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 . 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!
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 . 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!