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Why did you choose rabbits?

Rachel89

Mama Doe
I don't know if this has already been done, so sorry if it has :oops:

Just wondering why everyone choose rabbits as a pet to keep.
Also what made you choose your rabbit/s.
:)
 
Impulse.
Didn't really appreciate Toffee (poor lad) and I'm being honest. Then I joined the forum and really started to appreciate him.
Ghostie then came into my life, thanks to the forum and then Pickle.
The reason I have them now is pure passion and love. They are amazing.
 
Lola chose me!:D
I went into pet shop for fish food and came out with baby Lola. I had no idea and realised I had to learn fast so I found this forum. Lola was a joy from the start - she has changed my life. She was in a cage with two black brothers but she was so cheeky and confident.

I supposed I spoilt her at first, I took her to bed with me and spent hours brushing ehr and talking to her and playing with her.

Then we saw Lucy (who at the time was a boy:roll:eek:n Gumtree) and Natsanth picked her up and looked after her until Lucy was speyed.

Now I have two bunnies whom I adore and I think were sent for a very special reason!
 
I had a rabbit when I was child who I never really appreciated. When I first moved out of home I wanted a pet but as we were in rented accomodation couldn't have a cat or dog, so hubby suggested a bunny. We bought Lucy who we only had for a few weeks (she was in an accident at the vets and had to be put to sleep :cry:) several months later we got Abbie. She was my baby and I fell in love with her. She came every where with me in her carry box. We had Abbie for 7 years before she passed away. I was devasted. What with one thing and another (two kids one being special needs) we didn't think that it was right to get another bunny at that time. When we moved into this house I felt we should get the kids a pet so we got Wilf and Flynn the guinea pigs, and although we love them dearly and they are realy characters, I still felt the time was right to get another bunny. I looked at babies but then decided I wanted to help a rescue bunny. As it happened, the lady who runs the holiday boarding the guineas use, had a bunny looking for a home, went to meet him and fell in love.

B XX
 
well I dont know why (apart from they are super cute!) but I have always loved rabbits more than cats and dogs. My mum allowed me to have rabbits and guinea pigs when I was a child and then I grew up and left home. Since having my son, I wanted him to know what it is like to care and love an animal so a rabbit was the first choice for me (as I knew it would be me looking after them). I went on pre-loved :oops: (didn't know any better at the time) and between me & my son we chose Bugsy & Star (kind of kept thier orginal names too). Holly & Angel are Bugsy & Star children and we have kept them too as they are both blind or nearly blind in one eye each. I have spent so much time with these two, there was no way I could give them away.

After I bought Bugs & Star I went on a steep learning curve as things have changed so much over the last 20 years, for example none of our rabbits were vac'd, neturered etc and we kept guinea pigs with rabbits. Like I say, I am still learning but have learnt lots from this forum and now all 4 of my rabbits are vac'd up to date, 2 are neutered and the remaining 2 are being done this week. We are hoping to bond all four when they have recovered from their op's, and we have a shed that is being adapted for this (whereas before all our rabbits were kept in hutches and runs and we did have a few that lived together) and I buy/grow lots of grass/hay for them to eat (I am trying to stick to pellets/hay and have veg as a weekly treat where as before they used to always get all kinds of vegs ...)
 
I have always loved rabbits, but it took me until I was 15 to be allowed to have one by my parents (10 years of pester power...!!!) and I've never looked back :love:

As with most people's 'first rabbit' experiences, Sassy came from the local pet shop. My parents showed little interest at first and 'left it to me' so I couldn't drive to Pets @ Home and didn't know about rescues, but the pet shop was run by an old couple nearing retirement age who loved the animals like their own. Despite being a pet shop bunny, Sassy is still my longest living bunny at just over 6 years old.

A month after Sassy passed away we rescued Lily from a branch of Pets @ Home about an hour and a half away. I had wanted to get one from a rescue centre and wasn't particularly looking for another rabbit that day, but Lily had been badly bitten by another rabbit and the staff were suspiciously stinking of doing away with her :censored: so we insisted on paying for her vet treatment and brought her home 3 days later with the wound stitched up. After then it's always been rescue centres and they've always chosen me :roll:

Hubby doesn't get a choice, he wants a cat but I'm allergic :shock: so he's having to make do with bunnies. The way he ahh's at them though, something tells me he doesn't mind the switch :love:
 
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I had Rabbits and Guinea pigs when I was a child,along with ducks,geese and peacocks(father was Game keeper for MOD).
Then had Rabbits again when I left home,as missed them.
Now 20 odd years later with two children,decided they could enjoy the pleasure of owning Rabbits.
And they/we are loving it.:love::wave:
 
I had always wanted rabbits as a kid, but my mum wouldn't allow me to keep indoor rabbits and as we lived in a flat, there was no option for outdoor rabbits.

When hubby and I moved to our own house, he too was very reluctant to have indoor bunnies. But to stop me from getting chinchillas :roll:, he thought he'd let me have a rabbit... (a fatal mistake, as I got the chinchillas anyway... :lol:).

One day we went to then Petsmart for some bird food and saw this most gorgeous white blue eyed baby lop! We both fell in love with him, but didn't buy him straight away. I kept going on about him over the week-end until hubby said we would go and have a look whether he was still there the next day and if so, I could have him!

We went early the next morning and he was still there, so came home with us. We named him Casper! :love: Unfortunately I was not rabbit savvy then and didn't realise that he was already ill when we got him as he didn't eat when we got home. After day 2, I realised something was wrong, took him to the vet, but unfortunately he died on the 3rd day! I was absolutely devastated!

Hubby went out to look for another bunny to console me and found Benji. He didn't buy him until I agreed. He too was from a pet shop, but a smaller one. (This all happened before I learnt about rescue bunnies!!!).

From there, it snowballed. After Benji (who is still with me now at 10 1/2 years old! :love:) followed Pippa as his parter. Then in the same pet shop we fell in love with a little magpie coloured lop, which we got with him friend. That was Sunny and Toby.

After them, I found out about the rescue problem... and seven years ago, I adopted my first rescue bunny Charlie (who is currently very ill and on steroids for what we think is a neurological problem). Many more rescue bunnies have followed since... here are the ones I have now.

Benji (10), my oldest bunny, my last pet shop bunny too. We loved his cute looks at the time. He looked like a puppy.

Charlie (8), my second oldest bunny and my first rescue. I wanted a lionhead at the time when they were still quite rare. That's how I got in touch with Jackie of GBH rescue, where most of my rescues came from.

Magic (4), another rescue from GBH. I was looking for a lionhead lop and Jackie had a whole litter in.

Alaska (3), a rescue from Norfolk. I saw a picture of a litter of white lionhead and had to have one. I always wanted a white lionhead.

Tommy (unknown age), a rescue from Jackie. I wanted a mate for my now bridgebaby Angel and I saw Tommy's picture on rabbit rehome and fell in love. He has a temperament to die for and has the most gorgeous steel grey/white colouring.

River (2), he too is a rescue, though a pedigree Champagne D'Argent. He went into GBH rescue as his mum ate his ears off so he wasn't showable. I was warned that this breed does not make good pets as they are very shy. River is very much like that, but has now a good bond with me and doesn't mind the odd very gentle stroke! He is fab and one of the most beautiful bunnies ever - even without his ears.

Trystane (3), a rescue from Greenwich. I was looking for another giant after I lost my Lancelot at a very young age. Trystane is the same cross as Lancer was (French Lop x Conti) was meant to have been a boy, but turned out to be a girl. I love her just as much of course as she has the most gorgeous temperament!

Dakota (unknown, probably about 4 now), from GBH rescue too. I was looking for another bunny and fell totally in love with that yellow stained emaciated French Lop! She changed into such a beautiful Frenchie and is one of the friendliest bunnies I have ever had! She is the only short haired bunny I know though that gets matted fur regularly... :roll:

Vera
 
I didn't - Mary chose me! I wasn't really a rabbity person, having had back-of-the-garden buns when really young, they didn't really have that much appeal to me. I'd bunny-sat an indoor trio, and had terrible allergies the whole time they were there, so definately wasn't going to go out and get a bunny by choice after that. But then the petshop I worked at got given a litter of Netherland Dwarves from an breeder giving up the last of their 'stock' (manager was a ex-breeder so was someone she knew), and it soon became apparently that there was a Devil Bunny in our presence! I came in to work on one of my days off to say hello (was right by my college), and was immediately told to "go check out the evil bunny upstairs", so off I went, with an audience, stepped into their enclosure (we had custom pens you could step into) and all of a sudden, one black blur emerges from the pile and attaches himself to my trousers :lol: But then I shocked everyone else by picking him up for a cuddle! Surprised, everyone else showed their war wounds from their handling attempts, and I was deemed the official picker-upper of the Devil Bunny. Turned out he was the only boy in the litter so he was moved into an indoor cage of his own, and I had to nip in during my lunch every day to top up his food and give him some fuss because no one else was brave enough :lol: Wasn't too long before he won me over, and the odd stroke turned into cuddles, and the moment he fell asleep in my arms, that was it! "Daaad, can I have a rabbit?", my manager said I could have him since they couldn't really sell him as he was, Christmas was coming up so we hatched a cunning plan to get past my mum, and voila, I was a bunny owner. Thankfully the "rabbit allergy" must've just been the brand of hay or sawdust the other bunny owner was using, as I never had a problem since.
The other bunnies all arrived when I moved to the next petshop job, thanks to a stupid manager who was a bit trigger happy at sending poorly animals off to be PTS - after I'd been there a while, I must've taken around 15 or so ill animals home with me (rehomed most of them) and he actually told me I had to take Rex home with me that evening or he'd have him put down - simply because he'd been there a month or two and then managed to snap a tooth on his cage and it was growing back a smidge wonky. I'd even warned him at the time that the teeth needing filing or something or the regrowing one would push the rest out of alignment, but he wouldn't hear a word of it, insisting he'd be fine - then expecting me to deal with it when it wasn't :roll:
So basically, the rabbits suckered me into it :lol:
 
I had cats, a dog and various hamsters as a child - until a friend's mum took in a rabbit from her friend who was moving, and the rabbit turned out to be pregnant and had 4 babies so my mum let us have one (I think it was mainly to help out rather than wanting us to have more pets!).

Not knowing much about rabbits back then Rusty started out life as the usual 'stuck in a hutch at the bottom of the garden' bunny but did get lots of time free ranging in the house and garden. He was such a laid back, well behaved boy and got to spend his last few years as a house bunny (by that time I'd left for uni and had convinced mum it would be easier to care for him indoors).

My husband had always wanted a rabbit and loved Rusty when we went home to visit, so when we moved into our first place a rabbit was the obvious choice! We bought Gavin from pets at home and kept him as a house bunny from day one. We kept him on his own for 4 years, not really understanding that bunnies like to be in pairs, but always giving him lots of attention. Then one day at the vets I saw a poster for rabbit rehome and when I found a quiet time at work the next day I had a look - I was shocked at the number of bunnies needing a home. A month later we got Heidi from the RSPCA. When Gavin died earlier this year we were heartbroken, but knew we had to find Heidi a friend so we visited the local rescue and Ross came to join us. Losing Heidi so soon afterwards was tough but it meant we got to rescue Crunchie. And now we are planning on doing some fostering for the rescue so our bunny list will get longer...
 
I was at a car boot one day and saw my first bunny in a cat crate for £2.00 i couldnt leave him there so we bought him home, All my others are rescues and have mixed history, I think they are great Im glad I got my bunny that day changed my life, And this forum has taught me alot
 
Have always loved them and have kept rabbits since 1983 and all have been rescue or unwanted and we have taken them in. I don't know what it is now to not have a rabbit in the house and I couldn't live without them.
I suffer at times with depression and there is nothing better than hugging a bunny.
We will never ever not have rescue bunnies it's a big part of our lives that we love :love:
 
Hmmm not sure...

I've always been obsessed with animals, and my twin sister and I stole a rabbit from our neighbours garden when we were 3 :oops: I can vividly remember watching the neighbour do her dishes by the window, we waited uptil she had gone and then crawled through the fence. My mum only realised what we had done when our neighbour knocked and she found the rabbit in her bedroom ottoman :oops::oops::oops::oops: (poor bunny). I never forgot that rabbit, and when I started pre-school I had a carrot as a label on my coat peg... I was over the moon :lol:

My first rabbit came from someone my mum worked with who's kids had grown bored of him, I called him chinney after a horse I loved at our local riding school. He died when I was 18 and he was 9, I walked round the back of the house and just instinctively knew he had died, he was lying by his hutch. I broke my heart :cry::cry::cry::cry:

I've always had rabbits from the age of 9, but didn't have my first house rabbit until I was at uni...and it became an obsession. :) I just love them!
 
I had rabbits when I was younger, and mum looked after them. Two years ago, I really wanted a pet of my own, as all the other pets were family pets. And I just decided rabbits, and I researched them, and found that they were the one. :D
 
I had a rabbit as a kid - I always wanted a dog but my mum would never let me. Being a kid and not knowing any better I did everything wrong - not spaying females, no vacinations, muslie food etc. She was pretty antisocial as a result of non spay but I still loved her dearly. She was so cute and entertaining to watch. After I lost my bun and my sisters to myxi I made it a mission to do some research. My mum would never let me have another one after the grief we went through but I made my OH aware before we moved in that I'd only live with him if I could have a bun! :lol: My five are now my companions as he works long hours and I wouldn't be without them. There is so much more to rabbits than most people think and its only now I'm older that I have really understood that.
 
I was the typical 'impulse buy' person.
Went into Petsmart (now P@H) for dog food and came out with a Rabbit and a 3ft hutch !!

My dog was almost 16 and suffering from dementia. I knew I did not have much longer left with her :cry: I also knew I would never have another dog, I could not bare going through the hearbreak of losing them again.
So in my 'wisdom' I thought 'I'll get a Rabbit, I wont get so attatched to a Rabbit' ............

I could not have been more wrong and I have had my heart broken again on numerous occasions. But I cannot imagine life without Bunnies :love:

I bought my first Rabbit, a Black Otter Rex Doe and called her Eleanor (after my much loved Nan). The next day I went back and bought one of her sisters as I was worried Elie would be lonely when I was in bed (she was a House Rabbit) So I bought Megan. Two days later I went back to buy some food and hay and there was just one Bun left from the litter. So she (Beatrice) came home with me too.

The rest, as they say, is history !!
 
I always wanted a rabbit as a kid..mainly because all of my friends had rabbits and I felt sooo left out :oops: I was convinced that rabbits were no more difficult to care for than hamsters and that I (ten years old at the time) was perfectly capable of taking care of one all by myself :roll: Needless to say, my parents did not approve and I came to the conclusion that I had probably hurt my hamster's feelings by not wanting him anymore :( so I woke him up (much to his dislike :lol:) and gave him a cuddle and promised myself never to want a rabbit again! :lol: And I never did so until years later,when in March 2007, right after I had lost my 3 and a half-year-old hamster, my mum recieved a call from a friend of hers whose rabbits had just had an accidental litter. We went there two weeks later to have a look and the kits were absolutely gorgeous! Like tiny balls of fluff hopping around the cage :lol: :love: I was particularly spellbound by one of them,I don't know what exactly but there was just something about him that instantly caught my attention... I picked him up and he was so tiny I could actually hold him with one hand :shock: I kissed his nose and felt his little heart beating. He turned to look at me with those big,brown eyes..I thought I was going to melt. I fell in love :love: So when mum finally asked me if I wanted one I didn't think twice. And it was the best decision I've ever made. Boris is my baby. I love him so much :love:
 
I found that my life was rather empty and there was me, my OH, my cat Sadie and my work. I worked 11 hours a day then came home and sat on the sofa and watched TV and I felt that I had so much more love to give and as OH didn't want any children and I love animals, I decided I was going to give my love to more animals (this sounds so corny, sorry :oops::oops::oops:). I live in a rented house so a dog or another cat wasn't really an option which left rabbits. I had a unappreciated rabbit when I was younger, who I loved to pieces but didn't really understand. I started looking for 2 rescue bunnies at the beginning of last year, now somehow have 6 and 2 fosters!!
 
I wasn't a rabbit person at all.....

went into PAH to just have a look around and fell in love with Mooch.....he was just a big ball of shavings :shock: and was reduced in price because nobody wanted him! Came home with Mooch and Thumper for my sister.

I didn't appreciate Mooch at all, and really wasn't a good bunny mummy at all :( but after finding this forum, I love Mooch just as much as my other boys and he is officially my baby boy :)
I feel awful for the lack of attention he got for ages, but I am doing everything I can (with a HUGE thanks to people on this forum) and he has a much better life, home, diet, and is spoilt rotten! :D

Now I love rabbits and would love a Dutch.
 
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