What You Should Know About Adopting a Pet Rabbit
When choosing to adopt a rabbit, you’ll want to first meet your rabbit and learn about their personality from the staff and volunteers at the animal shelter. Most shelters will also have an application and interview process where they make sure you have information about rabbit care and the health history of your new bunny.
While rabbits are rising in popularity as pets, they are silent not all that common. That means that they tend to have a longer last out in the tax shelter organization than cats and dogs. I often see the like rabbits for a number of months before they last find a syndicate to go home with, so I am always excited to hear when people are interested in adopting a lapin .
Adopting a rabbit can be an fabulously honor experience. however, impulse purchasing a rabbit is not probable to end well. Rabbits require a lot of specialize care for their diet, practice, and socialization needs. I ’ megabyte here to give you the information you need to determine whether a rabbit is the veracious pet for you. I ’ ll besides give you some information about what to expect from the adoption procedure, so you can be ready to bring a modern bunny home.
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What to consider before adopting a rabbit
Rabbits are very great and amaze pets to add to your family, but that doesn ’ triiodothyronine mean they are for everyone. Contrary to popular belief, rabbits don ’ t do well if they are left alone to sit in a cage all day. To successfully include a rabbit in your home, you ’ ll motivation to consider your life style and the total of care and attention you ’ ll be able to give your pet .
The average rabbit lifespan is about 10 years!
The lifespan of a rabbit
beginning, it ’ s important to know that rabbits are typically much longer-lived than you might think. While the actual life of a rabbit can vary based on engender, living conditions, and whether or not they ’ ve been neutered, the average life of domestic indoor rabbits is by and large around 10 years .
This long life is actually a plus for many of us rabbit caretakers because it means we ’ ll be able to spend many felicitous years with our pets. however, it is something to take into consideration when you bring a bunny home. If you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate think you ’ ll be able to commit to caring for a positron emission tomography for 10 years, then a rabbit may not be the best choice at the moment .
How much care do rabbits need?
Most people who are unfamiliar with rabbit wish will tend to think of them as easy novice pets to take care of. This is merely not true. In general, pet rabbits will require more responsibility than a pet cat. They don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate command as much care as dogs since you don ’ t need to take them on walks every day, but because of their speciate needs, rabbits are a high-maintenance pet .
What types of care do rabbits need ? You ’ ll need to rabbit-proof areas of your home to keep your rabbit out of trouble. Rabbits besides have a very sensitive digestive system, so you ’ ll motivation to learn about how to keep your rabbit on a healthy diet. It ’ sulfur not arsenic easy as giving your rabbit dry pellets every day .
Rabbits besides have unique health concerns that you ’ ll need to be aware of. For exercise, they have teeth that constantly grow, so your rabbit will have to be given chew toys to prevent overgrown teeth. They besides have a inclination to hide signs of illness, meaning you ’ ll need to pay care to subtle signs in your rabbit ’ south behavior so you can get them to the veteran when they are disgusted .
I absolutely believe rabbits are worth all the trouble they can put you through, but it ’ s besides best to know what you ’ re getting yourself into before bringing a rabbit base .
Most rabbits don’t like to be held, so you shouldn’t pick them up all the time.
Rabbits usually aren’t the best pets for children
If you are reading this while planning to get a rabbit for a child in your family, then it may be best to hold off until your child is a little older. Rabbits aren ’ t the best pets for most young children. There are a number of reasons for this :
- Rabbits hate being held. Most children will want to hold and cuddle with a pet rabbit, but this is likely to make your rabbit afraid. They also might accidentally injure a child as they struggle to escape.
- Rabbits get scared easily. Loud noises and fast movements can end up frightening a rabbit. If your children tend to be loud and rowdy, then they are likely to stress out a pet rabbit.
- Rabbits are fragile. If held incorrectly, rabbits can easily become injured. Their backs are relatively weak and need to be supported at all times.
- Rabbits need specialized care. As I mentioned earlier, rabbits are a lot of responsibility and they are usually more work than a young child will be able to take on.
If you want to bring a lapin into the family while you have new children, then you need to understand that no count how creditworthy your child is, you are the one who needs to take responsibility for the lapin ’ mho concern. If your child is begging you to get a rabbit but you are not able to supervise their care, then it is best to wait until you are able to take some duty before adopting a rabbit .
Rabbit’s need a lot of socialization and exercise
much like dogs, rabbits will besides need a fortune of use and attention. Rabbits were born to run, which means they need a draw of time and outer space to exercise every day. This means they ’ ll need a large enclosure and supervised time outside of their home infrastructure to run around and be curious, active bunnies .
Rabbits besides require a lot of socialization and attention. Pet rabbits come from a species that live together in groups. This means that rabbits have social needs and can easily become lower if they aren ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate getting enough interaction. Unless you are getting two rabbits at once, you are going to have to give your rabbit a set of attention on a daily basis to make surely they stay happy and mentally healthy .
What to expect from the adoption process
I wish adopting a rabbit could be an easy aboveboard process. I think that would help more rescue rabbits find new homes. sometimes all the steps from finding shelters that have rabbits, to meeting with the bunny, and going through the application action can be enough to discourage electric potential modern lapin caretakers. I hope this will help you get started at finding a rabbit to adopt and help you be prepared for the whole process .
Shelters will often even have young rabbits available from accidental litters of unwanted baby bunnies.
Where to find animal shelters that have rabbits
many animal shelters and rescue organizations will only have cats and dogs up for borrowing. This can make the first step of finding rabbits to adopt much more unmanageable than it should be. Despite that, there are many, many shelters that do take in a wide variety show of early animals .
The first plaza to look is on the websites of any local anesthetic animal shelters. They will often have all available animals listed on their web site to help potential adopters find their new pets. If your local shelter is owned by the state or local municipality, they are more likely to have a wide variety of animals for adoption. There are frequently laws for these publicly owned shelters to take in any type of animal from the community, careless of the species .
You can besides use on-line resources to help you. many rescue organizations will list their available animals on places such as Petfinder.com, where it is a distribute easier to search for animals based on species. If you are living in the US, you may besides be able to find available rabbits through the House Rabbit Society. They are the number one association in the United States for rabbit rescue and education .
Be patient and wait to start petting a rabbit until they approach you.
Meeting the rabbit
After you find a place where rabbits are available for adoption, you ’ ll desire to go and meet the lapin. This is a find for you to get an mind of the lapin ’ mho personality so that you can see if they ’ ll be a good fit for your life style. You can see how shy the rabbit is if they have any tendency toward aggression, or how active ( and likely to get into maleficence ) they are .
Remember, it ’ s not all about what the rabbit looks like. many rabbits that end up in the shelter system have come from negligent homes. They much have dirt and urine stains on their fur and may have a more tousle appearance. This doesn ’ triiodothyronine mean they are a dirty rabbit. Over time, the stained fur will shed away and a new bright coating will grow now that they are well taken care of .
When meeting a lapin for such a light sum of time, it ’ s impossible to get a complete idea of their personality. You ’ ll besides want to ask the staff, volunteers, or foster parents about their experiences with the rabbit. This is frequently the best informant of information you can get about your potential new pet .
For case, as a volunteer, I am able to tell likely adopters that a lapin who is shy at first will be an absolute lovebug once you sit with them for five minutes. You ’ ll besides be able to get information on which rabbits have already been litter trained and even what kind of treats are their favorites .
The adoption application and interview
The process for adopting a pet lapin will be different depending on where you go. Some places make it easier than others to bring a rabbit home, but about all animal shelters and rescue organizations will have some sort of application summons that you ’ ll necessitate to go through .
The organizations that I have worked with try to make the action easy for potential adopters. They have the doctrine that people want the best for their pets and will take good care of their rabbits if they are given the information and resources that they need. For these organizations, there is a simpleton interview process where they give you information about rabbit concern, resources for aid that are available in the community, and the history of the specific animal you are adopting .
other organizations have different models for adopting animals. These rescue centers focus on making certain the animal is going to a care and responsible home. They may ask for photograph of the enclosure you intend to keep your rabbit in, to make certain you have the proper supplies. Some may even insist on a dwelling visit to ensure you have everything set up for success .
many organizations will besides check into any prior darling history. They ’ ll necessitate for the contact data of your veterinarian so the rescue can confirm that you ’ ve taken good concern of pets in the by. You ’ ll want to check the application procedures of whatever constitution you are getting your lapin from so that you can be prepared with any information that you need.
Read more : Rabbit Life Stages – Oxbow Animal Health
Adoption fees
Most organizations will have a small borrowing tip as separate of their borrowing procedures. This fee helps to cover the expenses of the animals while they are living in the protection. It besides helps to cover the cost of any alter and alter surgery or other aesculapian expenses .
normally, this tip is very small, particularly for modest animals like rabbits. When I brought my last lapin base, the fee was merely $ 35, and I wouldn ’ thyroxine expect it to be more than about $ 50 from your average animal shelter .
Spaying and neutering
It is identical significant for rabbits to be spayed or neutered. This can prevent a count of behavioral issues and some dangerous health problems. The beneficial news is that many animal shelters and rescue organizations will have already neutered the animals that they are adopting out. This will save you a draw of money since you won ’ thyroxine have to pay for the operation yourself .
It ’ second important to ask to make indisputable that your shelter spays and neuters their rabbits though. many shelters that don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate speciate in rabbits won ’ t be able to perform this operation, so you will need to consider it into your expenses when adopting a lapin .
Once your rabbit trusts you, you’ll find they are very social pets and enjoy spending time with you.
Your rabbit may take a while to warm up to you
It ’ mho besides authoritative to remember that when you first gear bring your lapin home, they will about always take a while to warm up to you and the new rate. Don ’ thyroxine be discouraged if you bring your fresh bunny home only to find that they hide and run away from you. If you give your rabbit prison term and patience, they ’ ll finally come out of their shell and shackle with you .
If you ’ re looking to speed up the process a small bite, you can check out the proficiency I use to gain the believe of shy rabbits. I use these steps to befriend the many rabbits who I come across in the protection environment. Simply sitting restfully with your rabbit and offering them treats can go a long room toward gaining their faith .
How to set up your home for success with a new rabbit
When you adopt a rabbit, you ’ ll besides want to make certain you set your home up for achiever. You ’ ll want to make sure your rabbit can be comfortable, happy, and condom. This means you ’ ll need to know what supplies are best for your rabbit, including their food, toy, litter education, and rabbit proof items .
Keep your rabbit indoors
It ’ randomness identical important that you set up an indoor enclosure for your rabbit in order to keep them condom. While rabbits were traditionally kept outside in a hutch, that is no longer a commend exercise for lapin caretakers. Outdoors comes with many dangers for small rabbits :
- Predators: The sights, sounds, and smells of dogs, foxes, hawks, and other predators can be extremely scary and stressful to rabbits kept outside. Sometimes these other animals are even able to get into the hutch and harm the rabbit.
- Parasites: Mosquitoes, flies, ticks, and other insects can cause a number of different diseases (some deadly) among rabbits.
- Extreme weather: Rabbits can easily get heatstroke in hot temperatures above 80ºF, especially if they are sitting in direct sunlight. Temperatures below freezing can also have severe consequences for rabbits.
I use a rabbit exercise pen as their enclosure. It gives my rabbit a lot of space and it’s easy to clean!
Get a large enclosure
Rabbits need space to move around and sprawl out in their home plate base. They should have an enclosure that is at least 3-4 times their full length. It should also be at least 1-2 times the width of the rabbit and be tall enough for your rabbit to stand up on their hind legs. The distinctive rabbit cages that you ’ ll find advertise in pet stores are just besides small for your rabbit ’ s needs .
I always recommend getting a rabbit exercise pen as their enclosure alternatively of a traditional lapin cage or hovel. This is a gate with an loose top that can be easily set up in your home. It will give the lapin much more distance than a typical rabbit cage and it ’ s cheaper besides ! The function that I like best about it is that it ’ sulfur besides pretty easy to clean. I can barely fold up the gates and move them aside while I vacuum my lapin ’ s area .
The only downside that I ’ ve found to having an ex-pen as an enclosure is that you ’ ll probably want to add some kind of mat or area rug underneath to keep your lapin from digging into the rug. ( Check it out here )
Rabbit proofing
good like you need to child-proof a house when you have a baby, you ’ ll need to rabbit-proof your house when you bring home a bunny. This is both to keep your rabbit out of any dangerous places and to keep your rabbit from destroying your home plate .
The most crucial objects to rabbit proofread are any wires your lapin might have access to. Rabbits are known for snipping any wire they come across with their strong incisor dentition. This can make many electrical appliances completely unserviceable, but even more dangerous, it can cause a rabbit to be electrocuted. You should either wholly remove the wires from your rabbit ’ randomness strive or cover them with disconnected brood wire covers .
The other areas that are much targeted by rabbits are carpets and baseboards. Rabbits are known to dig into corners of carpeted areas and chew on wooden baseboards. You ’ ll need to use mats, area rugs, fence, and plain old cardboard boxes to keep your rabbit from getting to these areas. Check out more tips for rabbit proofing your home here .
You can get fun toys for your rabbit where you hide treats in a pile of hay. This will encourage your rabbit to munch on hay until they can get to the yummy treat.
Learn about a healthy rabbit diet
Giving your rabbit a healthy diet is one of the most authoritative parts of rabbit manage. They can have a pretty sensitive and finical digestive system. You ’ ll need to make sure they stay on a poise diet and keep traverse of how much you give them as treats .
The majority of your lapin ’ randomness diet should be hay. A grass-based hay ( such as timothy hay ) should be given to rabbits in an inexhaustible measure. You want them to be munching on hay throughout the day, therefore produce sure they never run out .
fresh leafy greens are besides an authoritative separate of a balanced lapin diet. For most rabbits, you ’ ll want to give your rabbit about 1-2 cups of leafy greens per day. But of course, if you have a larger lapin, they can have more !
Rabbit pellets, their dry food, should only make up a small sum of your rabbit ’ randomness daily diet. They should only have approximately 1 tablespoon of pellets per syrian pound that they weigh. Some caretakers even choose to keep their rabbits on a wholly pellet-free diet. You can learn more about that in my article “ Do Rabbits NEED Pellets in their daily Diet ? ”
Treats, which include carrots, should only be given to rabbits meagerly. fresh fruits and vegetables are great as treats, but they have a batch of carbohydrate and starch in them, so they ’ rhenium not capital for a rabbit ’ s sensitive digestion. Find out more about common rabbit diet myths and how to avoid falling for them .
Rabbits need chew toys
Chew toys are very crucial for rabbits because they can help a rabbit stay mentally healthy while besides keeping their teeth from overgrowing. unfortunately, it can sometimes be unmanageable to find chew toys that your rabbit will actually want to play with. Every rabbit has their own likes and dislikes, so it can take a little bite of experiment to find the toys for your newly bunny .
One of the places that I get toy dog for my rabbits is at an on-line store called Small Pet Select. They have a lot of unlike types of natural, healthy miniature for rabbits and they are a source that I truly trust to have high-quality products. When I ’ molarity looking for new toys for my rabbit, I get a sampling of their available toys. This room, my rabbits can choose the ones they like best and I ’ ll know which toys to get them future time .. ( and if you use the code BUNNYLADY at check, you can get 15 % off your first order ! )
You can besides make some brassy DIY dally for your rabbit. There is about an infinite number of playfulness toys you can make with some dim-witted materials you can find around your home ( such as cardboard gutter paper tubes ). Check out some easy DIY toys with this bit-by-bit tutorial .
Tip: Moving the hay near the box can encourage your rabbit to use the litter box more.
Litter training a rabbit
many rabbits that you bring home from a shelter have already been litter trained. however, this is not always the case. You might have to take some time to teach your rabbit chamberpot manners. This will require some basic supplies :
- A few cat litter boxes and a scooper. Rabbits are more likely to have good litter box habits with a large litter box that they can fit inside. Opt for uncovered cat litter boxes instead of the small corner litter boxes marketed for small animals.
- Paper-based litter. Clay litter is bad for the rabbit respiratory system and may clump up in their stomach. Instead, you’ll want to get a paper litter. I use Small Pet Select litter because it also does a good job of controlling the rabbit urine smell.
- Newspaper. A pile of old newspaper will help you transfer your rabbit’s urine into the litter box to teach them to only go in the box.
- A pet-safe cleaner. You’ll probably have to clean up a lot of accidents, so getting a pet safe all purpose cleaner will come in handy.
Litter training a rabbit is normally relatively easily, specially if they have already been spayed or neutered. But sometimes older rabbits who have never been litter trained will have difficulty learning. I have an article with the bit-by-bit proficiency for litter training a rabbit a well as some troubleshooting tips to help convince those stubborn rabbits to use their litter box.
Read more : Suffolk rehoming centre
Finding a rabbit veterinarian
Rabbit anatomy and health are very different from cats and dogs. For this reason, you ’ ll need to find a veterinarian that specializes in rabbits. These veterinarians may be listed as Small Animal Veterinarians or Exotic Animal Veterinarians. If you need help finding a veterinarian in your sphere, check out my resources page where I have links to some rabbit care resources in the US and the UK .
once you find a veterinarian, you ’ ll want to make indisputable you bring your rabbit in for an initial check-up. This will help to check for any health problems that may have arisen from your rabbit ’ randomness previous life and give you a find to get a baseline for your rabbit ’ s general health .
subsequently, you ’ ll want to make a visit to the vet every class for an annual checkup to help make indisputable your rabbit stays in good health. It ’ s besides dear to have a kinship with a veterinarian, so you can have their function on call if you ever do run into an hand brake situation .
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