Bunny sitting – is this any of my business?

[Mimzy]

In offering bunny sitting, I kind of assumed there would be things I didn’t completely agree with the owners on but there were 2 main ones I was wondering if I should ask them about?

When they dropped him off, they didn’t give any hay with him, only pellets, but thankfully I still had hay left from Mimzy. However, I can’t seem to get him to eat a single piece of hay so I’m thinking they don’t know to give him hay & now he doesn’t know what to do with it? Or do you think he just for some reason doesn’t like it?

The other thing is he’s super sweet but also PRETTY destructive, showing behaviors that Mimzy did before she was spayed, LOTS of digging behavior & nipping, he’s trying to tear up my carpet  Though it needs to go anyway lol so I’m not that concerned. He circles me all the time & he smelled pretty bad the very first day he was here but for whatever reason he no longer does. I’m assuming he’s not neutered yet, not sure if I should ask the owner about it when they come back for him?

I’m mainly concerned with the hay though…my hunch is that they haven’t had him that long, maybe a year & aren’t completely aware that hay is essential, I could also be completely wrong, maybe he just likes a different type of hay. How would you bring these up?

[Melissa Rabbit]

the hay thing is a concern to me. id ask them if they provide hay for the bun because it’s definitely possible that they don’t know how important it is. id probably say something like “hey i noticed your bun wasn’t eating the hay i gave him and i was wondering if he ate hay at home” and then go from there. good luck!

[tobyluv]

Maybe you could print out the hay section of the Healthy Diet, found in the BUNNY INFO link here. Tell them that many people have said how glad they were to find good information on rabbit care and feeding, and you’re always happy to pass along the knowledge you gained over the years. You could also mention the name of your vet and say that it can be hard to find a good, rabbit savvy vet and you thought they might appreciate a reference to one, since they may need a vet in case of illness or to discuss neutering if they were planning on that. I guess it depends on how well you know these people and how comfortable you feel about speaking with them on these subjects.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Thumbs up for melissa’s suggestion….. be goofy and say maybe it was because it wasn’t the same make as theirs…. and go from there.

[sarahthegemini]

If they’ve had him for a year, that is more than long enough to have done some proper bunny research. Either they’ve forgotten to give you the hay, which seems odd seeing as they remembered pellets or they’ve not bothered to do research or they know how important hay is and just don’t care. Neither is acceptable. Poor bunny You definitely need to bring it up, his welfare is seriously at stake. You could always just causally ask what hay he normally eats and go from there.

[Harley&Thumper]

I would certainly ask what his diet is like. But if he has gone a year without hay, wouldn’t his teeth be over grown? Maybe his owners assumed you would provide the hay but they are being responsible by making sure he has his normal pellets?

[Manda]

I WISH I could find a bun sitter like you! Good bunny people are so hard to find.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think it is your business, for sure. I would ask them why they didn’t leave any hay. I would have some info printed on how important hay is or a pic of the Bunny Diet Pyramid handy to show them.

[Mimzy]

You guys are all so awesome! These suggestions are great, I’m not very creative when it comes to this stuff xD
The year thing was just a guess, could be less? They didn’t give me a whole lot of background info on him. I know that the little girl (looks to be about 9?) was a little surprised & bummed after the mom said he is for sure a boy, the little girl wanted a girl bunny . Then she goes, “my fish was a boy & it died” …so I don’t know if they haven’t had him long & that’s why the little girl didn’t know it was a boy or if it’s been longer & she hoped it was a girl so much that she believed it was.

I should’ve asked how long they’ve had him but, first time bunny sitting! I was surprised when they didn’t bring more things with him. I was over here expecting a paranoid bun mom with a whole list of instructions! But he is at least litter trained & he’s been doing pretty good with that.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Is she eating hay now? Or grass even? (If there is any….)

[Author]

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