Weird

[Bougatsa]

I’ve been talking to a member of the greek forum and she has a male bunny who is now 10 years old. He has been giving him food pellets of bad quality (not of a firm, I dont know that word in english sorry) and hay. She has never given him any vegetables because her vet told her that he is very sensitive to them cause he is a dwarf…!!! She only gives him dried vegetable sticks. She hasn’t neutered him and she gives him a stuffed animal which he humps and  does his “business”. I wonder how he has reached to be 10 years old. Of course she said that he has had many health problems throughout these years and the last couple of years he has puss to a lymph node on one o his cheeks? (have no idea about that..). It makes me sad that people have pets and never try to get important information about how to take care of them. And she is so proud of hersefl that he didnt die and says she does have a lot of knowledge on rabbits since she has one the last 10 years…

[Moonlight_Wolf]

I have a friend who has a rabbit that is six years old. He is unneutered and eating pellets with junk in them and feeding him NO hay and NO veggies and he only lives in a small cage. (His conditions have now improved since she saw how I treat my bunnies! She now feeds him hay and has made him a condo out of Neat Idea Cubes!)

But he is still going strong, healthy as can be and all. I pet sat him once and let him run around in a pen in our yard (because he is not litter trained) and he definitely still had spunk! My friend actually saved him from becoming food, so his life is better then it could have been.

But I was very surprised that he lasted six years in the conditions he was in.

[Karla]

My sister-in-law has 2 outdoor hutch bunnies. They are not neutered, they hardly get any exercise time out of their cages, and I don’t think that diet is a huge concern. They are both over the age of 10 years. Her 13 year old intact doe was put to sleep last month. However, the vet said, that her spine was irregular and may have caused problems, so living all her life in that cage has not been a joy.

I was so happy to hear that the doe had been put to sleep, and I hope the other two find their final rest soon – no living being should endure such a life for so long! Her intact male is going crazy from living so close to an intact female and he doesn’t even have a stuffed toy, that poor thing. And my sister in law doesn’t like petting him because he humps her – of course! Oh, I really should get him a stuffed toy next time I see them. 

Some people smoke heavily every day and they still live to be 100 years old. I still would not take the risk and smoke or recommend others to take a cig. People even ask my sister-in-law for advice on rabbits  But she is a good and caring girl, she just doesn’t know better, and she lives at home, so I guess she cannot do so much about it now.

We actually talked a lot about me getting her male, but in the end she couldn’t give him up…poor guy.

[Beka27]

Some rabbits are very resilient. Other rabbits, you look at them wrong and they go into stasis. Many of us started out knowing nothing about rabbits but still had them for a long time in less than ideal conditions. These are abnormal results tho. More often than not, rabbits live in poor conditions for a few years and then succumb to something that could have easily been avoided or remedied.

[Andi]

With my rescue friends we always have a little joke about our first bunny(s), and how those poor guys had to go through us learning about Rabbits. So we all start somewhere, and for the people who don’t have all the information, all we can do is encourgage them to learn now, and give them the info when they need it.
I met a woman with a 12 yr old un neauterd dwarf, she said the reason he lives so long is the peice of Banana she gives him EVERY morning LOL…
Some people though will never ‘get’ it. We can educate them, show them our set up, and how we care for our critters and they don’t see the whole picture. I had a lady like my gerbils, so she bought ‘1’ for her small children (Gerbils are social, and should b kept in pairs, was her first mistake), then children and the new kitten (AKA replacement pet) tourmented that poor pet store gerbil so bad, that when i removed him from their household I cried at the site of him.
But all we can do is try. I especially get frustrated with Vet’s who are to proud to admit they DON’T know much about rabbits or other ‘exotics’.

[MarkBun]

Unaltered male rabbits are able to live longer as they do not have the susceptibility to cancer that female rabbits do. And every rabbit is different. If the diet is consistent, usually they can do well even if it is inferior.

[Lintini]

I hope all my buns lives to 10+ years! I cannot imagine my life without them. Walking into my room without a Binkying Indy Bun all over would be a sad day indeed.

[Karla]

Posted By Andi on 06/17/2010 09:58 AM
With my rescue friends we always have a little joke about our first bunny(s), and how those poor guys had to go through us learning about Rabbits.

You’are absolutely right. I had bunnies when I was a kid. And all the books we could find were for breeders, so of course, we tried to have babies on my little girl as well (all still-born). One day my mum was out on a walk and she found a bunny out on the street – she went into the house closest by, and they told her it was okay; the bunny was a free roaming bunny, and it usually stayed inside the garden. That’s how ours became free roamers as well in the garden (although our garden was bunny-proofed). We did so many bad things to my little girl although we never meant to, but we didn’t know better. If it wasn’t for BinkyBunny and HRS, I still would not know anything about neuters, proper diet et.c

Some people though will never ‘get’ it. We can educate them, show them our set up, and how we care for our critters and they don’t see the whole picture. I had a lady like my gerbils, so she bought ‘1’ for her small children (Gerbils are social, and should b kept in pairs, was her first mistake), then children and the new kitten (AKA replacement pet) tourmented that poor pet store gerbil so bad, that when i removed him from their household I cried at the site of him.

Poor, poor little thing. I’m so happy that there are people like you out there to help these small beings.

[Lintini]

I agree Karla…I was a terrible bunny parent as a kid. We kept them outside….mixed with guinea pigs…eatting a mix of guinea pig and rabbit pellets and that was it. Hardly any hay and pretty much just carrots. I just keep reminding myself I was like 5 years old and if I want to get mad at anyone I should be mad at my parents for not researching more to keeping my pets happy and healthy. Although……my dad did make me a huge outdoor hutch with a very large, and enclosed run so they were safe, and it was deep underground as well. But it still isn’t good enough as keeping them indoors. Bless them for helping us discover how to really treat a rabbit and still giving us their love.

[Bougatsa]

I’ve read a discussion between some girls in the greek forum (one of them was the one I mention before) and they were talking about what their vets told them…They told them that dwarf bunnies should not eat any vegetables whatsoever cause they are bad for them and can lead to their death!! How can this be possible? They were 3 of them that had this opinion and I’ve never heard it before…What do your vets say about that? Is there any case that vegetables are dangerous to dwarf bunnies???? These girls are determined to stop giving vegetables to their bunnies in order to save their life :/

[Karla]

Dwarf rabbits are just like any other rabbits…so, yes, they should get greens. That is the only way they can get vitamins.

However, from what I understand their digestive system is not as good as some of the other breeds, so those greens that may be a bit too much for most rabbits (cabbage in large amounts) should be fed in even smaller amounts. If you understand?

[LittlePuffyTail]

This is something that frustrates me A LOT! I have 3 rabbits who receive better care than most people’s children and they still get sick, ear infections, etc. I’ve spent a fortune on vet bills. I’ve also lost 2 rabbits at very young ages despite their wonderful care.

I know of many people who have rabbits, outside, unaltered, fed crappy bulk food, yucky hay, etc and there rabbits never get sick! I know a girl who had a big bunny in a teeny tiny cage, on a terrible diet (despite all my advice) and she lived to be 7 years old. The poor bunny lived on shavings and was hardly ever cleaned and this girl claimed she loved her bunny so much!

It’s hard to understand!

[Elrohwen]

I’ve never understood not providing the best care for your pets that you can. I can understand not being able to afford a $1000 surgery, or not being able to afford $15 of veggies every week, but it makes me mad when people have plenty of money to spend on themselves, but choose to get the poorest quality food for their pets and limited vet care.

It’s one thing to be ignorant, and I don’t blame any of you for your experiences with your “first bunnies” when you were young, but it’s another thing to be an adult, have others tell you how a bunny (or any pet) should be cared for, and to completely disregard it. Especially with internet access, where we can research anything and everything, how could you get a new pet and put zero effort into researching how it should be cared for?

But then, I see people not taking care of their kids very well either (letting them watch 10hrs of tv a day, feeding them fast food and junk for every meal) so it shouldn’t be surprising that they are the same or worse with their animals.

[Author]

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