questions about a rabbit’s diet and care- am i doing everything correctly

[minuit.mimi]

hello there, I’m a new bunny mom that wants to make sure that my bunny has the best care possible. I recently rescued a bunny a month ago. she was a class pet and severely mistreated. The teacher that had her as a class pet was afraid of her, so she would send her home to a different student every weekend. when my sister took her in on one of the weekends I couldn’t handle her condition so I went the next day and adopted her. The teacher literally threw her at me, no papers, no documents, she gave me no background information at all. she was caged in class 24/7, her diet was just hay and pellets no fresh vegetables or treats, and she was in a science lab. she despise being in a cage so I allowed her to free roam, I only cage her when it’s time for bed, otherwise she roams the house freely under extreme supervision. I scrubbed her cage with vinegar to sanitize it, I use pine shaving as bedding that I change every week. I read it’s bad for rabbits but she was very uncomfortable with other beddings that I have tried. I cover it with fresh hay, the hay to pine ratio is unproportioned, I use more hay to cover the bedding. I also wash her bowl and water bottle with boiling water daily, and scrub her cage weekly. My main concern is her diet, I don’t know her breed so I’m not sure what diet to follow. I would love it if you could perhaps help me know her breed and diet?

I feed her kale 3 times a week, small pieces of carrots 2 times a week. daily I fed her Italian parsley, but I read it shouldn’t be fed daily so  I stopped and gave her peppermint instead. I also feed her fresh grape leaves daily sometimes. I giver her celery, green bell peppers, radish tops, grass, and rose leaves, and dandelion leaves. I have peppermint, dandelion, grass, grape tree, and rose bush in my backyard that i’m sure has to pesticide, I wash them after picking them up before feeding her and I inspect the leaves to make they have nothing suspicions on them. I do let her roam around in the backyard- under extreme monitoring- so sometimes she just munch them. 

she has stolen pieces of candy, bread, and sips of coka cola, which I immediately stopped her from, and monitored her condition but nothing happened. I daily check her body waste to make sure she’s ok. I alternate between 2 grapes, a small amount of banana, and apples as a treat check for illnesses. she seems to devours sweets more than vegetables which makes me quite worried about her. 

Is there anything I need to do more for her? specifically her diet, because I’m not sure if what i’m feeding her is healthy, the internet is not very helpful.

sorry for the long post, and thank you for helping in advance 

[Honeybunny]

[sarahthegemini]

Posted By Honeybunny on 5/27/2018 6:32 AM

It sounds like you’ve been an amazing bunny mom! Don’t worry about her stealing bites from human food, little things here and there won’t cause any harm but definitely try to make sure she doesn’t do it lol. My bun loves to steal chips from me so I always have to keep an eye out. It’s just in their nature to want to chew everything.

Sounds like you’re doing good portion wise. I like to feed my bun some veggies and fruits in the morning (celery, carrots, strawberries, parsley) and as treats through out the day and I make sure to keep her bowl filled with the rabbit food. I’ve actually never tried hay myself, though I do see lots of buns on here love it.

I really don’t recommend the pine shavings as bedding, especially if she kicks around her bedding. She could inhale the dust and get pneumonia. I understand that it’s what she’s comfortable with, but that might be because its the only thing she’s used to. With that being said, it’s probably helped that u cover it up with hay. My bun just hates bedding in general, she’ll kick it to the side and will lay in an empty spot despite all the different ones I’ve tried.

Unfortunately I’m not much help in figuring out breeds, I barely even know my own bunny’s breed. Some else on here should be able to help out more with that. Im so happy that you took in this bun and gave her a great life!

I’m sorry but this advice is dangerous. Hay needs to make up the bulk of a rabbit’s diet  And veggies need to primarily be leafy greens with things like celery, carrots and fruit being treats only. Human food here and there absolutely CAN cause problems. Bunny’s tummies are sensitive hence why any new food needs to be introduced SLOWLY so a bit of human food can cause very big problems

[Daisy]

It’s awesome that you helped out this poor bunny! Your bunny care and diet sounds very good to me!

About the care: Have you tried mixing pine shavings with other bedding for a few weeks to get her used to it? Maybe something soft like cotton based bedding or paper based pellets? Some bunnies will hate a type of bedding at first but if you mix it for a bit it feels less strange and new to them and they may learn that the new bedding is not as bad as they thought, haha.

About the diet: Maybe these tips will make you feel more confident in creating a good diet for your bunny. As I wrote I think you’re doing great, but I really liked the information below myself to make me feel more confident in caring for my bunny so I’m gladly sharing them:

As a rule of thumb, the diet of your bunny should be:

– 80% hay
– 10% veggies
– 5% pellets
– 5% treats (fruits are included here)

Pellets should be 15-25 grams per kg of rabbit per day and hay can be fed unlimited.

Pellets should be of the following content for a healthy, non-pregnant/baby feeding bunny:

– Crude fiber more than 14% (the more of this the better! In good quality rabbit food you’ll find crude fibre content of 20%-25%)
– Crude protein between 12 and 14%
– Fat maximum 4%
– Calcium less than 1%
– Phosphorus between 0.4% and 0.8%

Vitamins D, E and A seem important as well but I don’t know enough about that to advise you.

This sounds complicated, but you will literally find this list with the percentages on every bag of rabbit food, so no calculation required, just reading skills. You’ll find that in cheap super market bought pellets the fiber content is too low and the calcium and fat is too high.

If you live in Europe Science Selective and Beaphare Care+ are a great type of pellets to feed. In America I believe people are very fond of Oxbow Essentials.

For veggies, personally I always check my list of rabbit safe veggies and fruit to give. The list is on a website but it’s Dutch, so it’ll be of no help for you unless you can read that language haha. I have found this link: https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/. Below the wall of text there is a list of safe veggies and fruits to give. The wall of text seems to explain a lot of interesting details about rabbit diet as well. I’ve only speed read through it but it looked very well put together! Just remember that fruits are treats and should not be given in huge quantities as the suger content is bad for the guts. I personally stick to 1 grape a day, one banana slice a day, one strawberry a day per rabbit. But then again I have adopted 2 rabbits that are/were a bit overweight when I got them so I’m very careful with sugars, possibly maybe I’m a little too strict for the normal bunny.

If you just stick to these rules, you can’t really do much wrong!

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Thank you for adopting this bunny, what an awful life she must have had! Most rabbits hate it when surroundings are changed, not to mention the constant noise of rambunctious kids You sound like you’re taking her health very seriously, which is very commendable!

Daisy has written down some excellent tips about diet. Maybe I can add my 2 cents about bedding. Rabbits are easily litter trained and their cage can be lined with several types of bedding. The place where the rabbit does its business will need to be cleaned at least 2-3 times a week and more often in hot weather. Many of us have trained our rabbits to go in a litter box because that makes cleaning so much easier. Our Breintje has a big litter box which we fill with a thin layer of wooden kitty litter pellets and a thick layer of hay. He also likes to lounge in this box (don’t worry, we clean it very often!), and his hay rack is just above it so anything that falls out just makes his box more comfy.

The box is approx. 1/3rd of his cage. The rest of the cage is covered with cardboard because many rabbits (including our Breintje) have a tendency to “go” on anything soft. With this set-up he only does his business in his box which makes for wonderfully easy cage cleaning. I’m disabled, and it’s very important that I can keep his cage clean by myself, because there isn’t always someone to assist. Breintje loves the cardboard because it’s soft enough to keep him from getting sore feet, but firm enough that he doesn’t slip when he jumps into his cage. He uses his bedding as a chew toy as well: during hotter weather he chews away a place in a corner so he’ll have cool bare plastic to lay on.

This set-up works best for us, but I’ve seen many varieties of bedding on the forum here. The most important thing about bedding is that it shouldn’t be wet and that it should be easy to change. Wet and soiled bedding can lead to horrible and possibly lethal infections, so choose bedding which can be changed often. Another problem is ingestion: rabbits love to chew things, so bedding should be non-toxic and it shouldn’t lead to blockages when ingested. Most people here use a special litter box with wooden kitty litter pellets, shreds of paper and other absorbent materials. The rest of the bedding depends on your bun. If she’s well-behaved and doesn’t pee on or chew blankets or mats you can chose that. Options for chewers are cardboard and grass mats.

Another thing I’d advise you is to look for a rabbit-savvy vet. Not every vet is a rabbit specialist and they’re surprisingly difficult to treat. Vets have to take special classs to treat rabbits. Check our Vet Resources topic for a rabbit savvy vet in your area: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/116849/afnp/276220/Default.aspx
Rabbits will need a yearly check-up by an exotic vet, these check-ups include weighing, dental checks, parasite checks and heart/lung condition. Depending on your location they’ll also need vaccinations. There are 2 horrible and incurable rabbit illnesses which even indoor buns can get: myxomatosis and VHD/RHD. Check with your vet if that’s necessary in your area.

What will always be necessary is a spay/neuter. Rabbits need to be spayed/neutered for their own health and to prevent behavioural problems. Both males and females will likely develop hormonal behaviour after puberty. It will be very difficult to litter train an unfixed rabbit, because they’ll leave territorial droppings everywhere. Hormonal males will spray and hump and females may get extremely territorial and can display false pregnancies. Females also have a chance of up to 80% of developing uterine cancer by age 4. This suffering can be prevented by spaying.
The procedure will need to be performed by an expert vet, so ask if the clinic regularly performs these operations. Another check to see if you found a good clinic: they should never ask you to bring the rabbit in sober. Humans, cats and dogs will need to be sober before an operation because we can vomit and that can choke us. Rabbits physically can’t vomit and their digestive system needs to work constantly to work properly. Plus, they’re going to need that extra energy to recover without complications. So if they want your bun sober, you’ll want another vet.

[Bunny House]

I agree with Ellie,Daisy and Sarah.

I also will add that you might want to use a water bowl instead of a bottle as it is more natural for them to drink from that than a bottle.

You seem to be doing a great job learning and taking of the little one

[minuit.mimi]

Posted By sarahthegemini on 5/27/2018 6:47 AM

Posted By Honeybunny on 5/27/2018 6:32 AM

It sounds like you’ve been an amazing bunny mom! Don’t worry about her stealing bites from human food, little things here and there won’t cause any harm but definitely try to make sure she doesn’t do it lol. My bun loves to steal chips from me so I always have to keep an eye out. It’s just in their nature to want to chew everything.

Sounds like you’re doing good portion wise. I like to feed my bun some veggies and fruits in the morning (celery, carrots, strawberries, parsley) and as treats through out the day and I make sure to keep her bowl filled with the rabbit food. I’ve actually never tried hay myself, though I do see lots of buns on here love it.

I really don’t recommend the pine shavings as bedding, especially if she kicks around her bedding. She could inhale the dust and get pneumonia. I understand that it’s what she’s comfortable with, but that might be because its the only thing she’s used to. With that being said, it’s probably helped that u cover it up with hay. My bun just hates bedding in general, she’ll kick it to the side and will lay in an empty spot despite all the different ones I’ve tried.

Unfortunately I’m not much help in figuring out breeds, I barely even know my own bunny’s breed. Some else on here should be able to help out more with that. Im so happy that you took in this bun and gave her a great life!

I’m sorry but this advice is dangerous. Hay needs to make up the bulk of a rabbit’s diet  And veggies need to primarily be leafy greens with things like celery, carrots and fruit being treats only. Human food here and there absolutely CAN cause problems. Bunny’s tummies are sensitive hence why any new food needs to be introduced SLOWLY so a bit of human food can cause very big problems

I do give her unlimited amount of hay in her cage that she munches on throughout  the day, I change it to a fresh patch every week, even if she doesn’t eat all of it. I used to give her celery stick daily but I stopped once I read that it’s not good for her, but I feed her carrots twice a week as an illness check treat. I don’t give her ANY human food willingly, but she has managed to steal candy and bread, which I immediately stopped and monitored her, but she was completely fine, in fact she gave me lots of licks and did many binkies XD

thank you so much for your reply ^^

[Bam]

They can have every stick now and then, my Bam likes that. I cut it up in small pieces for him and never give more than like 3-4 pieces (he has a tendency towards plumpness).

He importance of hay can never be overestimated. Grass hay keeps both the gut and the teeth in order.

If a bun steals a potato chip or sth like that, it’s not the end of the world. Chocolate and avocado is toxic to them though.

Thank you for adopting this bunny. She’s a lucky girl ?

[minuit.mimi]

Posted By Daisy on 5/27/2018 7:04 AM

It’s awesome that you helped out this poor bunny! Your bunny care and diet sounds very good to me!

About the care: Have you tried mixing pine shavings with other bedding for a few weeks to get her used to it? Maybe something soft like cotton based bedding or paper based pellets? Some bunnies will hate a type of bedding at first but if you mix it for a bit it feels less strange and new to them and they may learn that the new bedding is not as bad as they thought, haha.

About the diet: Maybe these tips will make you feel more confident in creating a good diet for your bunny. As I wrote I think you’re doing great, but I really liked the information below myself to make me feel more confident in caring for my bunny so I’m gladly sharing them:

As a rule of thumb, the diet of your bunny should be:

– 80% hay
– 10% veggies
– 5% pellets
– 5% treats (fruits are included here)

Pellets should be 15-25 grams per kg of rabbit per day and hay can be fed unlimited.

Pellets should be of the following content for a healthy, non-pregnant/baby feeding bunny:

– Crude fiber more than 14% (the more of this the better! In good quality rabbit food you’ll find crude fibre content of 20%-25%)
– Crude protein between 12 and 14%
– Fat maximum 4%
– Calcium less than 1%
– Phosphorus between 0.4% and 0.8%

Vitamins D, E and A seem important as well but I don’t know enough about that to advise you.

This sounds complicated, but you will literally find this list with the percentages on every bag of rabbit food, so no calculation required, just reading skills. You’ll find that in cheap super market bought pellets the fiber content is too low and the calcium and fat is too high.

If you live in Europe Science Selective and Beaphare Care+ are a great type of pellets to feed. In America I believe people are very fond of Oxbow Essentials.

For veggies, personally I always check my list of rabbit safe veggies and fruit to give. The list is on a website but it’s Dutch, so it’ll be of no help for you unless you can read that language haha. I have found this link: https://rabbit.org/suggested-vegetables-and-fruits-for-a-rabbit-diet/. Below the wall of text there is a list of safe veggies and fruits to give. The wall of text seems to explain a lot of interesting details about rabbit diet as well. I’ve only speed read through it but it looked very well put together! Just remember that fruits are treats and should not be given in huge quantities as the suger content is bad for the guts. I personally stick to 1 grape a day, one banana slice a day, one strawberry a day per rabbit. But then again I have adopted 2 rabbits that are/were a bit overweight when I got them so I’m very careful with sugars, possibly maybe I’m a little too strict for the normal bunny.

If you just stick to these rules, you can’t really do much wrong!

I have always had a soft spot for animals and a special spot for rabbits because I had one as a child, I couldn’t let her just abuse the rabbit without doing anything.

It makes me so happy hearing that!

I used newspaper under the hay but she managed to chew remove the hay and shred the newspaper. I also tried using constructive paper- cardboard based- under the pine shaving and she also got to it and shredded it XD she loves mixing her pine shaving with hay, no matter how small the amount of the pine is, she will mix it with her hay. I read the bag of pine and it said, dust free, softwood, and kelin dried, I’m not sure if that makes it safer? I live in a small state in the US and pet rabbits aren’t common, so I rarely find anything for them, even in pet stores.

I give her unlimited hay in her cage, that I change weekly, even if she doesn’t eat all of it, I don’t recycle her hay, I give her fresh every week. I don’t know her weight, but she’s tiny so I give her ¼ cup of pellets at night, and I bought her the store spring mix bag of veggies and give her a cup 3 times a day, she loves eating and munches on it throughout the day. I use carrots, celery, and fruits as an illness check treats, a slice on an apple, a part of a banana, or finger size of a carrot daily.

I’m a medical student so I have done my share of diet calculation XD having it readily available is a blessing hahaha I checked the bag I have and it seems to be healthy! Thank you so much for the information!

I live in the US and I’m not sure if I can find that brand here, but I will definitely look for it! If not I will see if I can buy it online ^^
Looked It over and made sure that I don’t feed her anything deemed toxic, now I have her on a spring mix salad daily, banana, apple, sometimes peach, apricot, strawberry, grapes, carrot, and celery, as a treat. I give her small amounts twice a daily to check for illness. She’s very small and loves food, when she was caged in school, she was on pure dry food so I feel the need to give her more food to make up for what she hasn’t gotten.

Thank you so much for your amazing advice, I deeply appreciate your help. You helped me a lot!  

[minuit.mimi]

Posted By Ellie from The Netherlands on 5/27/2018 11:15 AM

Thank you for adopting this bunny, what an awful life she must have had! Most rabbits hate it when surroundings are changed, not to mention the constant noise of rambunctious kids You sound like you’re taking her health very seriously, which is very commendable!

Daisy has written down some excellent tips about diet. Maybe I can add my 2 cents about bedding. Rabbits are easily litter trained and their cage can be lined with several types of bedding. The place where the rabbit does its business will need to be cleaned at least 2-3 times a week and more often in hot weather. Many of us have trained our rabbits to go in a litter box because that makes cleaning so much easier. Our Breintje has a big litter box which we fill with a thin layer of wooden kitty litter pellets and a thick layer of hay. He also likes to lounge in this box (don’t worry, we clean it very often!), and his hay rack is just above it so anything that falls out just makes his box more comfy.

The box is approx. 1/3rd of his cage. The rest of the cage is covered with cardboard because many rabbits (including our Breintje) have a tendency to “go” on anything soft. With this set-up he only does his business in his box which makes for wonderfully easy cage cleaning. I’m disabled, and it’s very important that I can keep his cage clean by myself, because there isn’t always someone to assist. Breintje loves the cardboard because it’s soft enough to keep him from getting sore feet, but firm enough that he doesn’t slip when he jumps into his cage. He uses his bedding as a chew toy as well: during hotter weather he chews away a place in a corner so he’ll have cool bare plastic to lay on.

This set-up works best for us, but I’ve seen many varieties of bedding on the forum here. The most important thing about bedding is that it shouldn’t be wet and that it should be easy to change. Wet and soiled bedding can lead to horrible and possibly lethal infections, so choose bedding which can be changed often. Another problem is ingestion: rabbits love to chew things, so bedding should be non-toxic and it shouldn’t lead to blockages when ingested. Most people here use a special litter box with wooden kitty litter pellets, shreds of paper and other absorbent materials. The rest of the bedding depends on your bun. If she’s well-behaved and doesn’t pee on or chew blankets or mats you can chose that. Options for chewers are cardboard and grass mats.

Another thing I’d advise you is to look for a rabbit-savvy vet. Not every vet is a rabbit specialist and they’re surprisingly difficult to treat. Vets have to take special classs to treat rabbits. Check our Vet Resources topic for a rabbit savvy vet in your area: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/116849/afnp/276220/Default.aspx
Rabbits will need a yearly check-up by an exotic vet, these check-ups include weighing, dental checks, parasite checks and heart/lung condition. Depending on your location they’ll also need vaccinations. There are 2 horrible and incurable rabbit illnesses which even indoor buns can get: myxomatosis and VHD/RHD. Check with your vet if that’s necessary in your area.

What will always be necessary is a spay/neuter. Rabbits need to be spayed/neutered for their own health and to prevent behavioural problems. Both males and females will likely develop hormonal behaviour after puberty. It will be very difficult to litter train an unfixed rabbit, because they’ll leave territorial droppings everywhere. Hormonal males will spray and hump and females may get extremely territorial and can display false pregnancies. Females also have a chance of up to 80% of developing uterine cancer by age 4. This suffering can be prevented by spaying.
The procedure will need to be performed by an expert vet, so ask if the clinic regularly performs these operations. Another check to see if you found a good clinic: they should never ask you to bring the rabbit in sober. Humans, cats and dogs will need to be sober before an operation because we can vomit and that can choke us. Rabbits physically can’t vomit and their digestive system needs to work constantly to work properly. Plus, they’re going to need that extra energy to recover without complications. So if they want your bun sober, you’ll want another vet.

– she had a terrible life, in fact she’s still effected by it, it has been a month and she still hides and sleeps during the day and gets extremely playful when we are alone and at night. She’s traumatized of kids, the moment she hears kids playing outside she would hide and not get out until they go away. A week within adoption she started to willingly get on my lap for pets and licks me, which I assume is due to the fact that she was never subjected to human kindness, except being thrown and played with.

I do take her health very importantly, she’s my best friend and I take her well-being and comfort very seriously ^^.

She did give me great advice that I’m grateful for ^^. I did try to litter train her but it’s not going too well, it’s been 3 weeks and she has gotten better, she doesn’t go everywhere anymore, she has specific places but it’s still around the house and not in her litter box.

Can I just put a cardboard sheet or constructive paper under hay and that’s all? I keep her in my room and when I used just hay, it still smelled, even when I cleaned it weekly. Her going everywhere is giving me quite a bit of trouble, I have scoliosis and college, so it gets a bit difficult to clean everything every couple of minutes but I’m not minding it very much, I have only had her for a month so I assume she’s still getting used to everything.

She doesn’t chew on fabric but she chews on cardboard, newspapers, and anything paper based, I’m willing to try different beddings for her, but she has the tendency to mix everything up and mix the hay with whatever is under it. I was afraid of trying anything aimed for kittens for her, but if it’s safe I can look and see if I can find it here and I will give it a try. Thank you!
– I did look for a vet and I found a vet that had a rabbit herself, I hope that’s a good sign? I’m a med student majoring in biology so I know a fair amount of animal health, I always check her for any sign of fractures and illnesses and here we don’t require any vaccines but I will still take her to a vet yearly, since I’m not a vet even with my knowledge ^^

I don’t really know if she’s spayed but 3 weeks ago she started circling around me, pulling her fur, and hump my arm while biting and scratching, I assumed she hasn’t been sprayed since it seemed like she’s having a heat. She would scratch and bite while humping but lick my arm after every bite and scratch. I was too uncomfortable with trimming her nails because she has dark claws and she doesn’t like anything near her paws. My arms are quite in a bad shape XD

I’m looking into getting her spayed couple of months from now, she loves running around and I don’t want to overwhelm her with a surgery when she barely feels comfortable, I want her to realize that this is her forever home before I get the surgery done, I’m afraid it will scare her? So they give them medicine at home before surgery?

Thank you so much for your great advice, I’m very grateful for your help.

 

[minuit.mimi]

Posted By Bunny House on 5/27/2018 12:18 PM

I agree with Ellie,Daisy and Sarah.

I also will add that you might want to use a water bowl instead of a bottle as it is more natural for them to drink from that than a bottle.

You seem to be doing a great job learning and taking of the little one

they gave me a great advice, my heart is at peace! 

I did giver her a bowl but she would bite it and throw it away, sometime step on it and spill the water everywhere. I don’t know if it’s a sing that she hates it?  or if my placement is wrong? 

i’m doing my best to make sure she has the most comfortable life and you guys are being a great help, thank you so much! ^^

[minuit.mimi]

Posted By bam on 5/29/2018 2:54 PM

They can have every stick now and then, my Bam likes that. I cut it up in small pieces for him and never give more than like 3-4 pieces (he has a tendency towards plumpness).

He importance of hay can never be overestimated. Grass hay keeps both the gut and the teeth in order.

If a bun steals a potato chip or sth like that, it’s not the end of the world. Chocolate and avocado is toxic to them though.

Thank you for adopting this bunny. She’s a lucky girl ?

is twice a week too much? my bunny loves much on them and goes crazy over them but I don’t give it to her very often.

I do give her unlimited hay and also fresh grass from my backyard, she loves them both and munch on them throughout the day, she loves to eat because at the school she was on dry mix barely once a day. 

I don’t let her anywhere near avocado but she has been given chocolate cereal at school, I found it in her cage when I got her and I was so mad, I monitored her but she was perfectly ok. It kind of scares me to know what the students might have given her. 

I do my best to provider her with the best care, no animal deserve such a treatment. thank you so much for your advice, Midnight appreciates it^^

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Aww, poor girl! She must be so happy to be out of there! It’s a great sign of trust that she’s so quick to get on your lap. Most rabbits will take weeks or even months to become so cuddly. It’s also a sign that you’re very respectful of her personal space, rabbits are super fussy about etiquette. (Btw, this is a great site about rabbit body language and etiquette: http://language.rabbitspeak.com
The behaviours like fur pulling and circling are hormonal behaviours, which means that’s she’s in full puberty. Rabbits don’t have periods of heat but are reflex ovulators: they’ll ovulate as soon as a mating takes place so they’re always fertile. The fur pulling is a sign of nesting behaviour, females can go through false pregnancies. They’ll make nests out of fur and will defend their nests with tooth and nail if possible. If she gets too hormonal, best get her to a vet, it isn’t fun for her either.

About cleaning the cage: if you choose the litterbox system the rest of the cage will only heave to be cleaned once a week (if she’s properly litter-trained). The litter box itself should be cleaned every other day or more often in hot weather, but the task will be so much lighter than cleaning the entire cage. Rabbit urine will smell a lot stronger if the rabbit hasn’t been spayed/neutered, so if smell is an issue best get her fixed soon.

We had hay in both the litter box and the cage, but it confused our bun. He’d still go on soft surfaces so we decided to put hay in the litter box and plain cardboard as flooring for the rest of the cage. The litter box itself is just a simple plastic storage box of about 30*40 and 10 cm high. This is for our dwarf bun, and it’s high enough so he won’t pee over the edges. Litter box changing has become a 3 minute chore instead of a massive scrubfest. My back thanks me for that!

[Bunny House]

Most of the time, you have to use human bowls for the water as plastic ones are too light and they think it is a toy and throw it, I’ve had too many dumped bowls of water haha.

[MountainBuns]

Its wonderful you gave her a better life, Im so proud!

[Author]

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