Any Bunny Owners?

[countyroad1330]

Yes, I'm dreading asking what my vet will charge to neuter my boy. If I keep him alone, should I still have him neutered? I won't be able to get another bun for a while.

What do you think about this pen for running? I have the corresponding chicken coop as the bunny's hutch. (They're basicly the same, with a few small exceptions.) I try to walk him every day, but if its raining or something I can't. And I'm worried about letting him run around the house.

 

[kodiakchicken]

countryroad,

We've had four bunnies total, are down to two right now. The first two we got were brother & sister that we got from the pound when they were tiny. They were pretty wild. I think someone found a bunch of babies and "saved" them by bringing them to the pound. There were so many that the pound was willing to give them to people to raise for food (we have a large Filipino population) so I had to take at least two home and save them from the stewpot.

Anyway, they turned out to be a boy and girl and we had them both fixed (using a coupon from the pound) as early as possible. We started them inside in a large dog kennel but finally built them a bunny condo outside. I would have loved house bunnies but with 2 dogs and a cat it wasn't safe for the buns. Besides, my boy, Sella, is a major chewer and went after electrical cords like crazy.

One day a lady stopped by and said she's seen our bunny cage and would we like another. She'd had one pawned off on her and didn't feel like it was getting the attention it needed. She was a little mini rex named Cadburry that was the mildest tempered, sweetest, softest little doll you'd ever seen. I didn't know anything about bonding rabbits so just put her right in with the other two. They got along great - no fights. Unfortunately, a few months later our first girl, Hoppy, got sick and started losing weight. Before the vet could figure out what was wrong with her she died. Turned out she had a hair ball and essentially starved to death. A year or two later we lost Cadbury to the same thing. Both deaths were horrible and so sad for our family.

Rabbits get hairballs like cats, from the grooming, but unlike cats they cannot cough them up. Unfortunately, the first sign of it is usually going off their feed or significant weight loss. The only option is usually surgery. I didn't catch either of them in time and it just kills me. While some people give their buns hairball med, this will only help it pass through. Once they have a big one it won't "cure" the hairball. One of the best things to do to prevent hairballs is to make sure they constantly have hay (timothy) and to not overdo it on the pellets. I give my buns a handful of pellets in one bowl and load up their hair bowl and then won't refill their pellets until they've eaten all their hay. I also touch their ribs all the time to make sure they aren't losing weight.

Once my boy, Sella, was alone I thought he was lonely too, like yours. I've heard rabbits grieve for losses and I was worried about him. I put in a notice at the pound that I was looking for another bun for Sella (named by a 4 year old). They finally called with a little salt and pepper dwarf mix that was very sweet. We went and got her and just tossed her right in the hutch with Sella, thinking it would be fine since he'd grown up with others. Not so!!! Shadow (the new bun) is very dominant for a small female and she started making house right away. She also tried riding Sella, who is neutered and a HUGE rabbit fight ensued with hair flying. Of course, my daughter had bonded with Shadow in the 10 minute ride home so she's spent the winter living in a temp cage until we get another hutch built (yes, my animals are spoiled).

As for the winter, we get temps down into the single digits and all we've done is put plastic up around the wire sides of Sella's cage. He has a fully enclosed side and then a wire sided side that he can access back and forth. When it gets really cold he holes up in the enclosed side but doesn't seem to mind. I switch to water bowls when it gets cold so I can change it out several times a day.

I know this is long, but I hope it helps!

 

[holliewould]

I have a standard chinchilla bunny. He was thrown in my yard by someone who clearly didn't want him. Anyway, he's never been caged at my home. He just started spraying urine a few months back. He does a 360 and sprays everywhere. He seems to only do it on humans. I'm sick of it. He's about 5 years old now. I love him to death, but he is a real piss head.

 

[amysue2012]

We raise White New Zelands for 4H and meat. Just had two litters this week. They grow sooo fast!

 

[countyroad1330]

What do I need to do to make sure that the bunny doesn't dig out of his pen after I get it set up?

 

[justinszoo]

I have 3 chinchilla giant does (need a buck), pair of lionheads, pair of holland lops, and some californias that we got for meat

 

[Becky89*]

I have four mini rexs and a harliquin

 

[Sparklecoon]

I've had many bunnies growing up, at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head including Joey the english angora.

The most recent was Sweet Pete AKA Hausinfeffer (SP?). He was a house bunny that my brother got than decided after a couple years he didn't want to care for so I took over care.
He was 6 when I rehomed him. It had gotten to the point where one night I woke up and could barely breath and nearly had to go to the hospital (I have allerigies and as allergies tend to do they'd gotten worse and worse with Pete exposure). He was a good bunny. He spent one winter ahnging out with the kids in a local special needs class. He was a real love Bun, litter box trained and everything.

My step dad had a little song he used to sing. "Sweet Pete, he's really neat. Someday he'll be good to eat."

He's living with a little girl now who adores him.