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How can a rescue be so nasty?

youthnovels

Wise Old Thumper
I have thought long and hard about this as some of you will know.

I have made the decision that Leo will need to be rehomed. The side of the house where we were going to put him gets very little daylight really, so the poor thing would be alone for the majority of the day in dark conditions.

I have gone through every option but with my job and other animals, I simply don't have time to have a solo rabbit who will need a lot of one on one care. It feels unfair to leave him outside alone but there is no way he can come inside (not my house, live with parents).

I love this little man so much but it seems unfair to try and bond him again and in all honesty I'm not sure if I can trust him with another rabbit anyway.

I have spoke to rescues near me and no-one will take the little man on and in some cases they have been very rude when I have explained the situation. I am honestly not dumping him on anyone or taking the easy option, I am trying to do what is best by my animals. One rescue in particularly who have been very lovely when I have been giving donations and offering help where extremely horrible and left me in tears. I can assure you no-one needs to guilt trip me, I am already feeling horrendous about the situation.

I know it must be annoying and frustrating for them but one minute they have spaces, the next they don't and are having a full on go at me. I was willing to give a donation as well as food, his toys, litter trays, water bottles etc. I am trying to give him the best life possible, the things that I can't currently give him. Obviously there isn't any rush for him to go as such, as I don't want to part with him but I have resulted put up advertisements for him everywhere now ... including gum tree and preloved (don't flame me, I would do a full home check and would not allow him to go if I wasn't 100% happy).

I'm sat here in tears feeling guilty, upset, hurt and every other emotion under the sun. :(
 
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How very sad. Could you have someone look after him long term, with donations, in a sort of private fostering arrangment? (This is something I have contemplated, with a friend who has lots of experience with guinea pigs, if my health were ever to make it too difficult to look after the bunnies.)

Does Leo have a lot of medical problems as well as having a hard time getting on with other bunnies?
 
How very sad. Could you have someone look after him long term, with donations, in a sort of private fostering arrangment? (This is something I have contemplated, with a friend who has lots of experience with guinea pigs, if my health were ever to make it too difficult to look after the bunnies.)

Does Leo have a lot of medical problems as well as having a hard time getting on with other bunnies?

See that's the thing I was trying to discuss with the rescue, that I would pay for all food, hay, bedding etc whilst he was in their care. I don't expect them to use up their hard earned money in cases like this but they wouldn't even hear me out. Despite the fact that they have spare places and could take him in. They weren't even willing to consider advertising him on my behalf whilst I "fostered" him for them. :?

No medical problems at all, he looks a bit odd down there but it doesn't impact him in anyway. :)
 
You need to see their point of view rather than taking it to heart really...
"No space/time" is probably one of the top excuses they get after being allergic. You can know you're genuine but they don't. It's not nice that you're upset, but honestly if I heard if several times a day I wouldn't immediatly believe people either I'm afraid.

I do hope you find him a nice home soon
 
why won't he bond and why is he "odd down there"?

and to say most rescues are simply full to bursting so just can't help..be careful where you do give him especially as you are now advertising your offer of a large donation..

Also just to say why don't you adverise to rehome him yourself? make sure you homecheck but no reason why you couldn't

or ask a rescue near you to try to bond them again?
 
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See that's the thing I was trying to discuss with the rescue, that I would pay for all food, hay, bedding etc whilst he was in their care. I don't expect them to use up their hard earned money in cases like this but they wouldn't even hear me out. Despite the fact that they have spare places and could take him in. They weren't even willing to consider advertising him on my behalf whilst I "fostered" him for them. :?

No medical problems at all, he looks a bit odd down there but it doesn't impact him in anyway. :)
I can only assume, that like a human hospital or similar, they are strapped for facilities and staff and therefore not able to take on a healthy rabbit which isn't in danger of neglect, just a somewhat sub-optimal environment. They need to save space for emergencies.
It's such a shame their response was put to you in a way that made you feel guilty when you're only trying to do your best for Leo. Maybe the person answering the phone was very stressed.

Do you have any friends or relatives who would be able to give him more space and attention for a few months, or even permanently, whilst you contribute to his care?
There may even be people on here who could.
 
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He's probably better off with you than any of the other animals that could take up that space in a rescue.
 
I'm sorry you've been made to feel guilty. Rescues have a hard time and are only human too, so you might just have caught some of them at a bad time.

It might take a little while to rehome him yourself, but it's do-able. Have you listed him on Rabbit Rehome? You could also PM SOAD with the details (if you haven't already done so) and she can pop a thread up in Rabbits in Need for you. More details are here.
 
Im so sorry youre being faced with this auwful situation Youthnovels. I havebeen following Leos story and I know how hard it has been for you, and know that you have looked into every other avenue before deciding to rehome him :cry:

Im going to be controversial and say that, whilst rescues do an amazing and extremely tough job, there is no excuse for upsetting somebody who is only trying to do the best by her rabbits. I really dont understand why they wouldnt even advertise him for you while you looked after him :?

I think at this point I too would try to rehome him privately :wave:
 
Im going to be controversial and say that, whilst rescues do an amazing and extremely tough job, there is no excuse for upsetting somebody who is only trying to do the best by her rabbits. I really dont understand why they wouldnt even advertise him for you while you looked after him :?

I suspect the reason the rescues won't advertise him whilst he's living with youthnovels is probably one of these reasons:

1. The rabbit may have health issues and could need to be seen by the rescue's vet.
2. If a home is found, the owner could turn round and say they've changed their mind.
3. The owner might rehome privately, but not inform the rescue...meaning the rescue might be turning away other needy rabbits during that time.

It's not just about space...rescues only have so much money to go around...and offers of donations to take in rabbits unfortunately usually don't come to anything :(
 
I'm sorry you've been made to feel bad by a rescue :( I think no matter who someone is, or what they do (and I agree, rescues do a wonderful job) it doesn't give anyone the right to be rude or judge someone. It must be difficult enough for you, without a rescue making you feel worse :( I hope you can find a good home for your bunny soon :)
 
Can you not keep him with you whilst you try and rehome him? He will get much more attention with you than he would in rescue. I dont know the full story but sounds like you are rehoming him because he wont bond and you dont want him to be alone outside? Have you tried bonding a baby female to him, this is often considered the easiest bond.

Have you considered taking on an already bonded pair in exchange for your single buck as a housebunny? You may find that this is something they are able to do.

Sorry they havent been helpful, I guess its probably the case that they dont see it as a priority case as he is well-loved and cared for, he is probably living in luxury compared to the ones they see come in, and likely better than the buns they have at the rescue.
 
I can understand a little what you are going through.We came by a stray 5 months ago.We took him in with the intention of putting him on rabbit rehome but we fell for him after a day.We didn't have room for him but thought perhaps we could bond him with our two after he had been castrated.Last week we tried this & it didn't work out.So what do we do with him,keep him caged for many hours a day in a room not really suitable,give him to a friend or do what we originally planned,put him on RR.We decided to keep him as,basically,he is ours & we love him.His housing is not the best but as he gets older & more reliable he will be allowed more freedom.Circumstances change & though our,& your situation is not the best at the moment,things change.Keep him if you love him,I'm sure he would rather be in darkness & be with someone who loves him.My bunny lounge doesn't get much natural light........
Whatever you decide I wish you well,its a very difficult decision to make:(
 
I can understand both sides of the issue, as I've been there too. A few years ago I posted how I was also forced to ask local rescues for help with re-homing my Nans cat after she passed away. I was also spoken to very nastily by a lot of places who were simply too full, but couldn't / wouldn't offer me any other form of help or advice.

On the other hand, I did eventually find someone who was tried very hard for me to help.

I agree it can be frustrating - at times I wanted to scream down the phone and say "look, I know you might not believe me as you probably hear these "excuses" all the time, but I'm not all bad - in fact I'm usually the customer at the other end giving donations and adopting"

I appreciate that rescues are full, struggle to cope, and yes, they probably did think I was lying about the circumstances. But it wasn't until one actually asked how urgently the cat needed to be handed over - if they could look for a home whilst it was still staying with us - details about it's age, medical history, that we were finally able to come to a great arrangement for all of us including the animal.

I was on more than one occasion just met with "we've got no room for cats" and a hung up phone before being able to give any more details, which made me feel completely helpless, and was not a concept I'd ever had to deal with before with rescues. At the time, it made me wonder how often general members of the public who have no experience with either side of the rescues would be left with a bad impression too.

If I ever wanted to adopt a cat, the situation I was in a few years ago, would now make me go to the rescue who helped as much as they could, and not the ones who couldn't even say "sorry, but try..... or .......".


I'm not tarring all rescues with the same brush, and would like to be clear that this was to do with a cat not a rabbit.
 
I think that it must be easy to become cynical of people when working in animal rescue, as you see day in day out how badly some people have treated animals - and see less of the pressures that drive people to bring them in and don't hear the stories of the lives that led people to behave that way.

But even in welfare services for humans - where I worked in the past - you always get some staff who are a bit cynical and short with people who get in touch with new enquiries, unless reminded with checklists of what to tell those we can't help soon or at all.

I would guess that many of the people contacting animal rescues are under a lot of pressure and may feel very ashamed and guilty at having to give up a pet - after all, they care enough to find and contact a rescue. It would be great if the callers could be spoken to empathically, and always treated as if they were genuine, given an explanation that the rescue has no spaces or funding for non-emergency cases, and given advice on what else to do. Inevitably given my background I see the rescues as a service that is partly there for people in difficulties as well as for animals, but many of those running rescues come to it from a different perspective.

With any voluntary sector organisation that can benefit from donations and other help, I think it's to their advantage to be as friendly as possible to the public. It could have an impact further down the line as well - just like with the poster above - and also with their friends and relatives.
 
I dont really have any advice but i was in exactly the same situation when i got 2 single buns that never bonded. We contemplated rehoming Buster for a good few months but decided we couldnt part with him. We have them both in less than ideal places in the house and Lola doesnt get a huge amount of free range time some days but they are so much better off than alot of other buns so ive got over my guilt a bit now! Good luck with what ever you decide to do x
 
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