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I Gave My First Piece of Bunny Advice - Not Well Received

Cari

Warren Veteran
:shock:

I was at the pet shop, buying some little treats and deciding on whether to purchase a little bunny lead to take Stephen on a walk down the tow path with all the grass, clover, cows parsley, dandelions etc so he could have a munch and some exercise when a lady with her two daughters came into the shop to buy their rabbits some food.

Little Girl 1: "Can we have this Muesli, it looks nicer than those boring pellets you buy"
Mum: "Yes, it might be nice for them to have a change, can't be nice eating the same thing every day"
*reaches up to get Muesli*
Me: "Sorry, I'm not eavesdropping but Muesli can be quite bad for bunnies, they're like children, they'll eat all the naughty bits and not the good bits, the pellets. I know pellets look boring but they are a lot better for your rabbit. Also, if you do want to swap over, make sure you do it over a period of at least a week as it can very much upset their tummies if you change their diet"
Mum: "Oh right, thank you, it just looks so boring in the bowl"
Me: "Well as long as you are giving them fresh grass, hay, veggies, herbs and a little bit of fruit they will be getting everything they need"
Little Girl 2: "We never give them veggies, it's bad for their tummies"
Me: "That's not true at all honey, as long as you give them the right sort of fruits, herbs and veggies it is very good for them"
Mum: "Brilliant, even more stuff we have to buy"
Me: "I'm sorry, you don't have to buy them anything you don't want to, I'm just letting you know that a rabbit's balanced diet includes fresh vegetables, they can eat what you have with your dinner, broccoli, salad, carrots, that sort of thing"
Mum: "Well... thanks"
*walks off with Muesli and hay*

:(
At least they bought some hay...


That will be the last time I try and give anyone advice. I bet the poor things live in a tiny outdoor hutch as well. :roll:
 
At least you tried that's all you can do some people will listen some won't unfortunately :cry:
 
I can't help but butt in when I hear people spouting nonsense about rabbits in pet shops. I've tried to give advice before and it always falls on deaf ears. It depresses me no end.
 
Well at least you tried. I'm not sure that I would be brave enough. Maybe next time if they seem hesitant don't offer them any more advice. Some good info will at least be better than none at all and I think the veggies bit is where you lost her!!! Information overload, though how a 'balanced diet' can be an information overload for anyone is beyond me!

But if I was in a shop and someone who seemed clued in offered me some friendly advice like you did I'd prob start a conversation and at least listen. Especially if it is obviously well intentioned!!!
 
Well done for trying!!!
You can lead a horse to water.............................etc, etc.

Please don't give up trying altogether.

One day someone will no doubt take your good advice and act upon it.


You/we can make a difference for bunnies.

Try to focus on the help you were offering for the bunny and not the negative response you've received.

Better luck next time.:thumb:
 
You did a really good thing by offering them advice. You never know, it might sink in and they might heed it in the future. I give out my busniess cards and mention the info on the site.

That said, be careful about giving advice about diet, especially if someone has said that fresh was bad for the bunnies gut because it is bad for some bunnies guts whilst some are fine, and it's an unknown whether they said that because their bunny can't tolerate it or because they are misinformed (I suspect it was the latter, but it's always wise to be careful). I tend to say stuff like 'most rabbits' or 'the average rabbit', stuff like that.

It won't generally be well received when you 'butt into' situation, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it because you never know when they will actually make use of what you say :)
 
i was in P@H having a nosey last week at rabbit things and a guy approached me saying he had seen me looking at hutches and was i looking to buy a rabbit? i said no, i have 3 of my own but am also fostering another 2.
turns out he is one of the admin guys on the rabbit welfare webite, we ended up talking for ages and he was really nice. :lol:

i told him i often tried to step in and give advice in pet shops like he had. i told him i came on RU quite a lot and after a pleasant chat we said our goodbyes.
it was lovely to see a guy do this and i would never turn away good advice if it were offered to me.

even if this woman didn't listen to you at least you tried, if you get through to even 1 in 10 people it is one bunny better off and every little helps. :)
 
I didn't even think about that Sky-O, the way the little girl said it just made me think that Mummy had told her not to feed the rabbit her vegetables! You may be right though, maybe I should just stay quiet in future. :(

I think you're right Hele, her rabbits were already eating pellets, perhaps I should have just left it after talking to her about switching foods etc, it just seemed like a natural progression in the conversation, I probably need to work on my conversational skills a bit!


Thank you everyone, I hope she might take it in and give her buns a couple of veggies, or start to research a well balanced bunny diet.
Ho Hum. I tried!
 
You did a really good thing by offering them advice. You never know, it might sink in and they might heed it in the future. I give out my busniess cards and mention the info on the site.

That said, be careful about giving advice about diet, especially if someone has said that fresh was bad for the bunnies gut because it is bad for some bunnies guts whilst some are fine, and it's an unknown whether they said that because their bunny can't tolerate it or because they are misinformed (I suspect it was the latter, but it's always wise to be careful). I tend to say stuff like 'most rabbits' or 'the average rabbit', stuff like that.

It won't generally be well received when you 'butt into' situation, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it because you never know when they will actually make use of what you say :)

Cari said:
I didn't even think about that Sky-O, the way the little girl said it just made me think that Mummy had told her not to feed the rabbit her vegetables! You may be right though, maybe I should just stay quiet in future.

I think you're right Hele, her rabbits were already eating pellets, perhaps I should have just left it after talking to her about switching foods etc, it just seemed like a natural progression in the conversation, I probably need to work on my conversational skills a bit!


Thank you everyone, I hope she might take it in and give her buns a couple of veggies, or start to research a well balanced bunny diet.
Ho Hum. I tried!

I never said that. You did exactly the right thing by trying and mentioning stuff. I also hope that you keep trying to make that difference :) It's just a refined art, that's all.
 
I never said that. You did exactly the right thing by trying and mentioning stuff. I also hope that you keep trying to make that difference :) It's just a refined art, that's all.

No, I know you didn't, I was just concerned about giving wrong advice :) I'm just so new to all these bunny things myself that sometimes I think it might be better if I just kept my big trap shut. :roll:
 
I had to stop some little kiddies who were picking dandelions for their buns. I overheard them chatting away when one said "let's get these pretty yellow flowers for them" I suddenly realised they were picking up buttercups too... I told them that they will make their bunnies poorly and the girls, silenced wandered off. Returning minutes later with mum who told me to stop being an "interfering young lady"!! :shock: I explained to her that buttercups are poison to rabbits then she calmed down and apologised. Talk about flying off the handle :lol:
 
Just a note, most of what you said was perfectly correct, but be careful about advising people to give their buns fruit. Many people assume that its fine to give a whole apple everyday, and the sugar in fruit affects quite a few bun's tums. The same goes for carrots. So if I dont have the time to explain exactly what I mean, I tend to stay away from the fruit and carrot issue and advise dandies, herbs and other greens, that will suit the majoritory of buns. After all rabbits dont need veg or fruit - hay and decent pellets or hay and a variety of forage are all most normal healthy buns need.

I also wouldnt take Stephen for walks, you may meet a dog, which if it had a high prey drive would spell trouble for you both. Rabbits arent suited to walking really, they wont follow you like a dog, the change in environment can be stressful for them, and if they bolt they could break their necks/backs on those leads. If you are going to walk them its best to do in a space enclosed space, like a garden, or even better get them a big run they dont need a lead in. You could always go and pick the plants for him though, providing they arent being polluted by cars going past, or weed on by dogs.

I'm hoping you'll take my advice better than the woman took yours! :lol: Hopefully at least you will have sown doubt in her mind, and maybe she'll look it up on the internet when she gets home and find you are right. Its always best to point it out, even if its just a friendly offhand remark to make them think twice, like 'gosh, they're cute but bet they'd need so much grooming everyday' when people are looking are fluffsters.
 
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