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Advice please

leeanderin

Mama Doe
This is a bit long winded so please bear with me.

Where we live there are a number of cats round about and when we moved in 2 years ago the same three cats kept hanging around our garden, we assumed they belonged to set of neighbours number 1 as we saw them putting out food and cat milk and they were always in there garden and their kids were always fussing over them, however it turns out they belong to set of neighbours number 2, the others only feed the cats as neighbour 2 only feeds them sporadically and they don't like to see them go hungry and feed them everyday out of pity (they even have someone come round to feed the cats each day when they are on holiday). Not so long ago one of the catshad been pooing in my flower pots and there appeared to be small white worms in there, iadvised neighbour 1 as his kids play with the cats and he went out and bought worming treatment for them.
Shortly after, we discovered that neighbour 2 has a dog, we only knew because we saw it in the garden as i had never seen the dog being taken out for a walk.

I got chatting to neighbour 2 a while back and mentioned we had two rabbits and she started asking if they were both male or females, when i said we had one of each she said "oh so you'll be having babies, we'd love a rabbit", i advised her that they were both neutered and the conversation moved on. I discovered yesterday that they now have two rabbits, given her track record i decided to take a walk along the alley to have a look in her garden to see what she had them housed in, i'm notkidding you it is the smallest hutch i have ever seen, it is roughly about 3ft long and you'd be lucky if it was 1ft deep, there is no run either, i think it might be on two floors but i'm not sure, but one thing is for cetrain it;s not big enough for a guinea pig never mind two rabbits. :cry:

Here's where i have the problem, both her and her hubby are unemployed (i'm not saying unemployed people shouldn't have pets so please don't have a go.) i very much doubt that the rabbits are neutered, i briefly saw one of them today and they look pretty young, and i doubt she will bother to, obviously if they are male and female she'll end up with alot of babies. If they are both male or female once they mature i'm worried they will start to fight, also, i can't see her taking them to be vaccinated and with the amount of dog poo lying in their back yard i'm worried about flies in the summer and the rabbits getting ill. It's obvious she doesn't really care about the cats (although she was overheard telling someone whoes cat had just had a litter, "i'd love another one!") and i doubt ahe has gone to the effort to worm and vaccinate the dog so i realy can't see her vaccinating, neutering or worming the rabbits. I'm so tempted to report them to the RSPCA, but at the moment other than the size of the hutch the rabbits look to be well cared for (they've had them a week), there looks to be plenty of water and bedding and they've even got a blanket over the hutch, so would the RSPCA actually do anything? What should i do? :cry:
 
Can't you "accidentally-on-purpose" meet her and say you noticed she's c
got a couple of rabbits now, and ask her if she wanted your vet's number as she'll obviously(give her the benefit of the doubt) want to have them vet checked and eventually neutered. Also ask how she manages to get them back into the hutch after their daily exercise and take it from there according to her replies. Ask where she's thinking of getting a hutch when they grow out of that one as well! Keep it friendly and non-judgemental but try to sow the seeds. Meanwhile keep a close eye on things and if you get really worried then make a call to rspca. Good luck.:)
 
I don't think there's a huge amount that you can do :? try to keep on good terms with her though so that you can keep an eye on them and also so that she's more likely to ask for your advice if/when things start to go worng...
 
I agree that you need to stay on friendly terms and just keep an eye out for now. If you like I can send you a care sheet that I give out to any people I adopt out to and you can also download leaflets from the RWA site on just about everything from basic bunny health to flystrike! If you have a printer just print them off, staple them together and pop over to your neighbours. Mention that you have seen that they have acquired some rabbits and give them the care pack saying it's something that you were given when you got your bunnies. It may just be that they are uneducated on proper animal welfare and although they love their pets (the way pets think they should be loved) they are probably just ignorant of the actual facts. The best you can do for now is try and educate them :)
 
I agree with CottonMather, there is probably little you can do at the moment.

I have the same problem with my neighbours, they really do not look after their rabbit and as much as I would like to berrate them for their lack of care, I know that I have no way of saving their bunny if I do that, so I have to keep on good terms.

It makes me sick though, I spend ages out in the garden with my lot, you'd think they would get the message that rabbits need more care then they give theirs:evil:.
 
The above advice is all very good, I completely agree. The only other thing that might happen is if that small hutch is so shoddily made that the door comes open and the bunnies escape........ That would be a terrible shame. :rolleyes:
 
Thank you all for your advice, the thing is she's not the most approachable person and i had a barney with her before christmas because she roars at hercrying baby in the middle of the night, and every other tine of day for that matter, but that's a different story all together. I just thought if i report her for the cats and mention to the RSPCA my concerns for the rabbits they might have a word with her?
 
Thank you all for your advice, the thing is she's not the most approachable person and i had a barney with her before christmas because she roars at hercrying baby in the middle of the night, and every other tine of day for that matter, but that's a different story all together. I just thought if i report her for the cats and mention to the RSPCA my concerns for the rabbits they might have a word with her?

In that case just report her then. She has a duty of care and if she doesn't follow the guidelines the RSPCA will guide her in the right direction. :)
 
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