• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Advice needed re special needs bunny

shelley

Mama Doe
Hi :wave:

As some of you will know ive been looking for an adoption bunny to pair with my male bunny Buster. P@H contacted me earlier saying they have a bunny that is now up for adoption that could be suitable but they needed to talk through a few things.

Well i went to see her today, she's a 4 year old black nethie with a BIG problem! She is massively massively obease to the point where she barely moves. I can honestly say ive never seen such a huge dwarf rabbit in my whole life :shock: She's been with them for a few months and is regularly beeing seen by their vet about her diet and weight. She has shockingly already lost weight but is having to follow a strict diet.

Because buttercup is so fat she cant reach her back end to clean herself :oops: this does worry me a bit as ive not had to clean bunny bums before and im going to have to do it very often as she will be in the house and the OH will not be impressed if theres poop everywhere as Buster is so well litter trained we've not had to put up with poop anywhere before.

P@H said that buttercup is a bit of a neglect case, shes been sat in a shed in a small hutch alone for the past 4 years and has just been fed and fed and fed by her owner who felt guilty for her but never actually did anything to help her situation :cry: poor girl. I said hello to her today, she's very timid and for a 4 year old rabbit she doesnt seem to know what to make of people or being stroked, shes quite nervous.

I surpose what im asking really is if she is a suitable bunny for me. I do have concerns and im not even sure if her and Buster will get on but im really torn, i dont want to see her in that little glass pen for months, shes never going to loose the weight she needs that way but at the same time im worried about the potential vet bills, her diet, having to bond her with Buster and the fact her bum gets very messy and needs cleaning, im not even sure how well handled she is, not very i dont think :? please give your opinions

shelley x
 
Katie came to use, partially due to the same problem, and because she was so fat the stress of getting her bum cleaned caused her third eyelid to rupture. She was a lot of work to begin with but I don't have to clean her bum now she has lost weight and has room to run around! She is no more work than any of the others.:)
 
Personally I would relish the challenge. I would love to take such a poor neglected bunny and make her happy. I would discuss what vet bills you would likely need to pay. I imagine she's on pretty much a hay only diet with very, very few pellets and veg. What you would need to do is get her moving about a bit more and having another rabbit to stimulate her would be perfect.
About cleaning her bum: If she's a small rabbit she could be easily wrapped in a towel with her head covered and you could clean her with face cloths or similar. But brushing is a lot better. With time she would get used to you and you would appreciate her as a pet so much. It will be a lot of time and a lot of effort.

I'm sure she could be litter trained in time, it will be her cecals that are getting stuck to her bum, but if she sits down they might transfer to the carpet... but as she's only been used to a small hutch all her life you might want to limit her space for a while and build it up gradually. But she will get slimmer and the more space she has the slimmer she will be and the cleaner she will be, so hopefully by the time she can be free range she will be nice and slim and clean. :)

I think I need pictures. :)
 
Personally I would relish the challenge. I would love to take such a poor neglected bunny and make her happy. I would discuss what vet bills you would likely need to pay. I imagine she's on pretty much a hay only diet with very, very few pellets and veg. What you would need to do is get her moving about a bit more and having another rabbit to stimulate her would be perfect.
About cleaning her bum: If she's a small rabbit she could be easily wrapped in a towel with her head covered and you could clean her with face cloths or similar. But brushing is a lot better. With time she would get used to you and you would appreciate her as a pet so much. It will be a lot of time and a lot of effort.

I'm sure she could be litter trained in time, it will be her cecals that are getting stuck to her bum, but if she sits down they might transfer to the carpet... but as she's only been used to a small hutch all her life you might want to limit her space for a while and build it up gradually. But she will get slimmer and the more space she has the slimmer she will be and the cleaner she will be, so hopefully by the time she can be free range she will be nice and slim and clean. :)

I think I need pictures. :)

This - bringing round a bun like this is a wonderful thing to do!
 
This is how i feel, the look on her sad little face made me just want to take her there and then but i know i need to convince the OH first as i will need him to help me clean her i think. She doesnt have much spirit and id love to turn her life around for her. I can just imagine her running round the living room playing with Buster but im a bit of a chicken when it comes to big descions and i generally need other peoples encouragement :roll: (this is where you girlies come in :lol:) ive told them that i will have a think about her and get back to them. They offered me another bunny a few days ago who was beautiful but she suffered with serve allergies and she was way to big (i really want another dwarf for Buster.) she was still there today too :(
 
This is how i feel, the look on her sad little face made me just want to take her there and then but i know i need to convince the OH first as i will need him to help me clean her i think. She doesnt have much spirit and id love to turn her life around for her. I can just imagine her running round the living room playing with Buster but im a bit of a chicken when it comes to big descions and i generally need other peoples encouragement :roll: (this is where you girlies come in :lol:) ive told them that i will have a think about her and get back to them. They offered me another bunny a few days ago who was beautiful but she suffered with serve allergies and she was way to big (i really want another dwarf for Buster.) she was still there today too :(

You've made your mind up. Now get convincing your OH and then bring her home and take lots of pictures. In fact make a diary of her weight loss and bonding.

Go. :wave:
 
I agree. Taking on a special bunny and bringing them round is amazing and rewarding. Someone I know on the forum has just taken on a fatty (but not this fat) and I'm sure she will find it rewarding and have fun doing it.

We also have a huge fatty at the RSPCA Centre (probably in the same league as this one- we'd never seen anything so horrendous, size wise- puts my fat rabbit into perspective :lol:) and she is doing really well, but does still need some extra care. Her problem was the poo on her back end, and her owners had let it get infected and not treated it, which added a more complicated element than what you've got.

I think it could be an amazing thing to do, but only if you fele up for the challenge.

Also, if you do want to take her on, if the Pets At Home have a vets, see if you can get discounted treatment for her until she is a healthy weight, or something.
 
Is she spayed? Have you got somewhere separate to keep her until they bond? This could be some time if she still needs to be spayed and is too overweight to do so. What would you do if they didn't bond?

I don't mean to be negative, just making sure that you've thought through the implications of bringing her home :)
 
Also, if you do want to take her on, if the Pets At Home have a vets, see if you can get discounted treatment for her until she is a healthy weight, or something.[/QUOTE]

excellent idea! I took on a special needs from Notcutts and they later gave me a run and hutch set up worth £150 when she was ready to go outdoors (in fact we used it for the bantams as we have our own special runs . . but it all helps!!)
 
Is she spayed? Have you got somewhere separate to keep her until they bond? This could be some time if she still needs to be spayed and is too overweight to do so. What would you do if they didn't bond?

I don't mean to be negative, just making sure that you've thought through the implications of bringing her home :)

Mmm thats a thought - personally I have often bonded unspayed females (whilst waiting to spay) with neutered males, but I know many people don't advise it.
 
Yay im liking the encouragement! :) i will go back tomorrow and have a chat with them about vet bills and stuff. I have no idea how much she weighs but her belly touches the floor. How would i go about her special diet with Buster around? Its a bit mean to deprive him of nice stuff because Buttercup cant have it. Also i have no idea how to bond them! What if they dont like each other? Also shes 3 years older than him, does that matter?
 
If she is already seeing a vet have they had her teeth checked? Just thinking as her diet was so bad she may have bad teeth - you want to know what you're getting into.

I guess you'd have to get her to lose the weight before she is spayed so it'll be a long while before you can bond. It will be so rewarding though, and you know she will get a good life with you, not just bought from P@H and put in another small hutch.

Maybe you could keep her in the kitchen to minimise the mess ?
 
I work at P@H and we help people pay bills if they have had an animal from us who gets sick so ask them about that. And I think you should help the poor bunny! There's too many at work I really want to help :( Have to pull myself away and remember my two at home!!
 
Before we started spaying the girls all our pairs were an entire girl with a castrated boy, after losing Bertha to uterine cancer and finding out how common it was, I got all the girls spayed and had no problem with the pair bonds breaking down.
 
Yay im liking the encouragement! :) i will go back tomorrow and have a chat with them about vet bills and stuff. I have no idea how much she weighs but her belly touches the floor. How would i go about her special diet with Buster around? Its a bit mean to deprive him of nice stuff because Buttercup cant have it. Also i have no idea how to bond them! What if they dont like each other? Also shes 3 years older than him, does that matter?

She can't be spayed until she is slimmer so you have to decide about the risks of bonding unspayed, and also, whether they will manage to stay bonded once she is less of a lump and is feeling better.

Her diet needs to be predominantly hay, and lots of exercise. That's not not nice, its just a very basic diet, and Buster should be fine on that :)

You will, however, need to quarantine her for a while, depending on how long Pets At home have had her, to ensure she isn't pregnant and isn't carrying anything that could harm Buster.
 
No she isnt spayed, i think it would be too dangerous at the size she is now. Buster has been neutered but he still needs another 4 weeks as he had the snip about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Buster is kept in the kitchen so she will have to stay in my room or the living room for a few weeks, if they didnt pair i would be in a real pickle (which is one of my concerns)

Also regarding her teeth, im not sure if they have been looked at. Its certainly something i will ask about when i go back. Im corncered about things like her heart too as the ammount of weight shes lugging around must be putting alot of pressure and strain on her.

I dont have a garden, which is another drawback. If they didnt get on id be stuck as i wouldnt have anywhere else to put one of them. Thats why im really trying to think about my descion carefully
 
No she isnt spayed, i think it would be too dangerous at the size she is now. Buster has been neutered but he still needs another 4 weeks as he had the snip about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Buster is kept in the kitchen so she will have to stay in my room or the living room for a few weeks, if they didnt pair i would be in a real pickle (which is one of my concerns)

Also regarding her teeth, im not sure if they have been looked at. Its certainly something i will ask about when i go back. Im corncered about things like her heart too as the ammount of weight shes lugging around must be putting alot of pressure and strain on her.

I dont have a garden, which is another drawback. If they didnt get on id be stuck as i wouldnt have anywhere else to put one of them. Thats why im really trying to think about my descion carefully

Well you could have them living side by side in separate areas, separated by mesh or similar. After quarantine of course. That way you can feed them separate diets for the time being and they will get used to each other slowly, so when you do bond it should be very easy.

The heart issues would bother me too, I would want to speak to the vet and go through her notes with him/her. But if they can back you up with vet bills... ;)
 
Mmm thats a thought - personally I have often bonded unspayed females (whilst waiting to spay) with neutered males, but I know many people don't advise it.

I always thought this too,until my latest happenings :( I think I would still do it again, but just make sure advice is more reputable
 
Back
Top