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Rant... She Wants A Rabbit...

Stumpy

Alpha Buck
My Friend has just told me she wants a rabbit for Christmas. this has really bugged me for 2 reasons:

1 is that she already has 9 cats and 2 hamsters and cant cope money wise with them. they never seem to have much food or treats to care. i know she loves them but that's not enough for the animals.

2 i have learnt over the last 3 months wit your help what a rabbit needs and she could not manage it with the other animals she has. i have tried to tell her and she wont listen. she said she will find the money. then she said and rabbits are cheap to look after and don't need much. she has wanted a rabbit since i got mine.

what should i do?
 
Drop the subject completely with her and then the next time you see her tell how what a monster your bunnies have turned into...how your sick of the mess, the destruction, the aggression....the costs etc. My friend was going to get two as her other friend was giving her a 4ft hutch:shock: she wouldnt listen either so I did this and hey presto....she had changed her mind within days:lol::lol::lol:
 
Point out the real costs.
My recent vet bill for a single appointment was £185. One before that was £70.
Vaccinations are due in a few months - that's £85 in one month again. I'm low on hay, £16 there.

Needing a friend = vet bills x 2. Needing neutering, might be one off but that's still a good £100+ for 2 rabbits at the very least.

Accomidation. A suitable hutch/playhouse is going to be £100+ too, plus needing a run attached. Toys. Food. Replacing things they damage!
 
Invite her round to meet yours to clean them out and feed them as "practice" for keeping her own, point out all the little chores you HAVE to do for them every single day. Chat with her in the meantime about various costs for the toys, the vets bills, the vaccinations etc etc etc. Maybe when she realises how hard work they can be she'll change her mind?
 
Point out the real costs.
My recent vet bill for a single appointment was £185. One before that was £70.
Vaccinations are due in a few months - that's £85 in one month again. I'm low on hay, £16 there.

Needing a friend = vet bills x 2. Needing neutering, might be one off but that's still a good £100+ for 2 rabbits at the very least.

Accomidation. A suitable hutch/playhouse is going to be £100+ too, plus needing a run attached. Toys. Food. Replacing things they damage!

Good idea, maybe if she's faced with all the fatcs she'll see that you're not exagerating, your thinking of both her and her potential bunny!

(Love your christmas sig steph182!)
 
keep saying how much time they take if she carnt cope with what she has already no way should she get something else
try and put her off them if i was u
i wouldnt want to have a bunny near 9 cats at all
 
It's a good idea to put her off wanting a rabbit.

Perhaps she could sponsor a bunny or even become a volunteer at a rescue centre near her? Hands on experience for all the work involved.

Best of luck.
 
I would keep mentioning the costs as well. Don't forget to mention stasis and dentals. Those can be very expensive, particularly if the rabbit has to keep having dentals or gets a blockage due to stasis and needs an operation.

i wouldnt want to have a bunny near 9 cats at all

That's not a valid reason at all. Cats aren't the bunny killers people make them out to be. sure, they may think of a rabbit as prey but chances are they wouldn't, and even if they did it isn't difficult to keep them separate. I have 10 cats and they don't look twice at the rabbits.
 
keep saying how much time they take if she carnt cope with what she has already no way should she get something else
try and put her off them if i was u
i wouldnt want to have a bunny near 9 cats at all

You protect the rabbits from the cats :wave: I have 4 pet cats and currently 1 foster cat. All are terrified of the rabbits :lol: Even with a litter of 5 kittens my rabbits have never been in danger from the cats :wave:
 
I agree most cats aren't a danger...

But if the person is skint and can hardly afford her other animals, does she deflea them all?

Frontline = dangerous to rabbits. If she doesn't deflea though, the rabbits will get it and they cost more to deflea than our cats did
 
Animals don't always get fleas. We didn't have fleas for many years, even with dogs. when we have, the fleas usually just stick to the dogs and sometimes a couple of the cats. I've never had rabbits with fleas, they seem to prefer dogs much more than cats and rabbits. And with cats you can usually just flea comb them. I did that with baby kittens that were too young to deflea and it worked so well that I've done it ever since when my cats have fleas. Better than putting chemicals on them.
 
Well my rabbits caught fleas from the cats :lol: And they were awful to get rid of!

None of my animals had ever had fleas before either, but still caught them randomly
 
I agree most cats aren't a danger...

But if the person is skint and can hardly afford her other animals, does she deflea them all?

Frontline = dangerous to rabbits. If she doesn't deflea though, the rabbits will get it and they cost more to deflea than our cats did

Yes when she can get the money for it and she uses frontline. The cats she has suffer with flea as well. One off her cats suffers so much that last time she had fleas she lost loads of her fur and went bold in places. Poor thing x
 
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Sounds like she's going to do it with or without you. My recommendation would be giving helpful advice (Lots of hay, big hutch etc etc) so she doesn't shut you out if this poor bunny does need help, and think that your advice is invalid. :wave:
 
I always complain about things that have been chewed and vet bills. If anyone ever dared tell me they wouldn't take the rabbit to the vet then they would not be my friend any more because I would be pointing the RSPCA and the police in their direction.
 
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