep them away from us.

We need plenty of exercise, and if you plan on keeping your rabbit in a pen or a cage (please never use wire bottom cages as they hurt our poor feet), please let us out to run for at least four hours per day. We love to run, and sometimes when we are really happy or excited, we jump and kick our legs out in the air, which we call a Binky. Although our wild brothers and sisters live outdoors, we prefer to be indoors. There are lots of things that can harm or eat us outside, and we scare very easily. We can also get heatstroke very easily, and shouldn’t be outside in degrees of 80 Fahrenheit or more. If you are going to keep rabbits outdoors (which we don’t advise), make sure their run is big enough to actually run in, and has a covered section, too, where they can hide. It also needs to be covered (maybe with chicken wire) so that hawks or foxes can’t get at them. Please make sure there are blankets and towels to keep them cozy at night, and don’t forget to come and visit them everyday! We may prefer the company of other rabbits best, but we also like attention from humans, too!

Health & Grooming

Unfortunately, as well as being small, we are also quite fragile. It is very easy for us to break our necks, backs or legs from kicking if held incorrectly – which is why children should ALWAYS be supervised when handling us. We DO NOT like being picked up, and we may kick or scratch you. Make sure to ALWAYS support our rumps when holding us, and keep a firm (but not too tight!) hold on us, with your hands over our shoulders so we can’t try to run. We HATE being placed on our backs so please do not do this to us as it terrifies us and we can die of fright. Also do not think we won’t cost anything in veterinary bills. We can fall ill easily, especially if not taken care of properly. Unlike our cousins in the United Kingdom, we are not vaccinated here in the US. If kept outdoors, we can be bitten by insects which can lead to infections or abscesses, and we can develop parasites. We are also prone to upper respiratory infections which require antibiotics. Please do not abandon us if we get sick. With proper veterinary care and love from our humans, we can make a full recovery. It is very important you find a vet who is qualified to treat rabbits; we require special care and not all vets are able to treat us. Find a rabbit knowledgeable vet before adopting so in case of emergencies, you know where to take us. Archie recently had an abscess removed and the surgery cost $465, so beware of the potential costs associated with adopting a bunny! (Archie made a full recovery within a day). It is also very, very important to have your bunny neutered or spayed as soon as you can (all bunnies are fixed at adoption centers and rescue shelters) – this helps us stay a little calmer, and less territorial, which is better for us and you humans! It also prevents uterine and ovarian cancer in female buns.

Although we do enjoy grooming ourselves and each other, we still need our humans to do some of the tricky stuff for us. We do not like having or need baths, so please don’t put us in water! Once a month, our humans will trim our nails (although a lot of adoption centers or the vet will do this too), clean our scent glands (again, adoption centers or the vet can do this), check our teeth and ears, and brush our fur to get any matts out. We do shed our fur every three months, and during the shedding period, we will need you to brush us daily to prevent fur balls (which can kill us as we do not have the ability to vomit). It is important our teeth do not become overgrown as this can lead to many other problems including facial abscesses and starvation.

Bonding

After Claude sadly passed, our humans went to find a new partner for Archie. We had a successful date at the adoption center together, but unfortunately things got difficult when we got home. We are very social animals, we live in huge warrens in the wild, and would prefer to be adopted with other bunnies (usually in pairs or trios). Don’t make the mistake of thinking we will become best friends immediately though! A sense of hierarchy and rules need to be established first! We should only spend 20 – 30 minutes together per day, which is slowly increased over time, and this should be done in a small, neutral space. Our humans placed us in the laundry basket at first, and then the bathtub. We should NEVER be left alone because we can get into fights and this can be quite painful. Bonded pairs should always be neutered prior to the bonding process even if you have same-sex pairs. We will hump each other (even same-sex pairs), which is important to establish dominance and we should only be stopped if one of us is humping the other from the wrong way (i.e. their face). It is also important not to put your hands directly in front of us when trying to break up a fight; we can’t see directly in front of our faces and may bite or scratch you. Move us apart from the side.

We may be a little nervous or scared about spending time with a new bunny, so it is important that you reassure us, and give us treats and stroke us when we demonstrate good behavior together (i.e. not fighting). We are only allowed to be left alone together in the same space after several good dates, where we have not fought or humped each other, and always supervise from a distance until you are 100% certain we are fine together. When we can safely live together, it is important that we are placed in the new bunny’s territory, or a neutral territory, to avoid any conflict in the first bunny’s space. We will also poop a lot in our areas at first to establish which space belongs to us, but once we are comfortable together, we will go back to only using our litterboxes.

During the bonding process, it is important that we are able to see and smell each other, outside of our dates. Our humans made two pens for us side-by-side, where we could get used to each other, but were safe from any biting and scratching. This made our dates much less stressful!

All in all, we wish you a hoppy Easter and hope you make wise choices this year! Remember, chocolate bunnies and stuffed toy bunnies are just as fun but without the 10 year commitment.

Archie & Auden

Check out our video too: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruBYukkPQRA

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