Somewhat new owner

[RosyRabbits]

Hello everyone.

My families introduction into bunny ownership was when my dad found our new rabbit, who we named Bunny, running around a deserted area he walks by on his way home from work everyday last June.

We believe she might have been abandoned. Rabbits do not run wild around in our area and the place she was at was surrounded by highway, over run with weeds and is a place people like to dump junk. She also ran up to my dad hopping on his feet looking for attention or food, something I don't think a wild rabbit would do. And since we found her in June that she might be one of the too many rabbits bought for Easter and became too much for her old owners to care for.

We finally took her in when on one of our visits to feed her we found someone harassing her. We took her home and kept her in a playpen like setup until we could get her a proper cage and gave her water and some romaine lettuce we bought the same day.

Now she is in a nice cage with doors on the top and side. Its big enough that she can spread out. She loves to sit on the ledge in the cage and hangout or go underneath where she's made a little dugout for herself. The cage has a treat dispenser which we use for her pellets. It also came with a bowl and rabbit shaped toy that we fill with timothy hay. We bought a little hay rack that we use for her orchard grass and we got her this cute water bottle with this little carrot shaped bobber in it.

She gets fresh vegetables everyday and we try to add a new one to her diet when we can and she also gets fruit. She always has fresh timothy hay and grass in her cage.

When we took her in she was very thin. Now she is much healthier.

 

[LakeCondo]

Welcome to the forum. Do you you have any idea of her age? If she's still growing, she really should have alfalfa pellets, for the protein & calcium to make strong bones etc. But it sounds like she's really loved & is a lucky girl that you took her in.

 

[aBeautifulHope]

Welcome! Kudos to you for taking her in And, we need some pictures

Shalom,
Lauren

 

[melbaby80]

Good job taking her in. Some "pet" owners really amaze me when you read stuff like this. I think for the most part they assume since its a rabbit it should automatically know how to fend for itself. There was this black bunny by my house that would run free. I know someone dumped him because the rabbits here are all brown. He didn't last no more then a couple months as I saw him dead by the road. I think an owl killed him because this was the very same bird that flew from his location when I drove by. These are the types of dangers domesticated rabbits are not accustomed to....good luck with her! You obviously know what you're doing because you set up everything the way it should be.

 

[RosyRabbits]

LakeCondo: We aren't too sure of her age. When we took her in she was small but that might have been because she malnourished. I just checked the pellet bag and it says it has alfalfa meal in it, is that okay? I know once a rabbit is over a year old they need timothy hay based pellets and I can't seem to find any in the stores I go into, can you give me the name of some pellet brands that are timothy hay based and what stores carry them? The scary thing is a few days after we took her in the place she was at got sprayed with mosquito repellent. If breathing that stuff in didn't kill her, eating the now poisoned plants would have.

aBeautifulHope: She's a very happy bunny now ^_^ I plan to put up some pictures. But until then she looks kinda like the bunnies in my avatar only bigger. We think she's an American Chinchilla rabbit.

melbaby80: Ugh don't even get me started, I could go on a rant for hours about owners who decide to get a pet because its cute without taking the time to figure out if they have the time and finances to take care of it. Domesticated rabbits have had that wild instinct bred out of them. While some might remain its not enough for them to survive out in the wild. What possessed her old owners to leave her where we found her is beyond me. She could have been hit by a car.

 

[HEM]

Welcome to RO
You did a great thing, you probably saved that poor buns life. Now she is loved, well fed and gets the attention she needs and deserves, she seems like a happy bunny.
Thank you

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Welcome to the forum--sounds like you have a good handle on it.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Welcome to forum! She sounds like a lucky hun to have you all

 

[LakeCondo]

I was just looking up about alfalfa & timothy pellets. Some people keep their adult rabbits on alfalfa pellets, but they tend to become overweight. And according to one book, some timothy pellets have more protein than some alfalfa pellets do, so you need to look at the labels & choose accordingly.

Rabbit Nutrition & Nutritional Healing says that rabbits that are long-haired, large breeds, live outside, or are lactating should have 17-20% protein. For other rabbits it should be 12-17%. It goes on for several pages about other things to look for.

That said, Oxbow sells pellets for both young & adult rabbits in either 5 or 10 lb packages. I get mine through drsfostersmith.com. This is the brand that seems to be the most popular, followed by Kaytee.

 

[RosyRabbits]

HEM: Well fed and very spoiled on attention. She loves attention. Her favorite thing is to get wrapped up in a blanket and sit in your lap ^w^

Nancy McClelland: Yeah I think we have anything that's important under control. The biggest problem we ever had with her was her being really nervous when we took her in and that made things a little difficult in taking care of her. She's mellowed out now and is the most friendly and calm pet we've had.

woahlookitsme: Lucky and a very sweet bunny.

LakeCondo: Alright I'll keep my eyes open and if I don't see any of those in the stores I'm going to check I'll order from there. I remember seeing Kaytee in one of the stores. But they had those vegetable chip things in it so I was hesitant to get it because I heard they can be high in calories and cause obesity. And the pellet bags I saw that had seeds in them I knew to avoid completely. Thankyou for the information.

 

[LakeCondo]

Kaytee does sell pellets without the treats with them. Another site to check is wag.com.

 

[RosyRabbits]

Alright I'll keep my eye out for it then. Thanks for the information ^_^