Talking to "non-bunny" people

[rabb1tmad]

I get the whole bunny stew, eating thing especially at work - boring!I personally find the thought of eating rabbitdisgusting but I justignored their comments so most recently at work the boys in my office have talked about using my rabbits for a new craze - bunny fighting. I know they aren't being serious because they do love animals but I bet they wouldn't be talking about dog fighting if I owned a dog!

But I don't care because I love bunnies. I agree with Spring - non bunny people are insane!

 

[JadeIcing]

Ugh I know for the most part people are cool about it. One uncle though said oh with many as you have we should shoot them and make soup. My response... Can I shoot you?:biggrin2:

 

[War_Tepes]

Hey, I'm hannah's soon to be rabbit owner friend sarah!



Rabbits rock so much!

Gotta love 'em

Hannah is ALWAYS going on about rabbits, BUT i don't mind 'cause i go on about them with her! That's all our conversations are ever about! lol!

I used to have 3 french lops and i loved them to bits but now i wanna try for something different, i'm thinking about either a Netherland Dwarf or a Lionhead.

I've heard that Lionhead's are not the easiest rabbit's to look after but i'd be up for the challange!


*sigh* my dad is ALWAYS on about the bunny jokes, ''ooooh...wecan have stewfor tea''. or ''Great for targetpractice with the .22''.

My response is just like all above ones really. ''Yeahdad? Well, let's try dog next week huh? Then maybe one of the cats? and if we like them, how about mum?!'' or ''Yeah dad. Then we can move on totarget practice withyou!''

He usually goes quiet after or apologises, but he just does it again later/the next day. He doesn't get that i love rabbits!!! Argh!:grumpy:


War

 

[katt]

i guess i am lucky, because i live with another rabbit crazed bunny slave!

i think my roommate and i go bunny shopping for toys and veggies more then for things for ourselves

i had to laugh at us the other night because our idea of having a fun night was putting together a new NIC cage for izabelle!

but i do know what you mean. . . the other day at work i was talking at lunch about the buns health problems and had multiple people saying it was just a rabbit, and not worth the vet bills. . . i simply told them to come over for dinner one night with my 3 lovable 'just a rabbit's and then say that they aren't worth it.

my rabbit has more personality then their dog. . . that is all i have to say!

 

[jcottonl02]

lol I know I get the bunny stew thing all the time. My friend is always like 'oh yes- Benji makes for a good pie' :grumpy:

And whenever my mum is making pastry of a pie or whateverand I bring Benji in, one of my family member just has to say 'oh Benji cover your eyes!' and then they all have a really good laugh lol.

Yeah I totally agree- it gives me more pleasure to buy the rabbits a bunch of stuff than myself. Pet shops are my second home now lol! And when I get money all I think of is 'yes money to buy rabbit stuff with!!!!!!!'

It's really good I think- much better than going on a whole shopping spree and blowing loads of money on shoes etc. that you don't need- its so much more fun and more productive buying stuff for ur bun and ur making someone else really happy I love seeing my rabbits with new things- makes me feel so good inside when they sit and play with toys or nibble their new treats etc.

 

[pherber12]

I usually get 1 of 2 responses. They either mention something about "rabbit stew", or they say something like, "What are you? 12 years old?" Apparently there is something weird about a grown woman having a rabbit.

Meh.

 

[PixieMillyMommy]

My boyfriends mom thinks they're stupid. She says "they dont do anything, they're definately not like dogs". Im like duh they're not like dogs. If I wanted a dog, I would go get one.

 

[rabb1tmad]

pherber12 wrote:

I usually get 1 of 2 responses. They either mention something about "rabbit stew", or they say something like, "What are you? 12 years old?" Apparently there is something weird about a grown woman having a rabbit.

Meh.

Hehe, I get the grown woman thing too. And I get even stranger looks and comments when I say I have house rabbits and they're litter trained! Its like what, you keep rabbits in the house, don't they smell, don't they belong in a hutch at the bottom of the garden?! But when they actually see my house rabbits they soon change their minds.

 

[JadeIcing]

HollandLopLover wrote:

My boyfriends mom thinks they're stupid. She says "they dont do anything, they're definately not like dogs". Im like duh they're not like dogs. If I wanted a dog, I would go get one.

Lol I like this one

 

[gentle giants]

Yeah, it's incredible how clueless people can be. This lady that I work with, when she first started we got to talking, and I mentioned (shock!) that I have rabbits. She goes, "Oh, yeah? I have a rabbit." I say, What kind do you have? Her reply is, "I'm not really sure, but the guy at the pet store said it wouldn't get any bigger than 25 pounds, cause it's a dwarf." I almost hit the floor! ONe of those moments, you can't decide whether to laugh your butt of, or slowly and gently explain the meaning of the word "dwarf", or what.

Sometimes I have tried to hold a conversation with someone who isn't a bunny person about my fur kids, but even the polite ones get glassy eyed after about five minutes. People frustrate me. That's why I talk to animals, LOL. I always loved the whole idea of Dr. Dolittle, when I was a kid that was this dream I had, to be able to talk to animals.

 

[Gordon]

Spring wrote:

People always ask me if I still have my rabbits.. yes of course I do. I don't go around asking if they have their cat or dog anymore!

Yep, I get that question too, and it always really seems like a dumb and insensitive thing to ask.

As if I was just going through a "phase" and the bunny is of no consequence.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Actually, people think they live like 3 years.:shock:

They're stupid, and I should say " uninformed".

 

[Gordon]

I just got home from my friend's house who has the new bunny. The rabbit is being kept outside in a cage with cedar chips as bedding. I pretty much tried to restrain myself from getting upset because I didn't want to come off like some sort of a rabbit cop, but I told them about the dangers of cedar, and especially how bunnies should be inside where they can interact with us in a climate-controlled environment. The rabbit in question appeared to be a Rex, less than a year old, maybe, but they don't know the age, and it was only my judgement about the breed. They don't know the sex, and I'm far from an expert, because all I know are my two neutered guys, but the rabbit may be a doe. --In which case, I strongly urged them to take the rabbit to a vet I could recommend who is accustomed to dealing with bunnies, and have her spayed-- I explained the high incidence of uterine cancer in doe bunnies.

During all of this, the wife(who never wanted the rabbit in the first place), is clearly looking at me like "why are you worried about this?", and appeared pretty exasperated about the whole thing. Her husband is the one who wanted the rabbit, and he was definitely listening to me, and said he would make the adjustments I suggested, plus consider bringing her inside and litter box training her. By the time I left their house, I knew an argument was brewing over that great rabbit they have. I held her-- her name is Boober.

These people are both my friends, and I know they know I mean well, and I presented things in as non-confrontational a way as I could, while still getting my points across.

Boober does get run time in their backyard, and gets along with their two dogs fairly well it seems-- one even goes inside it's cage and grooms it, which I thought was funny.

My main worry when I left their house was the poor thing had no hay, and I told them to get some Timothy hay ASAP.

I'm just a novice at this bunny daddy thing myself, but I try my darndest to give my guys, Peter and Bugs, the best home, and when I see a situation firsthand like I did tonight, I can't help but try to educate people and open their eyes.

Gordon

 

[Gordon]

AngelnSnuffy wrote:

Actually, people think they live like 3 years.:shock:

They're stupid, and I should say " uninformed".

--That was another shocker for my friend. She asked me about that, and when I told her in a good home how long they could live, she just said OMG, and yelled at her husband. Don't get me wrong, these are my friends, and they are good people, but it's a case where the wife really didn't like her husband's decision to get a rabbit. He is willing to learn, and I think she is too, but in the meantime, they are going to be fighting about it.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Just keep pushing the facts, that's all you can do, and that's good enough for now.

If they care, they'll want to learn about buns.

Don't beat yourself up if they don't...:?

 

[TinysSis]

I think the problem is really two-fold.

1) not everyone sees pets as being 'part of the family' - especially young kids who say 'I want a bunny/puppy/kitty!', but also a lot of adults. To them, pets are accessories, or toys. So trying to ask them how their furry little family member is doing will only get you a blank look, and they'll be really put off by the implication that they just don't care enough about their animal and you do.

2) a lot of people who do treat pets as people, aren't used to thinking of rabbits as pets. If they actually think about how people-like animals can be (as opposed to just 'huh, I get along with dogs, I wonder why' and never thinking about it again) then they'll probably come around pretty quickly to thinking of rabbits the same way.

The second part is the easiest to fix, really. If you find a cat person who treats ALL animals as people, even if they prefer cats, they will probably understand you when you talk about rabbits.

The first part is obviously not exclusive to rabbits. It may not be that non-rabbit people don't get you - it may be that non-ANIMAL people don't get you. It's not that rabbits are different in essence than dogs or cats or guinea pigs or mice or even iguanas. Yes, they have their own unique personalities, but the problem is knowing to look for a personality, instead of treating them as a 'thing'. If you already know to treat animals as people, it won't take long to care about rabbits.

Me personally, I like cats more than rabbits. I still love rabbits, don't get me wrong, but I like cats better. That said, I don't care a whole lot what breed a cat is. Yeah, it's kinda nice to know, in the same way it's nice to know if a baby is asian or native american. It lets you have something more to solidify their identity in your mind. For rabbits, the only reasons I'd care about the breed are 1) so I can know if the bunny has any special needs and 2) so I'd know how big they'd get so I know what kind of cage space they need, how much food, etc. The same way I'd need to know if a cat needed a special diet or very frequent grooming, or if a dog was going to be the size of a small horse so I could make sure I could take care of it properly. Other than that . . yeah, breeds are cool and all, but they don't DEFINE a rabbit. A rabbit is still a rabbit, and it has it's own personality, it's own self-ness. So I treat it like an individual. Not like a Flemmie or a Lionhead or a Lop.

Umm . . pardon the long rambly-ness . . but that's just my two cents.

 

[Gordon]

TinysSis wrote:

I don't care a whole lot what breed a cat is.  Yeah, it's kinda nice to know, in the same way it's nice to know if a baby is asian or native american.  It lets you have something more to solidify their identity in your mind.  For rabbits, the only reasons I'd care about the breed are 1) so I can know if the bunny has any special needs and 2) so I'd know how big they'd get so I know what kind of cage space they need, how much food, etc.  The same way I'd need to know if a cat needed a special diet or very frequent grooming, or if a dog was going to be the size of a small horse so I could make sure I could take care of it properly.  Other than that . . yeah, breeds are cool and all, but they don't DEFINE a rabbit.  A rabbit is still a rabbit, and it has it's own personality, it's own self-ness.  So I treat it like an individual.  Not like a Flemmie or a Lionhead or a Lop.

I agree with you and good point-- but, the thing with rabbits is, it's just such a clichéd response from a non-bunny person to basically say they have no idea what breed a certain rabbit is-- it just feels dismissive to me, as if they're giving the whole idea of people interacting with rabbits, the brush-off. --To me, it's like saying, "who cares?"

 

[Lord_Thumper]

Well, to be honest I think you people are a little obsessed with this whole bunny thing, I don't even think about rabbits all day

AND I'M A RABBIT!

(get a life people, don't be like Jim, a heterosexual male who has alienated himself from the rest of men kind because of ...well.....ME!)

LT

 

[TumpieRabbit]

I am so sorry about him, shut up Thumper, god what a spoiled brat. Anyway, about this whole rabbit thing, most people look at me like I told them I have a collection of milk cartons at home.."Oh yeah, Rabbits huh? Wow, listen about that wart I was telling you about." You know what I mean I am sure.

 

[SmokeysMomMom]

I have a friend who is so into her dogs, helps out at the shelter and helps dogs etc. But when I talk about our rabbit and how I worry about her and this and that it is almost like she could care less. People are like, it is just a rabbit. Almost like she isn't as important as a dog, cat etc. I hate this.