What do I do with my bunny?

[Rain]

I feel like my bunny is just bored. He has such a uniform life you see. In the morning I wake up feed him hay and let him outside . Basically the whole day all he does is eat hay a couple treats and runs around outside. What can I do with him? How can I give him something new or interesting? I don’t want the poor boy to get bored. Should I get him a companion? I don’t think I can do that because I can’t get him neutered.All the vet clinics around me are only for cats and dogs. Which is not good in the case of an emergency. But I am going to continue looking for some place that’s good with bunnies. Any ideas? Should I take him outside? There’s vultures out in my backyard so I don’t think so. Can he go grocery shopping with me? I dont know. Any ideas are welcome.

[Mikey]

No other bunnies unless you get him and the new bunny neutered/spayed. You shouldnt be letting him outside at all, even supervised if there are active animals around who can and will hurt him.

If you feel he is bored, you become his companion. Talk to him often, lay on the floor with him, sit and read him a story, roll a ball around the room and see if he follows it, toss willow sticks, ect. I

[Sirius&Luna]

Taking him grocery shopping would be incredibly stressful for him, please don’t do that.

The best thing to do is work on making his home environment more fun. There’s lots of easy and cheap ways to do that.
Next time you’re in the grocery store ask if there’s any old cardboard boxes you can take. You can cut doors in them, and they’ll love to hide in them and run through them, and jump on top of them. You could pile a few together and make a little fort for him to explore. You can get new boxes, move old boxes to different places, to make sure his environment has new exciting elements to explore.

You could hide treats around the room for him to hunt out. You could fill a cardboard box with shredded paper and hide some pellets in it for him to dig through. You can stuff toilet paper tubes with hay and treats, or fill little paper bags with treats for him to get to.

You can try teaching him little tricks like to spin, or come when you call him name (this would also involve treats).

Obviously with rabbits they’re very food orientated, so make sure he’s not getting too many treats in a day, but those are just a few ideas of things you can do very cheaply at home inside.

[sarahthegemini]

Well bunnies generally don’t do a lot during the day. What does he do early morning and evening?

Please do not take him shopping with you and do not take him outside if there are predators.

[Rain]

Okay! I’ve seen a lot of people build cool forts for their bunnies. I think that would be adorable and fun and he is so curious too. I will do the cardboard boxes idea! I’ve already taught him to come when I snap my fingers. I don’t give him treats for those but instead pellets. If I can get the little guy to stay still for a moment I could teach him tricks too. I kind of realized right away that shopping with him is a very bad idea. He already gets scared by my brother. I try to stop my brother but he has the urge to touch my bunny’s butt because it’s soft. He’s horrible. Anyways thanks for the ideas Mikey and Sirius and Luna! I will definitely try them out!

[sarahthegemini]

If your brother continues to touch your rabbit when your rabbit is clearly afraid, it’s just going to make him scared of humans all the time.

[Rain]

I told my parents and told him that’s he’s being cruel and he realized it and stopped. I told him that he wouldn’t like it if someone touched him against his will. I’m going to keep a close eye on them. My bunny seems comfortable with me and my parents but not with my brother because of that.

I have another question to ask you guys. When Rain is eating or resting or just generally doing something in his cage his ears are down or flattened against his head. Does this mean he is sad or upset? 

[joea64]

Posted By Rain on 11/23/2017 12:18 PM
I have another question to ask you guys. When Rain is eating or resting or just generally doing something in his cage his ears are down or flattened against his head. Does this mean he is sad or upset?

It’s a subtle distinction but an important one – if his ears are flopped down in a relaxed way (as seems to be the case given that you’re observing this when he goes about his daily business), he’s OK. I often see Fernando with his ears flopped back when he’s nomming hay in the litterbox, but from all the signs he’s happy. Buns also often let their ears flop back when they’re in the “bunloaf”/”sphinx” position of relaxation. If his ears are in a tense, rigid sort of posture as if he’s trying to flatten them as much as possible, especially if he’s hunched up, he’s unhappy, upset or in pain.

[LittlePuffyTail]

While it may seem boring to us, bunnies and most animals like a constant and unchanging schedule. But a lot of bunnies like to play and enjoy having their space changed up a bit. Some great ideas were mentioned to help enrich his environment.

[Rain]

Hey where did my second question go? That’s strange. Yeah his ears are down and then he goes to a meatloaf thing. Okay that’s cool. I’m gonna go ahead and keep an eye out for some boxes! And I’ve been trying to teach him some new tricks today. He doesn’t seem to be able to grasp the idea of going around in a circle just yet. But he’s so adorable and I love him and want him to be happy. Now that I think about it LittlePuffyTail I think you are right. He seems to actually like his normal routine. He just likes to walk around the house and sniff around at things.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry, Rain. That might have been my mistake. I had deleted a comment that appeared twice and I probably deleted your question. I edited your second last post to include your question.

[Rain]

Okay thanks!! I’m sorry about the doubles! I think it’s something wrong with my internet connection or something.

[Rain]

One more question! Sorry guys! I don’t want to make ten different forums on all my questions. I have anxiety you see so my mind just pops up with new little things to worry about every day especially when it comes to my bunny. I kind of feed my bunny on a diet that would be based on a regular sized bunny but he’s a dwarf. I’m concerned that he might be starting to get a little overweight. How can I for sure be able to tell that he is a normal weight bunny? I can’t even use the weighing machine method because i can’t pick the little guy up. He kicks and I don’t want him to break his back or something so I don’t bother. The last time I did pick him up he got diarrhea for a few hours. I know that young rabbits are supposed to have unlimited pellets but I still don’t know if that’s okay so I give him maybe five handfuls if Oxbow Young rabbit pellets. He also gets an Oxbow bakes carrot treat and an alfalfa chew stick that’s the length of a finger. Is this a lot for a little bunny?

[Fluffykins]

Personally I’ve never felt right with the unlimited pellets idea. It’s just not needed at all. I’ve only ever given my bunny (20 weeks now or was it 21) 1/4 of a cup of pellets or sometimes 1/3 when he’s moulting or recently when he was unwell. I give 2 cups of veggies a day (I’ve really slowly and recently built up to this so I’m still in trail period. It’s only gone up to two cups because he was sick and stopped his hay intake but loved the veggies.. plus I’ve realised he doesn’t get excess cecotropes from them like he used to when he was younger). So that’s led to a hopefully permanent and positive change in diet for us.

And of course unlimited hay. Four diff types. Never had him exclusively on alfalfa but I did give more regular handfuls when he was younger. Now he might get it twice a week – sometimes more, somtimes less, depends on the other treats.

I also don’t give treats every single day, per se. Many weeks I do, when I’m doing clicker training for something. Or like recently when he’s been sick, he’s had more treats. But then the rest of the time he gets treats as and when which means sometimes twice a week. Or three times. He has a lot of chew toys he makes great use out of and a “log pile” which is a pile of teeny little sticks (Apple and others) I got from the pet shop which he munches on throughout the weeks. I’ve emptied out pretty much the whole packet into the log pile and he’s gone through maybe half. He loves them.

The vets so far, every time I’ve been in act surprised at how good his teeth are. Really surprised. I think it might be all the hay he chomps through normally, and that only happens because of the limited pellets.

Five handfuls sounds like an awful awful lot.

Oh btw my fluffykins is a Holland lop (mini lop for the UK) and he must have inherited the dwarfing gene as he’s only a itty bitty little 2lbs. He’s gained (gaining) weight perfectly fine, highly energetic (normally – we’re coming out of an illness period right now so all this stuff is relating to his normal routines/behaviours) and eats great. I can just about feel the bones on his back if I really feel down for them. The vets have always been really happy with his general state when we’ve had to go in, and they don’t stop commenting on how sweet he is because now he lets them hold him and walk him places haha. It’s only when he’s being restrained on the table, he hates that!

[Rain]

Thank you! That’s some very helpful information. I will try to find him some safe chew sticks at the pet stores. Most of the chew toys there are small wooden things with paint on them and I know that those are definitely not safe for him. Of course my rabbit has to be the one who despises cardboard. I will bring his pellet intake down to one fourth like you said. I can still feel all his bones right now but I feel his stomach looks a little rounder and bigger than before. Thanks! Is there other things that my bunny can chew on? I’ve heard that dwarf bunnies are prone to dental problems.

[Rain]

Thank you! That’s some very helpful information. I will try to find him some safe chew sticks at the pet stores. Most of the chew toys there are small wooden things with paint on them and I know that those are definitely not safe for him. Of course my rabbit has to be the one who despises cardboard. I will bring his pellet intake down to one fourth like you said. I can still feel all his bones right now but I feel his stomach looks a little rounder and bigger than before. Thanks! Is there other things that my bunny can chew on? I’ve heard that dwarf bunnies are prone to dental problems.

[Deleted User]

1/4 cup is so little for a growing rabbit. If you bring it down to anything do a 1/2 cup. If you can feel his bones, he is not overweight. A rounder tummy does not mean he is overweight. Some bunnies are more “bottom heavy” and some bunnies look more leaner. He’s a growing bunny.

[Fluffykins]

Maybe not a good idea to go from 5 handfuls straight to 1/4 of a cup just yet. Slowly reduce the intake over the course of a week or so. You can reduce it by a handful or half a handful at a time. It’s vital to ensure he has full access to a variety of hay though to compensate for less pellets.

The thing with pellets isn’t just the weight. The bigger problem with pellets is the more pellets they have the less hay they will have. And not having enough hay can lead to *such* an array of problems.. It’s just not worth it.

Medically speaking, we’ve already made the link with human babies – the round tubby babies we saw for a few generations that we thought were perfectly healthy – because they are growing babies – is now known to be the root cause of a whole load of adult health problems. We just do not need to be so fully fed – humans and animals alike!

I don’t buy the whole growing baby bun stuff, not like mother nature does it a different way with babies vs grown up buns. Our ideal vision of a rabbit (or even human for that matter) is so off skew of what is optimal purely based on the normally overweight images we see of both.

All that said, if you are feeling bones it’s unlikely your bun is over weight. Especialy if he’s active. But I’d rather not wait to get an overweight bun before addressing dietary needs.

Oh a quick tip for weighing.. put a sprig of something yummy on the scales and let him hop on himself?

[Rain]

I have this weird glass weighing machine that doesn’t seem to read his weight. It’s really weird. I should go and get another weighing machine and see his weight. Thanks guys! I think I will just reduce to one half cup pellets gradually. And I am not measuring in handfuls anymore either. He’s still really active. And getting under our feet all the time. But I will go with what you said and not wait for an overweight bunny.

[Rain]

Okay according to my weighing machine the bunny is twoish pounds. Is this normal for a six month old Netherland Dwarf rabbit? Is he overweight?

[Deleted User]

2-3 pounds is the average weight for a Nethie, so no he is not overweight at all.

[Rain]

Okay great! That’s awesome! Thank you all so much for your help!

[Author]

Messages