Leaving Sammy For The Holidays

[Otti]

 So, I know it’s a little early but I want to be well prepared for this to make sure it’s the least traumatic to Sammy possible. I’m leaving to go home to Milan for 12 days between December and January, so I’m trying to figure out how to get Sammy taken care, while making him the least upset possible.

I had a friend who was going to volunteer to look after him at her place, but she didn’t know that her father had booked a family cruise for most of the time I’m gone, so she can no longer help.

The two options I’ve thought of are:

1) Rabbit boarding at a shelter here in LA called Rabbit Rescue (http://www.rabbitrescue.com/boarding.html). They keep the rabbits in pens, as you can see on their webpage, and seem like they definitely know what they’re doing. Apparently the bunnies also get grooming care, music and massages, so it seems Sammy would have it better than he does here LOL They were very prompt in responding. My main fear regarding this is relocating Sammy to somewhere he’s completely unfamiliar with. He’s always in full-blown panic mode at the vet and during car rides, so at least at first i know he’d be pretty upset. This option is $14 per day.

2) Enlarging his pen area here at home and hiring a pet sitter to come feed him and check on him once a day. The pet sitter charges $15 per day for feeding small pets like rabbits and changing their litter. I’m going to look into a few other pet sitter options but the one I found actually has good rabbit-specific reviews on yelp, so she seems like a great option. I would temporarily enlarge Sammy’s area to about 3 times or more what it currently is (currently 16 square feet) so that it wouldn’t be as big of a deal that he’s not getting out-of-pen run time for the days I’m gone. I’d leave portioned veggies and pellets for the pet sitter, let her know to change his litter box every two days, leave the self-regulating AC on and the blinds slightly open. The things I’m worried about with regard to this are: That he’d actually be more depressed in his own environment but wondering where I am (I might be projecting lol), and that I’m letting someone into my house on a daily basis.

The cost is comparable, so I’m trying to figure out what would be best for Sammy.

Any thoughts and opinion appreciated! Thanks!

[Sarita]

I like the idea of keeping a rabbit in their own environment and that is probably ideal however, I would want to make sure the pet sitter is very proficient in rabbit care.

However, I love the option of the rabbit rescue too – can you go and meet them in person and have them show you the boarding area. I think for the cost, it’s a great deal too. And they know rabbits. And it seems there would be more supervision and someone there more readily.

[Dee]

I used to go through the same thing until my kids got old enough to stay home and watch the buns. See, teenagers are good for something- lol. Jk- I love them, they are really great kids. Only thing is that my son gets kinda wrapped up in his own life (he’s 16) so I worry that he would miss signs of illness.

I understand how you must be undecided- both options have their good and bad points. My bunnies get really scared going to the vet too- and hate the car. I can’t even get Nelli into her carrier anymore, she gets so frantic. Because of that, I can see why leaving him home would be a good idea. Sounds like his enviroment is bunnyproofed and roomy. But since he’s a single bun, he could get lonely. While at the shelter, he wouldn’t be lonely so much, but could get quite stressed. The thing i find scary about rabbits is how they can stop eating and go into GI stasus if they get too frightened for too long.
I think the idea thing would be if someone would come into your place maybe twice a day, and stay for an hour or so. I’m not sure how much more $$ this would run, but that way Sammy would have someone to hang out woth for a while and could be observed for signs of illness. Really, the only way to confirm that a rabbit is feeling well is to watch them eat, hop around and use the litterbox- not all of this can be seen in a few minutes. Could you have the bunny expeienced sitter come in just for feeding/care and maybe a trusted friend or relative that knows your bun a little could come by and watch TV or read for a couple hours a day, just to check out Sammy’s general behavior and keep him company? That to me would be ideal. But maybe not possible…
I’m pretty sure that either way, Sammy will be fine. But I know how diddicult these choices are. Good luck with this and I hope you have a great time in Milan when you go!

[Sarita]

Another suggestions is to take Sammy with you to the shelter to see how he reacts before you decide. It will give you a good feel for how he travels and how he seems at the shelter – yes, it will only be a short time but maybe you can gauge something.

[Otti]

Yeah, right now I’m leaning on the shelter solution because he’d be monitored much more frequently and by bunny-experts. I am worried he might get lonely or upset and stop eating, whether he’s alone at home or at the shelter, but at least if it happened at the shelter the people there know how to force-feed if necessary etc.

I definitely can’t find people to come out to my place every day (in addition to the pet sitter) and spend time with Sammy. LA is a huge place and many of my friends live quite far (over 40 minutes). Also, I’m leaving during a holiday period, when many other people are away on holiday visiting their families as well.

I have a few things I wanted to donate to a rabbit shelter and the shelter I’d be taking him to does free nail clippings, so I think I’m going to bring him there next Saturday and see how he does. This way I can also ask any questions I might have.

If you click on the link I posted above of the shelter, the areas they keep the rabbits in seem really nice. I’m also going to look around for other shelters who might do boarding but nearer to my house (to decrease travel time). If they’re comparable in price and lodgings it might be better for Sammy to have a shorter car ride there and back.

[Sarita]

I agree, it looks great. Good idea to scope it out well in advance too. Let us know what you think when you do.

[Otti]

Hmmm I just had a thought, what if I leave him in his environment (enlarged to make more room), hire the pet sitter to come in once a day, and set up a webcam so that I can monitor him from abroad?

[Bumblebunny]

I know of 2 other places around LA that board. One is Bunny Luv in the S.F. Valley and there is Bunny Bunch SPCR in the Chino/Montclair area (both have web sites). The pictures of the place you are thinking about are really nice and they seem to offer good care at a competitive rate. I have not had to deal with leaving our rabbit, but I am sure it is going to come up in the future and we will be looking for a place in the LA area for boarding. If you do decide to board him and it works out well, we would like to know and it may be helpful to others in a similar situation.

[Otti]

Thanks so much Bumblebunny! The Bunny Luv rescue would be so much easier for me to reach, so I think I’ll contact them and see if I can go visit them to check out the boarding situation. If it’s comparable to the Rabbit Rescue one that I posted, which is all the way in Paramount, it would definitely be better for me to go with Van Nuys rescue. Less of a car ride for Sammy and also easier for me to go pick him up when I get back.

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