Rabbit Fostering

Hiya
I did a thread on guinea-pig fostering on General Chat. I have decided this isn't for me cos I don't have any experience with piggies so I've decided to see about rabbit fostering. We have a spare space in our garden which is about 5ft x 5ft but we can widen it to about 8ft x 5ft. I want to put a shed there. I'm thinking of putting 6 hutches in the shed, 3 placed on top of each other on two walls. Will my girls behave any differently to me with other rabbit smell on me? What does fostering involve?

I think the best thing to do is call your local rescues and see if they need any fosterers and what it involves Ive never done it so cant advise but there are loads of people who foster on here

Fostering is a wonderful thing ... but you need to think it through properly.

Extra buns equals extra time cleaning, feeding and interacting with them. I'm pretty sure that you're still at school (sorry if I'm wrong) and need to consider how your academic workload is going to increase and affect your available time. Depending on the arrangements with a particular rescue, there may be cost to you in terms of feeding and bedding.

Plus you do need to consider the emotional side of things. Are you likely to get so attached to foster bunnies that you won't be able to give them up? It's not easy to invest weeks of your life in a bunny, only for it to go to another home. That's what fostering is all about ... but it can be very difficult emotionally.

All that said, I love being a foster mum, and sadly there will always be bunnies needing care

You may not be experienced enough to be a fosterer yet. Rescues usually prefer people who are a bit older and who have had rabbits for a couple of years at least. But that depends on your local rescue really. Most rescues insist that you take the foster bunnies to their preferred vet, so you need to be able to take them there.

i would only take one pair on not have lots of hutches in the shed as the rabbits wont get the space or attention they need if you have many many pairs( i know other people do but if you only have one area to let them run in think about how much time they will get to run in .also if only one hutch extra more space inside the shed to play? just a thought,

Thanks for your info. I will thoroughly think about it.

Oops wrong thread

Im a fosterer and the posts on here are tight it is very emotional.
I had a bad experience with a rescue too where I didn’t get the support I needed which made it even more stressful and hard.

Its difficult when they go to new homes as you get very attached.
I have a little mantra written down about how it’s the best thing as if they didn’t go to new homes then I wouldn’t be able to continue to help the rescue out.
Ive got 1 bunny and 2 fosters at the moment.
I had 7 bunnies in total at one time and that was very difficult to keep them all exercised fed, loved etc.. Without neglecting my bunny.
I think smaller is better for them in terms of numbers as they get a better quality of foster time with you. (that’s what ive found anyway).
I found lots of cuddles for them made it even harder when they went but hey Im sure in time it might get easier not to bond to them

There's also the house considerations, my OH got dragged into it, he's okay with it now but when I first started fostering he wasn’t happy about the time it took and the freedom you loose.

Im always home before dark to cove the buns up for the night so we cant stay out all day and eve without popping home or getting my mum to do the evening close down.

Hope that helps but doesn’t oput you off.
I love the fostering as I feel like im making a difference to the lives of lots of unloved/unwanted bunnies out there.

X

I am a 'failed' fosterer - the 3 bunnies I have fostered ended up staying! To be fair, they are sickly rabs with health problems - if they were healthy I would have been happy seeing them hop off to new homes

There are a good few 'failed' fosterers on here though - it's REALLY hard not to get too attached.

I am also thinking of fostering and have been in touch with a rescue centre I am thinking how emotional it will be - should that be enough for me to not do it?

I am already attached to my house as I have a diabetic cat who has to be fed and injected on a really tight schedule so I understand the whole not going out in the eve and holidays are out.. I am pretty much a hermit these days so I feel like I have the space and time to offer the help I should do it - does that make any sense

I would love to foster as I am home all day, but I really don't know how to start.

I think I must be the only fosterer on here who enjoys letting the rabbits go to new homes :lol:

I've only ever become attached to one rabbit, and fortunately got a friend to adopt her, so I can still see her sometimes

My ideal fostering set-up would be a stack of large outdoor hutches (say 6ft x 2ft).

abbymarysmokey said:

I think I must be the only fosterer on here who enjoys letting the rabbits go to new homes :lol:

I've only ever become attached to one rabbit, and fortunately got a friend to adopt her, so I can still see her sometimes

My ideal fostering set-up would be a stack of large outdoor hutches (say 6ft x 2ft).

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I usually breath a sigh of relief when one of the rescues goes to a new home I didn't think it was that unusual, its hard to explain to people when you have been preparing yourself for this moment from the day they arrived, and never viewed the rabbit as yours, that its not all that hard to do.

i kinda get what you mean i hope when i have got new homes for dora and snowy i will be fostering for a rescue, but i dont want to take on too many buns at once.for those who think i am giving up on my own rabbits i am not. dora and snowy were two preloved buns no one could take and the lady was not the best owner in the world to them so i have taken them on temperarily i did not want to burdon a rescue with more rabbits so i ahev paid for their vaccs and vet checks and have basically made them my mini rescue. i do not think of them as my rabbits although i do technically own them and if something like illness cropped up of course i would have to pay. but i am in a way sad to see them go but also quite excited about them goin to a new home only prob is now that i need to find them a good home. i consider myself to be fostering these two buns (and oh says i cant keep them as we may move around with his job etc and doesnt want to be tied down for 12 years i respect that and our compromise is me fostering until i can get them to new homes and i am hopefully helping buns too.

LionheadLuver said:

Hiya
I'm thinking of putting 6 hutches in the shed, 3 placed on top of each other on two walls. Will my girls behave any differently to me with other rabbit smell on me? What does fostering involve?

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Purely on a practical level, if the hutches are each 2ft high, with small legs on the base one, the top hutch will be over 4ft off the ground, making it very difficult to reach to clean out and handle the rabbit properly. Also, which way round would the hutches fit in the shed? You have to factor in enough space for the hutch doors to fully open and for you to manouvre between them.

How many you can foster largely depends on the arrangement you have with the rescue, e.g. are you going to pay for their food and general care? I foster for Briar Patch and the rabbits ready for rehoming need to be at hers so they can be viewed, so I only take them if they aren't ready for rehoming yet (e.g. aggressive or need to go on a diet before spaying!) As they need more attention I only have one or two at a time. Other rescues have all their buns out in foster homes so there is more scope for you to look after more buns, although it may mean that people may come to your house to view. You do also need to consider your own buns - some bonded pairs do fight if they can smell others so even from that point of view I would start off just with one and see how it goes from there.

Other practicalities are things like transport - are you able to get to the vets easily, and if there is an emergency? Are you able to pay for the treatment up front if there is an emergency, with the rescue paying you back afterwards?

And finally of course, I would say that you are still fairly new to rabbit care and do ask a lot of basic questions, so if you want to foster, I'd spend maybe a couple of years really learning about bunny care and observing your own two so that you become more experienced at understanding bunny behaviour and health. Then you will be in a better position to understand the needs of foster bunnies and to spot potential health problems earlier. Are there any rescues near to you where you could volunteer? You could then learn 'on the job' as it were, whilst helping out rescues in the meantime

I'd love to do fostering, at the moment I'm home all day and we have the space. I think my o/h would get too attached to them though. :lol:

abbymarysmokey said:

I think I must be the only fosterer on here who enjoys letting the rabbits go to new homes :lol:

I've only ever become attached to one rabbit, and fortunately got a friend to adopt her, so I can still see her sometimes

My ideal fostering set-up would be a stack of large outdoor hutches (say 6ft x 2ft).

Click to expand...

No you're not I feel a bit sad for myself when I rehome my fosters, but I'm always excited when they leave as I know they are going to the best homes I could find for them, and it also means there's space for another bun in need. I've kept only one foster..Nia..and that was because I was sure it would be nigh on impossible to rehome her. And of course, I fell in love with her!!! I've never had more than 2 fosters at a time, but that will go down to only 1 available place shortly as Nia will be having a husbun soon and I'll have 4 of my own to look after.

i've never done fostering, but have contemplated it for teh future and began researching recently.

however i do currently have a "Lodger" for two weeks with us (tiny tim kind of got stuck part way through his bunny train as teh del;ivery company didnt deliver his new hutch to his new mummies on time).

my two have reacted no differentlya tall to havinga nother bun in teh house. theyd ont meet each other, as my pair live in the converted shed, whilst tiny tim is in sams old indoor hutch in teh conservatory (just os tress all blind sare clsoed keeping sun out, and i regularly check teh tenmperature!!!)

they have looked in through teh conservatory door at himw hen he roams free (whenever i'm home) and tehya re lose in teh garden, but they havent really bothered with him at all.

when they stay at waggytailtinas, when i go on holiday my buns have actually mixed with her giant lop (As all have been vacinnated),a nd sam and daisy took to following each otehra round, sam is obviously a rather sociable bun.

My two display referred agression if I even smell of another bun [neutered or not]

I don't mind letting them go either - it's kind of like being able to give a baby back to its mum.. I find rabbits very hard work when there's more than two of them!

abbymarysmokey said:

I think I must be the only fosterer on here who enjoys letting the rabbits go to new homes :lol:

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I don't have a problem rehoming my foster buns either. It's nice to know they are going to a loving spacious new home with a partner.