As a teenager I raised rabbits. Thoroughly enjoyed doing so. When, as a married adult, I started taking care of bunnies again, I took in rescue rabbits. I’d care for them, find them homes. I learned about rabbit rescues and carefully worked with them. I got to meet a lot of not wanted rabbits.
Reasoning
The reasons vary for why rabbits are no longer wanted so I thought I’d list off a few of them. Some are easier to understand than others.
- The children do not play with it anymore. This was the primary reason why people gave their rabbit up. The children were no longer interested. Sometimes this took as little as one week, sometimes it took up to a couple of years.
- Allergies. I do not know how much of this was genuine or just an excuse. The people I know with rabbit allergies tend to know as soon as they get the bunny home if not sooner. Hay allergies take a bit longer generally to show themselves. But I’ve rarely seen allergies suddenly pop up. I struggled with understanding why “I have allergies” but she’s been holding the bunny in a towel on her lap. It didn’t always track.
- “Student has gone off to college, I’m not taking care of this rabbit” says mom or dad. This was generally a September phenomenon. Counter to that were the students in May bringing a bunny in “Mom will KILL me if I bring Mr. Snuggles home with me.”
- Bunny isn’t feeling well and I don’t know what to do. Some people couldn’t afford to take their bunny to the vet so placing bunny with me seemed the best option. This also included a bunny with a broken leg, another with ripped skin, others with dewclaws so long they were digging into the pad of the foot, eye spots, snotty noses, and wry neck. Some situations were tough to see and others made me angry.
- Moving. Not much you can do here eh? Other than the fact that in Canada (or at least in Ontario) you can bring your pets with you. Non-pet clauses are illegal.
- I just got a new puppy/cat/bird so I don’t want this bunny because “the animal wants to eat the bunny, the bunny doesn’t like the animal, the ….. (list goes on)” Basically it’s in with the new and out with the old.
- Rejected companion. This is where people get a bunny to be friends with their old bunny and they don’t get along. For some reason, they tend to get rid to the original rabbit rather than the new one. Sometimes this pattern repeats despite educating the rabbit owner.
- Too much work. This usually stems from people believing that rabbits MUST have 7-8 hours of out of cage time every day and be fed a highly varied diet.
No Longer Wanted
This was a super sweet boy. Slightly shy but intensely curious about the world when he felt safe. He stayed with me for two weeks and then a lady contacted me looking for a boy, mature, that liked to snuggle. I told her about Twitch, she met him and fell in love.
This little girl came in with fur mites. An easy treatment with ivermectin took care of that issue. Three weeks later, with her fur growing back well, she found a home.
This VERY chubby boy came in all sunburned and looking rough. He needed a bigger cage and a great deal more exercise. So I let him hang around here for about a month, a board in the cage between his water and feed to force him to hop more. He also had yard time (in a large portable run) and one day a young gal and her mom asked about him. She had a lovely set up (showed me pictures) and off he went to his new home.
Others in this Series
- American Fuzzy Lop.
- Baby Bunnies.
- Culling well.
- Discussing Death.
- Errors in Judgement.
- Feeding Rabbits.
- The G’s of rabbits.
- Holland Lops.
- Interesting facts about rabbits.
- The Joy of Bunnies.
- Choosing Rabbits to Keep.
- Leaping Lagomorphs.
- The Scoop on Poop.
Letter N Link Up
Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.
- Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
- Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities
- Kimberly @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
- Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
- Wendy @ Life On Chickadee Lane
- Yvonne @ The Life We Build
- Jennifer @ A Peace Of Mind
- Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest To Teach
- Kirsten @ DoodleMom Homeschool
It is interesting how people find reason to keep or not to keep a pet. Sometimes things change and thus the pet situation needs to change. Still, the “out with the old, in with the new” just made me sad.
me too.I hate the “i got a new _____ so now I’m getting rid of _____”
Having worked at the zoo, I saw my fair share of pets that people no longer wanted. For a while that is how we got our education animals – from people who had somewhat exotic animals as pets and then couldn’t handle them. So the zoo would take in parrots, ferrets, snakes, lizards, etc. And sometimes rabbits. They did actually have an exhibit built in the children’s zoo with rescued rabbits. They had maybe five to ten that lived in the exhibit.
How sad that you saw so many come through but so wonderful that you were able to care for them in the ways they needed.
How very sad. This is why we only have a cat. The kids want to get animals all the time, but I just worry about this situation all the time, them getting bored and not wanting to care for it. Thanks for this reminder!
it’s good to know just how many animals you can maintain for the life of the animal. OR choose an animal with a shorter life span (like a mouse or hamster).