Never had a bunny before

[myfirstbunny]

Hi, My name is Kara and I live in Massachusetts on Cape Cod. I am totally new to having a rabbit as a pet. I rescued him from a neglectful situation and am open to being the best bunny owner I can be. I think Milkshake (my 9 year old named him) is about 2-3 years old but I am really not sure. I would love to be able to post a picture of him so if anyone could tell me how to do that, I would be grateful. He seems to be fitting in well with the family. We also have a dog and a cat. Milkshake is an indoor rabbit who spends much time out of his cage when we are home. He doesn't like to be held but will sit still for stroking. He is a sweet boy but he can be aggressive. He accidentally sliced my finger the other day. I guess this is because he is not neutered.

My reason for joining the forum is to get some general insight on bunnies. I am also hoping to learn more about caring for him, and ways to play with him. Additionally, I am hoping that someone could help me identify what kind of rabbit he is.

Thank you and I look forward to be a member of the group.

 

[Whiskerz]

Welcome Kara!
Milkshake is a cute name I would love to see pics,
I might be able to help tell you what his breed is.
What kind of situation was he living in? Why was it abusive?

Rabbits CAN be aggressive, but most of the time, they are not.
Neutering does usually help there behavior though so that would be something to definitely look into.

You can use www.photobucket.com for pictures, I use that and its great because you can edit your pic's there. Join it, its free and takes to seconds, once you join, upload the pictures you want to post to it, then click the pic (edit if you want) and then copy the IMG code next to it and past it here. Thats it. Its actually very simple!

The forum should answer ALL the questions you have, but if not, feel free to ask them.

So,
What kind of cage is he in? I would recommend making him a C&C cage which in my opinion are the BEST cages for bunnies!
Are you going to litter box train him? What kind of food and hay is he eating? Why do you guess he is a few years? You can take him to the vet, which you should, just to get a check up and they can tell you around what age he is.

Bunnies are amazing pets and can be GREAT members of the family. There is so much you can do for them to make them happy, which is always fun!

Glad you joined.

 

[hartleybun]

hello from me and my rexes - who dont like being held either!

 

[fuzz16]

welcomet o the forum and good for you for rescueing Milkshake

 

[myfirstbunny]

WoW!!! EverybodY I am so touched by your kindness and warmth! Thank you!!
I will definitely see about photobucket and see if I can can post his picture.
I want to answer all questions so here I go. It wasn't an abusive situation but it was neglectful, imo. I don't believe he got the attention he needed. Additionally, they were moving to a smaller place and were planning on keeping him in the basement and it wasn't a nice finished basement. It was an old moist basement with a dirt floor. I couldn't in good faith allow them to do that to him so I called my husband and we talked it over and decided that he would live with us.I drove him home from CT to MA in his big cage on June 28th and when we pulled up by husband took him out of his cage and sat on my son's bed with him for at least an hour and stroked his fur and consoled him. The whole experience has been amazing. I never really had an interest in rabbits but I feel so lucky to have him here with us.
His other owner gave us his cage which is a super habitat. We feed him Sweet Meadow Timothy Grass, Kay-tee Forti-Diet Pro Health rabbit food, along with sliced apples, carrots, green beans, and he loves fresh basil.
I haven't thought about litter box training him. He is out of his cage for 4-5 hours at a time and he does not poop or pee out of his cage. We use carefresh bedding and clean his cage 1 to 2 times a week.
I think he is a few years because I remember when the former owner's daughter won him at Easter in April 2008 and he was a baby.
My vet, Eric, who is also a family friend came to the house and looked him over and gave him a clean bill of health. He said his teeth looked good and he told us to make sure when we picked Milkshake up to support his hind legs so that he cannot hurt himself.
I am not familiar with a C & C Cage. What is that?
Again thank you all for being so welcoming!

Kara

 

[Whiskerz]

Thanks for all the info
Its always best to know as much as possible about the bunny situation with the members so that way we can help them out with any questions they may have!

You did a wonderful thing bringing him into your family!
If eh is the age you say, he is still young and has many years to go with you!!!

A C&C cage is like a cage made from metal square cube panels used to make storage units. You can buy them from Bed Bath & Beyond. Some other places probably carry them too. You use zip ties to connect the panels into whatever shape and size you want your cage to be! For a base you can pretty much use whatever, or not even use anything at all. I used a wooden base or mine, some people use coroplast (plastic sign/cardboard), tarp,carpet,wood,tile,linoleum, cardboard, or whatever else that's safe for bunnies that you think will work. Or just put the cage on the ground and not use a base. Its whatever you feel like doing. Below are some links to show you some C&C cages of our very own RO forum members!:biggrin:
Here is a link to the 2010 cages, you will find some C&C cages there: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=54903&forum_id=93
Here is a link to the 2009 cages as well: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=46713&forum_id=93
And I myself have a C&C cage which you can see here: http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=59282&forum_id=93
and here (with toys): http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=59455&forum_id=93

If you have any other questions, please ask away!

 

[jujub793]

welcome!! the more here the merrier!:thumbup

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Let me welcome you to Rabbits Online, my name is Dave and I am a moderator on the forum. So if I can be of any help please let me know. This is a terrific website for rabbits and their slaves, not only is it very active but also friendly. I am so glad you’re here and I know you will enjoy it.

Many bunny's recommend their slaves to this site so we may learn of others methods to keeping our furry masters happy.

If you everhave a sick bunny, please post in The Infirmary and include your rabbit's age, breed and health history as well diet and output details leading up to the problem.

I have listed some links I thought you might find interesting:

*For reference the Library section

*To brag or tell everyone about the antics of your bunny or just to talk about your day here is where to start a Bunny Blog, you can also look back at it later and remember when you had a life before your bunny.

*Now all the bunny’s like talk to each other when we mere slaves aren’t around in the Bunny Chat is the spot to be.

*Rabbits Online also has regional forums , this a good way to find a vet in your area that has experience with rabbits and to find out from other nearby of good sources of rabbit supplies.

The Let Your Hare Down section is for anything non-bunny related.

Here is a link tothat will help you and your bunny to connect, How To Bond With Your Bunny.

Now every forum has rules and ours can be found with this link Rabbits Online Forum Rules. This gives guidelines on what is acceptable, what is not and how we hope everyone will treat each other.

Everyone on this forum loves to see pictures of each other’s bunnies. So if you would like to post a picture this link will help you do that, Upload Photo's to Photo Gallery. Then in the post, you click on the "G" in the tool bar to insert your photo. Many people also use Photobucket. You just copy the img file and paste it into the post.

I am glad you have joined rabbits online and I look forward to seeing you around.

 

[myfirstbunny]

Again, I thank you all for your warmth. I just read about bonding with your bunny. It was so helpful and I realized that Milkshake and I have bonded! YAy! I just love this big guy so much!!

 

[myfirstbunny]

Hi Me again. I tried to upload a few photos of Milkshake and I think I did something wrong. His picture doesn't show up like the rest of the pictures in the gallery. Instead, it just show's my comment (Milkshake-so sweet) and if you click that on you will get to the picture but it's too big for the screen and in extreme-close up. Anybody know what I did wrong? Thanks in advance!