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Have you ever cared for a bunny incorrectly? wrong size hutch, food..Please discuss

Have you ever neglected a bunnies needs/ not cared for them correctly?

  • Yes

    Votes: 34 65.4%
  • No

    Votes: 11 21.2%
  • Perhaps- Other

    Votes: 7 13.5%

  • Total voters
    52

Ambience

Warren Veteran
Just curious because before RU, i definately made some mistakes.

I had bunnys running out on a farm at night- when foxes were about. I had bunnys having accidental litters when i was younger because i didn't neuter. I had bunnys in small hutches in the past and also i had one bunny that never received veterinary treatment because my dad didn't take her- i was too young to do that at the time. I've had bunnys on the wrong diet - museli when i was little and i'm sure i can come up with others.

How many of you have always been perfect bunny mummys and daddys?? :)

How many have things changed for you and what caused you to change?

For me things have changed enormously- i now have nothing less than a six foot hutch outdoors- i used to have pets at home ones at one time- even a 3foot hutch in the past (crys!). My bunny's are protected when they run out- rather than just left to there own devices. I have improved diet which started out with museli- went to pets at home pellets, then to good pellets like excel and science selective. I've stopped feeding so much veggies- i used to feed boatloads as my neighbour worked at a school and brought me home the left overs. I now feed better veggies like herbs rather than high sugar apples/pears/carrots etc- although i probably do feed abit more carrot than most :)

I now check bums daily as i didn't realize that rabbits can get messed up so easily if they get the runs or incontinence( thank goodness i have never experienced a bun with flystrike). I take my dental animals in for more frequent dentals- every week/two rather than every month and demand pain relief where i can- thanks to RU members.

I am working on expanding my outdoor run area and making sure all the hutches are with attached runs rather than have to keep alternating buns into runs, which is time consuming and not best for the buns as they like to be out when they decide rather than when we choose for them. This is a work in progress :)

What about everyone else. What are your failures and successes and what has been an influencing factor in you changing your behaviors?

A big thankyou to RU for being a great resource in bunny welfare and all the members here who have such high aspirations for bunnys around the country.

P.s if no can you explain what has been key in making sure that you have always made the correct decisions for your bunnies? Thanks.
 
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By their standards now B and C were neglected when I got them they had a 4ft hutch but it had a 6ft run attached so not awful. They had hay but I fed them too many pellets and veg :oops: They were vaccs and spayed though. they used to get free range time but not always through my choice!!!

I was very grateful to Woodlouse for showing me a better way and teaching them to eat hay

I now have two groups living in seperate sheds with runs attached where possible. They eat LOADS of hay and have a small amount of pellets and veg :D
 
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I've said perhaps because I feel I've let Daisy get a bit overweight :( I should really have separated D&D for feeding but couldn't bring myself to do it!
 
By their standards now B and C were neglected when I got them they had a 4ft hutch but it had a 6ft run attached so not awful. They had hay but I fed them too many pellets and veg :oops: They were vaccs and spayed though

I was very grateful to Woodlouse for showing me a better way and teaching them to eat hay

Ditto on the hay- i used to feed alot less hay and 100x as many pellets :)
 
I've said perhaps because I feel I've let Daisy get a bit overweight :( I should really have separated D&D for feeding but couldn't bring myself to do it!

Aww that's very sweet- glad you didn't- we have overweight humans too you know :) I'm sure they prefer to be together!
 
I didnt do things as i would now - mainly due to misinformation. However, i wouldnt say that they were neglected or not cared for - i cared for them a great deal but as the education is more freely out there now, i am able to access it and change some of the things i was doing to improve the lives of my bunnies.
 
I didnt do things as i would now - mainly due to misinformation. However, i wouldnt say that they were neglected or not cared for - i cared for them a great deal but as the education is more freely out there now, i am able to access it and change some of the things i was doing to improve the lives of my bunnies.

Neglect is a harsh word on a forum of bunny lovers :) I changed that :)
 
I don't think anyone starts out as a perfect bunny owner!
I didn't do everything right by my first rabbit but I never neglected him.
Looking back, I wish I had had him neutered and got him a friend, and I wish I had fed him a food other than muesli. I don't think he had a bad life though.
 
I don't think anyone starts out as a perfect bunny owner!
I didn't do everything right by my first rabbit but I never neglected him.
Looking back, I wish I had had him neutered and got him a friend, and I wish I had fed him a food other than muesli. I don't think he had a bad life though.

Sorry about that- too stronger word- just mean did people make mistakes during beginning of bunny ownership.
 
i dont think i have.... always made sure everything ive done puts my buns first, not my fault the useless vet who claimed to be an exotics vet couldnt read an xray :evil:
 
Sorry about that- too stronger word- just mean did people make mistakes during beginning of bunny ownership.

Aah I see. I posted before you changed the wording!
I think most people will have made mistakes. It doesn't help that pet shops seem to give out the wrong information!
 
I don't think anyone starts out as a perfect bunny owner!
I didn't do everything right by my first rabbit but I never neglected him.
Looking back, I wish I had had him neutered and got him a friend, and I wish I had fed him a food other than muesli. I don't think he had a bad life though.

So sorry hun - i wasn't trying to make anyone feel bad- just to show we are all human and what has helped us in progressing in our path of bunny ownership...how much we have advanced and who has helped us with that.
 
Aah I see. I posted before you changed the wording!
I think most people will have made mistakes. It doesn't help that pet shops seem to give out the wrong information!

I can't seem to change the poll though. That was quite horrible use of language on my part. I apologize profusely :)
 
People will make mistakes all the way through bunny ownership because we are people and fallable, that said. Yes. When we had our first rabbits way back when (1988 ) they researched and did right for the day, but we didn't know animal care had changed so we still kept them that way up until I started to learn how much it had changed.

My ignorance played a huge part in the death of Flash's daughter Moon, and was significant in other deaths too (Flash, Boof, Ozz, Sunshine). I can't change those, I can only use that guilt and all I have learnt to do the best I can now.
 
Neglect is a harsh word on a forum of bunny lovers :) I changed that :)

The word did bother me because we had one aggressive bun (i didnt know about neutering then) and the more time we spent with him, the more he chilled out. His last owners were going to let him out and run free because he was supposedly so nasty. But i didnt spend as much time with him as i should have.

I feel guilty for that. He was always fed and watered but playtime was minimal and we never really got to know him as he was eaten by a fox. I wonder if i neglected him because i didnt spend the time with him that he needed. I felt lumbered with him and out of my depth not knowing where to get help. :oops: I think that was neglect. :cry::cry: He calmed down a lot in the short time we had him - had we more time, i'm sure he'd have been a cuddle bun.
 
When I was younger (and before I had Internet!) I had a fair few bunnies, all of which I now know were fed too many pellets! And my first few bunnies had that rabbit mix with all coloured bits in, and they did pick and choose which bits to eat! They always had big enough hutches though with a covered attached run :eek:) and access to the whole back garden when someone was home :eek:) I knew nothing about stasis or ec or any illnesses other than messy bums/snuffles/myxi/vhd. Thanks to ru I have learnt so much, I thought I knew a lot about rabbits but obviously I didn't! :?
 
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