I hear you. This is very frustrating. If it’s a casual acquaintance, you can let the relationship slide into oblivion, but that’s not possible with family and close friends. You almost have to just hold your tongue and not say anything b/c nothing will change their mind. People will keep doing what “works” for them, and even if some of these buns die, they’ll say it was just b/c “they were old”, not b/c of anything they did or did not do. If nothing else, I’m thankful that some of them (I’m assuming the males) are neutered… or else there wouldn’t be JUST 4 or 5 to worry about, but dozens.

My kitty was declawed. He came that way (previous owner had it done). It didn’t cause any behavior problems that I was aware of. I’m not saying declawing is a nice thing to do, I’m just not seeing the connection there.

Declawing can lead to some problems, our declawed cat (also came that way) was VERY nervous around other cats. They would use their paws like normal when angry, but he would bite because he had no other way of handling the normal “get away from me” behavior. He would bite people too rather than swat like a normal cat. He had no balance and couldn’t grab on with claws, so he couldn’t get onto tall places very well and would often fall trying to catch himself with his claws that he no longer had, so we had to be careful with him. It varies by cat though.

But I am sorry you’re friend won’t listen – as for the hay being $5 a bale, it may be OK if it is horse quality. I can get hay that cheap from farms here, but they don’t carry orchard so I buy oxbow instead. If you can’t educate and they won’t listen, honestly the best thing to do is sever the relationship. There is no reason to put yourself through being upset over someone who won’t change.

One thing I found that helps is to rather than go something like “you know, your rabbits would be better off if they got…” just go “hey, this store has a sell on X and my rabbits really love it, it’s really healthy too, want me to bring you a sample and see if your buns like?” etc. That way it’s “hey I found something cool and would like to share” rather than “you’re doing something wrong” – people tend to be a lot more receptive and then you can rave about the vet reviews etc the product got and sometimes they listen. Proper diet is hard to get through peoples heads though, my mother JUST accepted that her dogs have a bad diet and switched to a better (meat as main ingredient instead of rice) food and I paid for the first bag so she could try it.

I’m so sorry It sounds like you are at your wits end. I truly believe that people shouldn’t have animals if they cannot give them the proper care, food, room, and vet care