Bunny rescue education?

[professorzap]

Rehash of what I asked originally:  Should I nicely tell this wonderful rescue I got my sweet bunny from some of the things they apparently don’t know…About rabbit behavior, diet, and handling especially.  His fosterer told me that he loves being held, he doesn’t (which didn’t surprise me, but might a bunny novice), though he does love being petted on the floor.  He was also not being fed the best and has gained over half a pound since he got here.  Especially he was getting greens only as very rare treats.  I’ve also seen pics of the rescue handing a bunny to a small child (I’d say three years old at most) by holding the bunny only under  his chest.  Apparently a pretty laid back bunny, but could be dangerous.  Both the fosterer and the person I dealt with admitted to me they know almost nothing about bunnies.

So, should I figure out a nice way to let them know some important bunny information?  Just tell them I’m available if they want more information?  Point them to the HRS or the HRS videos on YouTube?  Just let it go and don’t worry about it?

[Alisha]

Sometimes responses can be slow on this site. I sometimes don’t get answers until the next day or two. I’d be glad to give my opinion if you’re still willing to share

[OnyxMoon]

Same here, i saw your post earlier and didn’t respond because i was unsure of how much help id be but im willing to give my two cents now if you still want some answers. 

[LBJ10]

Weekends tend to be a bit slower sometimes. What was your initial question/concern? I’m sure someone will be able to answer if they were able to read it.

[Bam]

As the others have said, sometimes the forums are slower. Please repost your question and we’ll have a go at it =)

[Sirius&Luna]

It would also help if you put the topic in the headline, then if it’s say ‘bedding’ people think, ‘oh I know about bedding!’ And click on it. But when it’s something very vague, people probably avoid it.

[professorzap]

Sorry, hope I didn’t sound snarky when I deleted my original post. I just figured I shouldn’t leave up my concerns about the bunny rescue in case someone attached to them saw it.  I asked here because I don’t want to make them defensive or feel like I’m judging them.  I really appreciate their saving small animals, but would like to help them take care of bunnies in the best way.

[professorzap]

This is an example of how the rescue doesn’t understand bunny body language.  On the left is Benny on the floor being petted…He started to raise his ears a little when I took the pic, but otherwise is completely calm.  On the right is Benny being held, obviously at alert and a bit uncomfortable, though thankfully not panicked.  From the picture it’s not as obvious as in person, but when I held him, it was even more obvious that his muscles were all tense when being held.

[Alisha]

Yeah I get really uncomfortable too with the fact that rescues, shelters, breeders most really don’t know anything about rabbits and it really sucks but I guess we just have to accept the reality. I feel like if we tried to tell them anything (even if we mean it in the nicest way), they would probably just be annoyed so I don’t attempt to tell them what they should be doing instead. I guess it’s on them that they chose not to do any research even though this is their job. In my situation, the breeder was super uneducated but I just took the bunny and ran and made sure she was well taken care of hahaha

[professorzap]

That’s kind of my worry too, Alisha, and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t read up on bunnies either. However, another part of me thinks they kind of need to know, especially if they are giving incorrect information to the people who adopt the bunnies. That could end up being a long-term issue for their adopted bunnies.

[Alisha]

I had to bite my tongue and resist saying anything to a friend who recently updated her status on fb to “Would anyone by chance be interested in a female LionHead Bunny?
LionHeads do great outside even in cold weather & are extremely low maintenance pets so they great for children! $5 a month covers food so super inexpensive as well!
We love her lots but think 3 bunnies might just be too many for us.
She’s 100% FREE to a good home with a full large bag of food included!”

I just copied and pasted that. It was so hard to read haha and she’s telling all these people she’s friends with this basically spreading inaccurate information.

[Luna]

Maybe you could point them in the direction of the HRS website and say something like: “I’ve read things from this website that seem to conflict with your advice. Could you take a look and let me know what you think?” That way, you won’t sound accusatory so hopefully they won’t get defensive, and they will also have access to better information on how to care for their buns.

[jerseygirl]

Both the fosterer and the person I dealt with admitted to me they know almost nothing about bunnies.

I think this could be your conversational segue in to address the subject. Sort of like: “you know, a few people here said they didn’t know that much about rabbits and it had me wondering if you had information put together to offer adopters that are new to rabbit? Is that something I could help with?” Then if they accept any info you give, by looking over it themselves, they are becoming aware also.

As you know, there are a lot of online resource that could really help. Many have printable material, for example, this is on Georgia’s HRS website: https://www.houserabbitga.com/printable-rabbit-care

Ideally, gathering information from you local HRS chapter (if there is one) would be ideal as that would hopefully give references to local supplies and vets. Not everyone adopting would be looking to keep the rabbit as a house rabbit, so some information covering outdoor care and habitats would be good also. That said, and adopter may never have considered having a rabbit indoors or known that could be done. So if they received info for both indoor and outdoor, they may just want to give indoor a try!

With regards to not feeding greens, I don’t think that would be uncommon for shelters. It just may not be affordable or practical for them.
What did Benny get to eat while there? It’s a little concerning that he was underweight. Had he been with them long? How long was he with the foster carer?

His fosterer told me that he loves being held, he doesn’t (which didn’t surprise me, but might a bunny novice),

This makes me wonder also if it’s something just said to potential adopters, to make the rabbit more appealing?

[jerseygirl]

btw, Im glad you put the topic back up. I can understand your uncertainty about it in regards to the rescue.
Others have mentioned forum activity can be slow at times (which is true) but I also wanted to note that sometimes its just so busy that threads get overlooked. I know with some, I’ll read them and think that I’ll come back to it later, especially if it requires my putting the thinking cap on. Unfortunately, I have a terrible habit of not keeping track of those threads. : ( The My Topics feature only keeps track of threads you’ve replied to, so it would be great if there was a way to bookmark or flag threads that you intend to reply to when you’re in a better position to.

[Deleted User]

Oh I would absolutely say something in this case. The fact of the matter is that there are sooo many uneducated bunny owners out there, which often leads to wild release or owner relinquish. If these folks don’t know what they are talking about and they’re just handing out rabbits, then they aren’t helping the problem. In fact, some of these buns could end up in tough situations.

Maybe you could take the time to gather information and create a sort of “bunny guide” and give that to the rescue. They could make copies and hand them out with every adoption that they have. There are lots of great diagrams that I’ve found on pinterest that would be great to show an inexperienced owner!

I’m not really active on BB on the weekends at all. I mostly get on during the day at work. So things can be a bit slow on the weekend. Also, lots of people are in different time zones!

[professorzap]

Thanks so much for your reply!  Benny had been with them since last October.  I think some of the weight gain was due to his still being a growing bunny, but I do think they were feeding him too little considering that (I think he was being fed too little pellets for that fact and his size).  The fosterer wasn’t feeding him much greens, maybe it was an affordability concern, but I also think she didn’t know that greens are not just treats.  On top of that, I saw the treats she was feeding him and it wasn’t healthy at all (seed based and banana based treats).  I also think that the fosterer truly believed that Benny enjoyed being held, mainly because of her inexperience (he put up with it, so obviously he likes it).  She even told me that he struggled when being picked up, so I needed to support his back legs–to which I told her you should always do that!–when she picked him up, but then he “settled down and liked it.”  I’m still formulating a response to them, but you guys are being VERY helpful!

I also realize that there are TONS of uneducated bunny owners out there, which is why I was more worried than just thinking it’s a temporary situation the bunnies are in with this rescue.  Thanks again and let me know if anyone has further thoughts on the situation!

[Author]

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