Giant Bun Pets at Home

As i mentioned in my other post we were on holiday in Devon Last week and we saw one of their so called House Rabbits in Pets at Home there priced at £129.I went in every day,he is 9 months old and has been in the store for 3 months,he has been treated for ear mites and has been checked by a vet according to the staff.He is lovely,he is on his own and I know I shouldnt get a rabbit from there but I feel I want to give him a home if I can.He is not yet neutered.I have to think about this carefully,like where I would keep him,and my thoughts are in our utility room in a dog crate and a run for outside in nice weather.What do you think I should do?It is a 3 hour journey and so a six hour round trip for us,is 3 hours too long a journey for him??He isnt huge,he has upright ears and he is agouti in colour,hubby says he was about 15 inches long,would he grow more at 9 months old?Would he be ok in our house with our dog?they would be supervised at all times.
My husband thinks he is lovely too and said he would drive back tomorrow and get him,My other 3 dutches are all rescue buns and I know it is not ideal to buy one from Pets at home.Do the larger buns have more health problems?Do I need pet insurance for him?Please dont be cross with me

If you are thinking about him that much I would get him. I know there are a lot of buns in rescues but all bunnies deserve good homes. He's probably still there because of the price. Utility room sounds fine. I'm not sure about vets fees being more I wouldn't have thought so.

I would get him as a p@h near me had one on sale and they couldn't sell him so they were going to have him put to sleep but luckily an animal college took him so he wouldn't be put to sleep.
3 hours is a long trip but its better than him being put to sleep if they are the same as this one I know. Just make sure he has a water bottle attached to his cage you take him back in.
As for your dog being ok with him thats something you will have to see. You will have to watch your dogs reaction to the bunny in his cage and go from there.
When I was younger I had two dogs and they were fine with the 28 rabbits we had.
hope thats been of some help. I am sure others who know alot more about this sort of thing will ome along and help soon

kelly-joy said:

I would get him as a p@h near me had one on sale and they couldn't sell him so they were going to have him put to sleep but luckily an animal college took him so he wouldn't be put to sleep.
3 hours is a long trip but its better than him being put to sleep if they are the same as this one I know. Just make sure he has a water bottle attached to his cage you take him back in.
As for your dog being ok with him thats something you will have to see. You will have to watch your dogs reaction to the bunny in his cage and go from there.
When I was younger I had two dogs and they were fine with the 28 rabbits we had.
hope thats been of some help. I am sure others who know alot more about this sort of thing will ome along and help soon

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Erm....which store was this you are talking about? We do not put rabbits to sleep unless it has medical issues that are causing suffering and treatment hasn't worked. If a rabbit can not be sold it would be moved to another store and even eventually put up for adoption.

Vets may charge more for a giant - the neutering costs for my two were higher than the normal rescue rate, but only about 20%. Depends on the vet and how desperate they are to make more money:lol:

I've heard that giants have more health problems, but haven't yet seen anything to back that up - mine are around 2 yrs now - but I think that so long as they have a good healthy lifestyle with LOTS of room, and aren't allowed to get overweight, I reckon they have the same chances as any other rabbit.

I am biased 'cos I am totally smitten with my giants, who happily live alongside my three dogs.
So long as you can ensure that the dog and rabbit are always supervised together, and the rabbit is separate from the dog when you're not there then there shouldn't be a problem (obviously depending on the dogs temperament).

I can totally understand your predicament - it's so hard to walk away..

I know how hard it is to walk away from a bunny you have fallen for, but if you look at it financially it would be better to take on rescue rabbits.

£129 is a lot of money for an unneutered bunny, and most of that will be profit for a store that will just buy lots of more rabbits to fill it's place.
For around £80 to £90 you could get a pair of neutered and vaccinated rescue rabbits. The money would go directly to the rescue to help other bunnies and you would also free up a rescue space to help another pair of rabbits in need.

I'm sure you know all this already, and it is entirely up to you which bunny you choose to get, I'm not judging you at all. How can i when I recently gave Elwood the P@H bunny a home

I popped into one near us today for some sand sheets and they had a gorgeous Giant housebun in there harlequin colouring, but it looked so sad and hot. It is tempting to buy them to get them out of the conditions they are kept in there and to stop them from going to people who know nothing about what's involved in keeping giant buns, but IMO all people are doing is encouraging the breeders and making space for another one there. I would look at a rescue bun if it was me, but I can totally appreciate how it tugs at the heart strings.

I have pm you which pets at home this was.
I know you probaly don't want to belive it and I was the same when I heard first off about the poor baby but sadly it seems to be true as a local animal college brought it to save its life.
I am not saying all pet centres are the same but it doesn't surpise me as one I worked in ages ago was the same profit over the animals but at least P@H were going to put it to sleep.where I worked it would be thrown down the back and starved to death. I am not allowed to say the name of this centre for legal reasons. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about these poor babies and what else I could have done to save them.

I do personally think that it is better to rescue and not to buy from pet centres as like someone else said they just get more to take there place and they don't care about the animals just the profit they make. At least if you rescue you know they are well cared for and loved.

kelly-joy said:

I have pm you which pets at home this was.
I know you probaly don't want to belive it and I was the same when I heard first off about the poor baby but sadly it seems to be true as a local animal college brought it to save its life.
I am not saying all pet centres are the same but it doesn't surpise me as one I worked in ages ago was the same profit over the animals but at least P@H were going to put it to sleep.where I worked it would be thrown down the back and starved to death. I am not allowed to say the name of this centre for legal reasons. But there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about these poor babies and what else I could have done to save them.

I do personally think that it is better to rescue and not to buy from pet centres as like someone else said they just get more to take there place and they don't care about the animals just the profit they make. At least if you rescue you know they are well cared for and loved.

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I have responded to your PM but I will reiterate on here that PAH DO NOT put to sleep healthy animals just because it's taking too long to sell.

I'm sorry, but I think there's been a little bit of untruths being told. Even you state 'it seems to be true', so you don't know anything is fact. Don't take everything you hear as gospel. My own store has been part of a slur before and the people in question soon backed down when challenged.

Look I am only saying what a have heard.
I think I wlll contact the college myself and find out why they took this rabbit on.

perhaps you could approach pets at home and say that as the giant has been there 3 months are they willing to put him up for adoption or sell him half price or something then you won't feel like you are not just lining their pockets and you are also giving the bun a good home? Maybe Lspacehopper can tell you if they are likely to go for it or not? I guess each store manager is different but 3 months seems a long time to have a rabbit for sale.

racheld69 said:

perhaps you could approach pets at home and say that as the giant has been there 3 months are they willing to put him up for adoption or sell him half price or something then you won't feel like you are not just lining their pockets and you are also giving the bun a good home? Maybe Lspacehopper can tell you if they are likely to go for it or not? I guess each store manager is different but 3 months seems a long time to have a rabbit for sale.

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I tried this with a gaint in our local store it didnt work. The giant was moved on

They will not being getting anymore in I am pleased to say!

Personally I wouldn't buy from a petshop if it can be helped. They will only replace him with another rabbit who will sit there for months too! There are loads of unneutered giant rabbits on freeads for under £50 or better still a rescue or pair or rescues as has already been mentioned

Thank you all for your replies,I am going to write to the store manager and ask if he can be reduced to cover the cost of neutering and vaccinating,or if not to be moved to a store closer to me and I will pay the full price as it is a 3 hour journey.We are going back to Barnstaple in August but I dont want to find he has been moved on
He isnt huge about 15 inches long and has upright ears,he has lovely eyes too and has been on his own for 3 monthsBefore that I dont know where he has been,but will find out as a 9 month old in a pet shop is a little odd:shock:

i did reply on the other thread - i would prob be the same and I drove 3 hours to get lil & dil so i do understand.... rabbits are pretty resilient and as long as you stop every hour or so to give him water he will be fine x good luck hun x x

Awww poor thing! Our pet shop has rabbits quite often but they are never there more than a few weeks! Sometimes less than a day!

any news on this?