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Need some advice of how to deal with my moms friends rabbit

yaretzi

Wise Old Thumper
My mom has an avon customer of hers who has a lovely velvetty furred black rabbit called Smokey. I hear about him once a month or so when she visits Smokeys mom.

The woman is around 60 or so, retired and lives with her husband. They got Smokey and they keep him alone indoors, unvaccinated and unneutered. He's very good and no trouble at all, but I've been trying to get my mom to mention that he might want neutering and a friend, and definitely should have vaccs. Not gone well so far.

Today my mom went to see him and mentioned that when they were holding Smokey he had a really sore looking bum. She asked them about it and they said he gets a runny bum, and so they bathe his bum once a day, apply cream, and then wash it off again. My mom said it looked very sore.

I asked if he has hay and my mom said she'd never seen that he had any in all the times he'd been there :cry:. He has a nice big enclosure and they also had a run for him outside and frequently let him go in the garden for a run around. It never occurred to me that they'd be giving him that standard of care but not giving him hay. They feed him toast, carrots and scones etc. He does get veg and muesli/pellets, but apparently very little to no hay.

I'm not sure what to do. My mom said maybe she should ring and explain about the hay. I said she should try, but unfortunately it's a very difficult situation as she's a customer of my moms and I can't go upsetting her.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about letting her know/educating her without being offensive? I really don't think my mom will be happy if I do anything to upset her, but I can't say/do nothing!
 
I did think about popping round with some hay, readigrass and pellets and saying N&T didn't like it. But if she's feeding him veg etc, Smokey is likely going to turn his nose up at hay and then she'll say 'Oh but he didn't like it'. But turning up with a load of food and leaflets about diet looks really insulting and I have to tread carefully :oops:

P.S, there's absolutely no way I can offer to take this bunny on.
 
I did think about popping round with some hay, readigrass and pellets and saying N&T didn't like it. But if she's feeding him veg etc, Smokey is likely going to turn his nose up at hay and then she'll say 'Oh but he didn't like it'. But turning up with a load of food and leaflets about diet looks really insulting and I have to tread carefully :oops:

P.S, there's absolutely no way I can offer to take this bunny on.

maybe say that feeding him this and that could help with the runny bum problem? (if it can?)
 
maybe say that feeding him this and that could help with the runny bum problem? (if it can?)

Yeah I'd definitely put that in there if I went to see her. Problem is I think I've only met her about 3 times in my entire life :oops:. Really don't think she'd take too kindly to me turning up and preaching at her :( I'm only trying to do what's best for Smokey and to help, but I'm pretty sure most people would be offended if someone turned up and said they were doing everything wrong.

What I don't get is Smokey is being treated by a vet for ear mites, so how can the vet have not picked up on this? He must have prescribed the bum cream too...

I'm thinking perhaps there's just no telling her :/
 
Fed scones? :shock:

That's a really tricky situation. Maybe your mum could go round and say that you have bunnies and have experience of dodgy bunny tums and that you had some tips/suggestions for them to try? I had to try this with my ex's nan, who had her pair on muelsi that wasn't even muesli just a bag of horrible seeds and a few green bits :? and no hay. Totally diff situation I know but in the end I bought her a bag of A&P pellets and a bale of hay and just told her that it was better to give the hay and small amount of pellets to try and calm the tums down instead of all the carrot and apple. I also went on about the teeth and tried to use the price of a dental (£250 at my local vet) to bribe them into giving more hay. It worked but as it is my Ex's nan I have no idea if she's stuck to it :?

You'd think her vet would have suggested Vaccination when he went for ear mite treatment!

Good luck with whatever you try to do :)
 
Could your mum say something like 'my daughter had that problem with her rabbit, turns out she was feeding too many pellets/carrot/whatever and not enough hay'.

Even if that's not your actual experience it might come across more 'yeah we had that problem, here's how we fixed it' rather than 'you should do this, this and this'.
 
Could your mum say something like 'my daughter had that problem with her rabbit, turns out she was feeding too many pellets/carrot/whatever and not enough hay'.

Even if that's not your actual experience it might come across more 'yeah we had that problem, here's how we fixed it' rather than 'you should do this, this and this'.

I agree with this approach. It sounds like the bunny is really loved but that the people just don't realize that they are feeding him wrong. Maybe the vet isn't a rabbit savvy vet either. If the people are washing him everyday and putting on bum cream every days but it isn't working then I would think that they might appreciate some helpful advice from a fellow bunny owner who has " experienced the same sort pf problem". Your mom might say something like I know that my daughter had a simular problem with her rabbit and that she finally got it straightened out. If they sound interested then she could offer to have you call or come round to tell them exactly what you did for your rabbit.
 
Why dont you pop round, (you could get your Mum to ring and let them know)
Say that you have heard lots about her bun and you would like to meet him and that your Mum has told you about his runny bottom, take him a present, a little hamper maybe. Someone has already suggested that you say that your bunny had a runny bottom before too which gives you the opportunity to get onto and discuss the subject.

I think that any bun lover will be really pleased with that and because 'your bun had it too' it wont make them feel like your judging them or anything.

Good luck.

It would be great if you could do something, there are times when we all want to help but cant but I think in this case, you can
 
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