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Thinking of rehoming - lots of advice needed

Hi guys :)

I havent been here in a while - I rehomed a lovely little black doe a couple of years ago from here to be a girlfriend for my Lionhead Leo (if Daisy's old owner comes on here - she is still going strong and they are still very much in love ;)).
I wasnt really thinking of getting another rabbit but I must admit I have absolutely fallen in love with the Belgian Hare currently advertised in the rehoming adverts. I have spoken to his owner and am now just having a think about whether or not this is really practical (no).
His size is obviously one consideration - Im moving house soon and looking for a one person flat. The intention would be to have him loose in a bunny-proofed house whenever Im in, and in a cage for safety when Im away. After much looking the best thing I can find for that is an Extra Large and long dog cage so he doesnt bang his head on the roof :p and has plenty of room to hop/stretch.
Space is a problem for this so I cant decide whether to offer him a home until I find the flat and measure up whether such a cage would fit somewhere ;) - especially since I already have a 4ft guinea pig cage! He is currently an indoor rabbit but I am keeping my eyes peeled for a flat with a garden so he could get some sun from time to time....
My other problem is that I do not like animals living alone, so I would need to have him neutered and get him a playmate. This cost almost £200 for my lionhead, because he got a bleed and had to be rushed back to hospital. I have rung 2 reputable local vets for quotes (one I use for my horse, the other for my guineas) and been quoted £81 and £97 assuming no complications. Ouch, but doable with a few extra shifts at work.
So the cost looks to be around £30 for the cage (second hand), £81 for the neutering, and petrol to go fetch him (about an hour and a half away).
I would need food, obviously, and bedding. I bed my pigs on Carefresh and feed them Burgess Excel, with Excel Hay and veg, and Im really over the top about reading labels and only giving them stuff which is egg/dairy/E number free (way more picky than I am for myself). Im estimating the rabbit will eat roughly the same as both pigs together, so initially I would be doubling my spendings on that?
I would only be able to get a girlfriend for him if she were free, so will just have to keep my eyes peeled. Im assuming at a year old he is too old to be bonded with a young male? Thats what I did with my pigs and it worked perfectly.
Im a student but also have a job so I should be okay at affording any emergency treatment he might need (fingers crossed not) if I just start up a little savings account for them. My pig got a problem recently - balding and swelling of his genitals - and that cost me about £100 to sort out :censored: - all to be given some moisturiser which fixed it!
Does anyone else insure their rabbits?

My boyfriend is trying to dissuade me but he is rather beautiful, Id appreciate any opinions. Or anything I should know about Belgian Hares. Or anyone telling me its a silly idea and not to do it ;).

Thanks guys!

Jo
xxx
 
Do you want my white/grey sealpoint doe called Ghostie?
She has been causing absolute HAVOC this morning.. I threatened her with rehoming once or twice.
She is really in a grump with me now!
 
If you are having financial problems and thus wold not be able to afford to adopt/buy a partner for him, I would say no.

Emergency treatment can be a lot.

When my Autumn got mxyi, she cost me £1200 in 5 weeks.

When a bun had to have a gastrotomy here, that was estimated at £570

We have a dental bun, needing a dental under GA once a month, costing £60-£80 a month, so around £720- £960 a year.

Please consider the animals needs over your own, it is nice to have them, but if you can not afford them, it is not realistic.
 
My financial prospects are okay, I would never deny an animal treatment and would go without food myself before my animals did! I would prefer not to pay for another bun if possible, simply to save on the money - but I currently have my 2 pigs and horse, all of whom want for nothing ;). This is why I was wondering about insurance though - my horse is insured up to the eyeballs for absolutely anything which could go wrong. My pigs arent insured. Perhaps rabbit insurance would be a good idea - I could afford vets bills up to a couple of hundred pounds but beyond that I would begin to struggle. Im lucky that all my current animals are healthy though one of my pigs does suffer from skin hypersensitivity - hence the vets bill! I am a better-safe-than-sorry person - I call the vet if Im not happy, I never leave it ;).

Trust me - I ALWAYS put the animals before myself. Im a student at the moment, but back home we have rescued horses, rabbits, guinea pigs, even fish :p. My guineas were both rehomed - one from a big rescue via theguineapigforum, the other a free rehome off gumtree.

The dental sounds awful - I had one who needed her teeth doing every 2 months and that was bad enough. She was a rescue too - I took her and her sister off a woman who was keeping them - 2 large lops - in a hamster cage :(.

xxx
 
You cannot bond rabbits in the same way as piggies. For bunnies they must be neutered, even in single sex pairings, otherwise hormones will cause havoc.
 
Hello :wave: It sounds like you're putting a lot of thought in, weighing up the costs etc. - if only everyone who thinks about buying a bunny would do this! :roll:

With regard to expensive vet bills, my 2 buns are insured (costs about £17 a month for them both), but I don't have oodles of spare cash at the moment either (my OH lost his job a couple of weeks ago). But I do have a credit card and wouldn't hesitate to use it for any treatment my bunnies need that I don't have the cash for. Although I know credit cards aren't available/suitable/advisable for everyone, at least its there if I need it.

Are you due to move fairly soon? I would maybe wait for that, just so that you know you can definitely get the size flat you are looking for, that is big enough for the cage and free space etc.

I guess you could also look for suppliers of food/hay/bedding where you can buy in bulk, so it works out cheaper in the long run. You probably already know that though!:D

Good luck, I hope you make the right decision for the bunny and for you.xx
 
Agreed, sounds like you're putting thought into the decision which is more than most people are doing at this time of the year...

I think you should wait until you've moved house and then reassess your situation with space and money. Also moving can be very stressful for animals, I would say you were better off getting that out of the way so they only need to cope with the stress of moving once into your home.

As for rabbit insurance, I pay about £19 a month for my two and my excess is something like £65. However bear in mind that there are some things that insurance doesn't cover (like most, if not all, dental treatment) so there is usually a fairly strong debate on whether insurance is worth it vs a savings account where you put £20 a month into. It's up to you to decide if it's worth it :wave:
 
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