stray bunny found

[seagypsy]

I live in Arlington tx. I have no successful history with bunnies as pets. I am a terrible bunny mom. But we had a black bunny, seems to be adult, can't tell gender, that wandered into our back yard. Our neighborhood is full of dogs. And we have brand new rye grass growing that probably attracted it. But I am a renter, I am not allowed to have pets hiding it from the landlord isn't easy. Not to mention any rabbit i have ever had as a pet died within a couple of months. I do NOT know how to properly care for a bunny.

Every shelter I went to either turned us away, or promised to kill it if no one adopted it within a pretty short time, if you ask me. The local rescues are not accepting any bunnies either.

If anyone in the DFW are can take this bunny, the cage that was given to me can also be yours.

He or she seems very very healthy, for now.

i put him/her in the bunny registry as "needs a home"

 

[LakeCondo]

In the meantime, you can read up here about how to take care of him or her. Rabbits need timothy hay available at all times, timothy pellets, & of course water & a litter box with non-clay litter. Some greens are nice but not absolutely necessary. Just no cabbage, onions, or potatoes. Perhaps the shelter/rescue would consider you a foster & include this rabbit on their listing on adoptapet.com or petfinder.com.

 

[seagypsy]

In the meantime, you can read up here about how to take care of him or her. Rabbits need timothy hay available at all times, timothy pellets, & of course water & a litter box with non-clay litter. Some greens are nice but not absolutely necessary. Just no cabbage, onions, or potatoes. Perhaps the shelter/rescue would consider you a foster & include this rabbit on their listing on adoptapet.com or petfinder.com.

I'm sure the pellets we bought has timothy hay in it. i read the ingredients online trying to figure out what to feed them. Should I get separate timothy hay besides what is already in the pellets? I killed a pet once giving it too much lettuce apparently. I didn't know their digestive tracts were so delicate.

This one was chowing down on some grass that we planted, winter rye, when we found it and he/she gets pretty excited if I bring a handful to munch on. Is fresh winter rye safe?

Also, do they need a salt lick or anything like that?

sadly we can't let it out of the cage very much because our housemate/landlord will insist on cooking it for dinner.

 

[Ape337]

Hello,
You definitely want to get hay to feed besides the pellets, and it should be provided at all times. Hay is 75% of a rabbits diet. They pick and choose which pieces they want to eat so it's good to give a fresh handful morning and night even if they have some left.

No salt lick/mineral blocks needed

I'd start very slowly with pellets because introduction of new foods can upset tummies. Try only a tsp a day at first, then slowly work up to 1/8 - 1/4c per 5 lbs. body weight. Hay is unlimited from day 1. It's unlikely to cause issues.

I'd hold off on any other new foods for the moment to let your guest settle in. The most important thing is to get that hay in.

This is gross to some people, but bunny owners are poop experts. We watch poop. Rabbit poop is a good indicator of GI health. Rabbits produce 2 kinds of poo - fecal poo and cecotropes. Cecals generally shouldn't be seen, they are consumed from the source. They are dark, smelly, and look like a bunch of grapes. Fecals are dry, round, color can be light or dark depending on what they eat, and odorless. This is why we watch poo. It's the first sign something is going wrong usually. Watch for small, hard poos. Push hay! It's critical to bunny GI health.

Good luck and it's really nice of you to have saved the bun from an outside life!

 

[Tam O Ham]

I'm just going to nod and go 'um hm' to what April said (we are a poopy people lol) and add that if the bunny's been living outside, it's probably used to a diet of greens. So if the bunny gets happy over the winter rye I think it would be okay to feed it a little each day as a treat. Maybe once it's settled in you can try other types of fresh greens but for now while everyone's adjusting, why fix what ain't broke. Also, is that the bunny in your picture? If so they look darling (and also like they're flying - SuperBunny!)

 

[tonyshuman]

This rescue is currently full but might help and/or put you on the waiting list for when they have a spot open up.
http://www.ntrs.org/

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sending prayers.

 

[seagypsy]

I will keep trying the shelters. Is it a bad idea to take it to a pet store? I will get the timothy hay while out tomorrow.

The woman that gave me her cage insisted that just pellets was all that was needed, but then her rabbit died after she had it for a year. So I will trust the advice you guys are giving me.

edit: can they be walked on a leash with a cat harness? just thought maybe if we walked it around the neighborhood someone would stop and recognize their lost bunny.

edit... just discovered little guy, is definitely a boy and has developed diarrhea. Seems we are going to get timothy hay tonight ,rather than in the morning. If he gets sick, this will be a very bad situation for him because I have no money to take him to a vet. I barely have money to buy him food. On foodstamps myself as it is.

HELP... the process of losing the bunny has already begun.

 

[ladysown]

just pellets are fine for bunnies. TONS of bunnies exist quite nicely on just pellets.

How big is this bunny? small rabbits (under 3 lbs do well on 1/4-1/2 cup of pellets), medium rabbits...3-5 lbs do well on 1/2 cup. 5 lbs + 3/4-1 cup unless they are flemish needing about 1.5 cups pellets.

Hay does not have to be fed daily. Rabbits like it, but they don't have to have an unlimited supply all the time in order to survive. If there were true all my rabbits would be dead. They get hay every other day in the cold months and once a week in the warm. They get greens in the summer.. 5 days a week, in the winter... perhaps once a month. They survive and adapt it's what rabbits do best.

What they need most is a steady supply of clean water. Good pellets (or a balanced greens/hay/grains/minerals diet).

Everything else is optional.

 

[Ape337]

I recommend stopping all food except hay and water. Do this until his poo returns to normal. This could take a day, 3days, or a week. It hopefully will be a short period of time but you must not "cheat" and give him anything, not even the smallest bite of anything else but HAY! The loose poo is telling you that something is off in the GI tract. Could be stress, change in diet, or something he picked up while outside. Please do not just take my word for this that rabbits need hay:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html#basics
http://www.mybunny.org/info/rabbit_nutrition.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html
http://www.sandiegorabbits.org/diet/hay-basis

I'm only posting these links because I want you to know I'm not just pulling this info about hay from my own personal experience. I use reliable, respected sources for my information, and not just from respected internet sites. My rabbits have also been seen by 3 vets that have all recommended hay in a rabbits diet. Pellet recommendations do vary based on whether a rabbit is for show, or breeding, or really just individual rabbits and how much they weigh on varying amounts of pellets.

I'm also basing this on your individual situation where you have a stray rabbit with an unknown background. With no idea of how long he's been on the streets, eating goodness knows what before you rescued him. His system might just need to calm down. I wouldn't give him to a pet store unless you had no other choice. Just because many pet stores are not willing to provide care to a bunny with issues (like soft poo). Hopefully you are able to find a rescue to take him.

A great source on here for you to contact is Geoff the vet. You could send him a PM about your situation and see what he recommends.
Good luck

 

[JBun]

I agree with the grass hay and water only for now.

How's he doing today? Is he still eating?

 

[tonyshuman]

Agreed, hay and water. It may be best to take him to a vet clinic, emergency vet, or shelter/humane society. That way he can get treatment and a permanent home. Diarrhea in rabbits is serious and should be considered an emergency situation.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f22/diarrhea-10389/
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/Generalities/Enteritis_en.htm

 

[seagypsy]

Ok sorry for my dissappearance. Bunny seems to have improved a lot after getting the hay. I have started giving him some pellets as well now. He seems to have gained a lot of weight since starting the hay. He must have gone quite a while without food and I just didn't realize it having no idea how big he was when he was safe at home.

He has developed what looks like some sort of cyst or pimple on one ear that he scratches at a lot.

I wish I could take him to the vet but being on public assistance myself I don't have any money to do so. I did try walking him on a small pet harness and he mostly did ok on it but he was able to get out of it. Luckily he didn't take off like a bullet when he did and sat still when I came to pick him up. He seems to be somewhat attached to us now and doesn't seem to interested in getting away.Silly thing doesn't know what's good for him. oh its definitely a boy.

We noticed something about him. I think he may be litter box trained. When we first caught him we kept him in a bathroom due to the tiled easy to mop floor. There was a black floor mat outside the shower and he seemed to always put his poo on that. And now we keep him in the garage. When we let him out of his cage, he always puts his poo on a black mat out there as well. Well except when he was having diarrhea.

Is this a strong sign that he is litter box trained? If he is, that will hopefully make finding him a home much easier.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Sounds like he's trained or trainable. Good luck.