FrauleinHase
New Member
I hope this is in the right spot.....
HI, Iâm from Lancaster County Pennsylvania⦠Iâve been reading various information on the internet for a little while and i've discoved so many conflicting opinions onbunny care...so Idecided to actually post this to get everyoneâs opinion of the situationâ¦. See, Iâm hoping to adopt an abused (at least it seems like abuse to meâ¦if itâs not strictly abuse, itâs DEFINATLY neglect) Netherland Dwarf Rabbit. Ok hereâs the background- sorry if it goes too long!!! Iâll shorten it the best I can!!
My cousin- sheâs 16- got a baby rabbit about 6 months ago. She no longer pays any attention to him, and heâs kept in their garage, alone. I know rabbits are social creatures, and this canât be good for his psyche. Her âcareâ of him consists of dumping a cupful of pellets into his bowl and filling his water bottle⦠she usually cons her younger brother into cleaning the litterâ¦when she thinks of it anyway. ⦠at any rate⦠what gets me is her fatherâs attitude towards it.. he thinks itâs funny to do mean things to it and finds it uproariously funny that heâll chew on the end of his cigarâ¦.which canât be good right? However he did say he didnât care if I took him homeâ¦.
Iâm only 13, and my dad and I already live with 5 ferrets, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses and 6 cows⦠lol every one of them is spoiled rotten and loved dearlyâ¦. My dad always stresses that animals deserve all respect⦠However, Iâve never had a rabbit, my dad has never had one either so between the two of us, well⦠we know nothing. He told me, that if I did the research, and paid for all the stuff heâll need (except the vet he said), I could bring him home.
Looking at the physical condition of the poor Hase⦠Iâm only basing this on reference pictures, and my handling of other animalsâ¦. Iâd say he was horribly overweightâ¦but that doesnât make much sense to me⦠except that heâs not very active and heâs kept penned in a tiny little hutchâ¦.he also seems to have the runs⦠I donât know how long heâs had them though. The fur on his backside is matted and dirty⦠no filthy⦠but his eyes are bright, and he seems curious about things that are going on around him and he doesnât seem to be scared of me when I put my hand in his cage and pet him⦠I picked him up once or twice, and held him and he seems very content to be held and petted. But again Iâm not sure if thatâs because of his health⦠also one of his back feet seems like it was mangled at some point and healed strangely⦠with the toes over lapping⦠it doesnât seem to hurt him though so idkâ¦. but no matter how you look at it, a trip to the vet is first and foremost on the agenda if he comes home with me....
My questions are these: Iâm on a very strict allowance⦠a fixed income if you will lol⦠and I went to our local pet store (that Fish place) and priced timothy Hay (is that ok?) and aspen shavings (is that ok to use too?) that I can afford easily. The hay bail is 24oz, and the litter is 500 cubic inches (but it expands to 1200) will that last 2 weeks? I defiantly plan to taking him to the vet, and talking with him about all of it, but I want to make sure I actually can afford him firstlol will he need a salt lick? can anyone recomend some safe toys? He seems to like paper bags⦠are they safe for him to chew on? I wonât need a cage, since we have a ferret cage with a very wide bottom that we can easily convert to a good sized pen for him⦠do rabbits like height? I mean will he go up a couple levels? I know rabbits are ground dwellers and donât climb.
Even if I canât afford him, I wantto get him away from my cousins tender loving care (read sarcasm there) and Iâm also looking into rabbit adoption people in the areaâ¦.
Any help and advice would be fantasic!! Not mention greatly appreciated.
FrauleinHase :bunnydance:
HI, Iâm from Lancaster County Pennsylvania⦠Iâve been reading various information on the internet for a little while and i've discoved so many conflicting opinions onbunny care...so Idecided to actually post this to get everyoneâs opinion of the situationâ¦. See, Iâm hoping to adopt an abused (at least it seems like abuse to meâ¦if itâs not strictly abuse, itâs DEFINATLY neglect) Netherland Dwarf Rabbit. Ok hereâs the background- sorry if it goes too long!!! Iâll shorten it the best I can!!
My cousin- sheâs 16- got a baby rabbit about 6 months ago. She no longer pays any attention to him, and heâs kept in their garage, alone. I know rabbits are social creatures, and this canât be good for his psyche. Her âcareâ of him consists of dumping a cupful of pellets into his bowl and filling his water bottle⦠she usually cons her younger brother into cleaning the litterâ¦when she thinks of it anyway. ⦠at any rate⦠what gets me is her fatherâs attitude towards it.. he thinks itâs funny to do mean things to it and finds it uproariously funny that heâll chew on the end of his cigarâ¦.which canât be good right? However he did say he didnât care if I took him homeâ¦.
Iâm only 13, and my dad and I already live with 5 ferrets, 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 horses and 6 cows⦠lol every one of them is spoiled rotten and loved dearlyâ¦. My dad always stresses that animals deserve all respect⦠However, Iâve never had a rabbit, my dad has never had one either so between the two of us, well⦠we know nothing. He told me, that if I did the research, and paid for all the stuff heâll need (except the vet he said), I could bring him home.
Looking at the physical condition of the poor Hase⦠Iâm only basing this on reference pictures, and my handling of other animalsâ¦. Iâd say he was horribly overweightâ¦but that doesnât make much sense to me⦠except that heâs not very active and heâs kept penned in a tiny little hutchâ¦.he also seems to have the runs⦠I donât know how long heâs had them though. The fur on his backside is matted and dirty⦠no filthy⦠but his eyes are bright, and he seems curious about things that are going on around him and he doesnât seem to be scared of me when I put my hand in his cage and pet him⦠I picked him up once or twice, and held him and he seems very content to be held and petted. But again Iâm not sure if thatâs because of his health⦠also one of his back feet seems like it was mangled at some point and healed strangely⦠with the toes over lapping⦠it doesnât seem to hurt him though so idkâ¦. but no matter how you look at it, a trip to the vet is first and foremost on the agenda if he comes home with me....
My questions are these: Iâm on a very strict allowance⦠a fixed income if you will lol⦠and I went to our local pet store (that Fish place) and priced timothy Hay (is that ok?) and aspen shavings (is that ok to use too?) that I can afford easily. The hay bail is 24oz, and the litter is 500 cubic inches (but it expands to 1200) will that last 2 weeks? I defiantly plan to taking him to the vet, and talking with him about all of it, but I want to make sure I actually can afford him firstlol will he need a salt lick? can anyone recomend some safe toys? He seems to like paper bags⦠are they safe for him to chew on? I wonât need a cage, since we have a ferret cage with a very wide bottom that we can easily convert to a good sized pen for him⦠do rabbits like height? I mean will he go up a couple levels? I know rabbits are ground dwellers and donât climb.
Even if I canât afford him, I wantto get him away from my cousins tender loving care (read sarcasm there) and Iâm also looking into rabbit adoption people in the areaâ¦.
Any help and advice would be fantasic!! Not mention greatly appreciated.
FrauleinHase :bunnydance:
since we feed our horses a mix of hays...I think it's mostly a mixture of timothy, oat and uhh is it broom? idk i'll have to ask my dad but i do know there's not a lot of alfalfa in them since we use that as a specialtreat for our horses loland litter won't be a problem either since we use pressed wood pellets for our horses too (and our ferrets and catsfor that matter)
