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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A My friend doesn’t really take care of her rabbit?

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    • HerculesandMolasses
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        Btw, this isn’t my other friend in another question. Ok I told my friend I have a rabbit and she said cool I have one too and I asked her questions and she treats it ok but not good. She keeps it in a wire bottom cage with no hide house and no place to rest its feet. It is very very skittish so I think it needs a hide house. She feeds it properly, but it has one chew toy and it has nothing in its small cage except for that one chew toy, it’s hay, a very light, plastic pellet bowl which it tips over a lot, a water bottle, and that’s it. No hide house, other toys, place to rest feet, and it’s kept under a porch. I live in Arizona and right now it is very very hot. It was over 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s cage about the width of an elementary school desk and as long as two elementary school desks. The rabbits is most likely a rex because she said its fur puffs out and it has brown spots so probably a broken rex. I try to tell her what she needs but she keeps saying he will eat it and I said to give it to him anyway but she just brings up another subject. She lets it out a little because her parents are divorced so she only stays at one house for a week then switches. Her rabbit is extremely elderly; seriously, I don’t know his exact age, but he is well into his teens because she said he was a teenager. I don’t know if he’s been kept in this cage his whole life, but yeah. He also has one white eye that he is blind in. I haven’t seen it but I am worried about it. What should I tell her without hurting her feelings because I don’t know her much but she is pretty outgoing.


      • lillian
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          Hmmm. Maybe your friend needs some help or isn’t really sure how to take care of it? I think a lot of people see rabbits just like they would mice of hamsters, thinking they are just little animals to watch and pet sometimes. She may need some pointers and tips on how to take care of them bun and show her that a little fluff ball can have a greater personality than a lot of pets!


        • manic_muncher
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            Since you both have a common interest, perhaps you could show her some cool setups that you’ve seen. You don’t have to make it out like she’s doing it all wrong or that you are judging her. You could be like… “wow i saw the coolest rabbit video on youtube” (or wherever) and show her a video with a rabbit thats really personable or that interacts really nicely with their owner.

            When I first got rabbits, keeping a house rabbit like most of us do here, was unheard of! It wasn’t until I saw videos on YouTube that I discovered rabbits were really cool and had so much personality. I had no idea.


          • HereComesTheBun
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              That’s very tricky. I can relate to your situation, because I also know someone who takes care of her rabbit differently than I do, though in her case, it’s mostly diet related. I think both lilian and manic_muncher make great points that most people aren’t aware of how intelligent and playful rabbits are and think that they don’t require much work. Unfortunately, your friend may become defensive if you give her advice, especially if you don’t know her that well already.

              I think that sharing YouTube videos is a great idea, and perhaps you could also invite her over if you haven’t already done so and lead by example by introducing her to your rabbit. If she understands how much fun rabbits are when they’re out and about and how trainable they are, maybe she’ll reexamine how she treats her own rabbit. When I was away on vacation, a family friend housesat and looked after my rabbit for me, and she had her sister over, who also kept rabbits when she was young. This was about thirty years ago, when there wasn’t a lot of information about rabbits out there, so she kept her rabbits outside in a hutch (I also live in Arizona!) and didn’t take them into the house very often. When she met Hugo, she was amazed by how active and curious he was compared to her rabbits, but I have a feeling that her rabbits might have been different as house rabbits.


            • The Bunny Lady
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                That’s a hard situation. You can tell her what you think and believe, but she will either take it with a grain of salt, she might listen or she might become very defensive. You can always tell her what you think, but again she may or may not listen to the advice you have to give. Personally, I think if I was her getting advice would be great – I love getting advice from other rabbit owners, but she may not feel the same way. Sharing YouTube videos sounds awesome, I think that would be great! Also another idea is maybe have bunny play dates? I don’t think she knows how active and playful – and smart rabbits are and maybe if she sees your and hers playing she may think “oh wow” and see this within her rabbit!


              • tobyluv
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                  Do you think that your friend would accept a couple of supplies from you, like a heavy crockery bowl and a woven grass mat? You could also offer or give her a cardboard box with arches cut out on each end for the rabbit to hide in. I’m surprised that this poor rabbit has survived outside like that in this heat. It would be good if you got to know your friend better and you could discuss rabbit care with her, mentioning that you find it interesting to read about rabbits and learn things about them and their care.


                • LBJ10
                  Moderator
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                    I hope no one minds, but I removed your friend’s name from the posts. I did this because it isn’t clear if this person is a minor and, well, it probably it’s a good idea to post someone else’s name anyway.

                    Here’s the rule:

                    Members under 18 cannot use their first and/or last name anywhere in the forum. Minors cannot post their age.


                  • HerculesandMolasses
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                      Oh sorry LBJ10. My friend agreed to give him more chew toys, hide house, and a something to rest his feet on. Her dad will not get a bigger cage, though. She still doesn’t want to clean his cage more than 2 times a month but she said she will try to litter train it and then empty it’s litterbox daily. She is now keeping him inside.


                    • tobyluv
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                        It’s so good that the rabbit is now inside and will have something solid to sit on. She may not be able to litter train him at his age, but she is definitely going to have to clean the cage more than twice a month.


                      • BarbaraC
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                          If she’s keeping him inside she’ll probably end up cleaning it more than 2 times a month because of the proximity and smell. Good job educating your friend. It’s not an easy task no matter how old or young a person is. =)


                        • BunsAndDolls
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                            I thought I posted on this earlier, but I guess my post got eaten by the internet monster, lol. I’m glad she’s at least making effort to make him more comfortable, that’s progress! Even if he doesn’t get a bigger cage, he’ll feel SO much better if he has a mat to rest on, and he’s in the a/c


                          • Samicles
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                              She may just be really uneducated on how to care for a rabbit properly. When I was younger I had absolutely NO CLUE. And I was doing SOOOO many things wrong. My rabbit had a wire bottom cage, no hiding hut, newspaper under the cage, no toys. Though he was an indoor rabbit for most of his life, I also had no clue about the correct diet of rabbits. Poor guy NEVER got hay, like twice, he had alfalfa hay in the 6-7 years I owned him. I cleaned his cage once a week, if that. He did live a long time though (12-13 years old), and surprisingly was really well behaved considering the circumstances and my lack of education.

                              If your friend does care for her rabbit, I think you should suggest to her, nicely, about ways to make the bunny happier and healthier. Maybe take some supplies over to her, play with her rabbit with her (sounds like s/he doesn’t get any attention). Since you both own rabbits, I think it’d be a relatively easy subject to bring up.

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                          Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A My friend doesn’t really take care of her rabbit?