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Fostering

Vicki1180

New Kit
So, it seems I am hooked on rabbits. It didn't take long!

Recently I adopted 2 lovely buns from the RSPCA (after hijacking the husbands shed and converting it into a bunny residence). Within 3 weeks we lost one bun after a GA, which was awful. But now the remaining bun went back to the RSPCA for a short speed dating holiday, and is now home with her new friend.

And now, I have signed up as a fosterer for the RSPCA, and am super excited to have the opportunity to give some beautiful buns a lovely home, whilst they wait for their forever home :love:

Does anyone else foster? I'd be keen to hear your experiences
 
Erm my foster bun is in the next room, snuggled up with my Thor and her adoption papers are almost two years old now... :lol:

Be careful! It is sooooo easy to fall in love! Although I will admit I wanted her from the moment she arrived in the rescue I worked at, she was 'meant' to be a short term foster as she wasn't recovering from her spay very well and needed some extra tlc... I did tell my boss at the rescue that I could foster her but that I probably wouldn't be bringing her back :lol:

All my official fosters have been health related, I used to work in a rescue and it was common for staff to foster the ones that needed some extra care, I have fostered a very poorly guinea pig (I honestly didn't think she would make it, I brought her home to have some love for her final days) and was thrilled to take her back in several months later and see her bonded with a piggy friend and go off to a new home :love: I missed her but her recovery is one of the things I am most proud of! The kittens I hand fed were hard to give back, I'd only had them for a few days and they were able to be reunited with their mum so taking them back and seeing their mum slowly realise who they were and accept them was beautiful to see... But 2 day old kittens are hard work and waking up for night feeds make it hard not to get attached!

I've had a couple of very short term fosters through RU as well, they were healthy and much easier not to get too attached to, they were still rewarding to care for though.

Good luck!
 
I foster for the RSPCA, Wood Green Animal Shelter and also Bibbles Bunny Sanctuary.

It's very easy to get attached, that's the first thing you need to be aware of. I cried buckets when my first two fosters left me.

You also need to know enough about rabbits to be able to spot health issues, do basic nursing care etc and potentially have information on all aspects of rabbit welfare to hand out to potential adopters as well as being able to assess each rabbits behaviour and suitability for a range of homes. Also experience in bonding is useful. Make sure you educate yourself read as much as you can about rabbit behaviour and welfare. Make sure you join RWA and try to attend their conference and also the Frances Harcourt-brown owners day. Also do any and all training offered to you by the RSPCA. It's a steep learning curve and I had huge gaps in my knowledge when I started and spent hours and hours reading. It's also useful if you can volunteer for a rabbit rescue as they will be able to pass on a lot of knowledge to you that the RSPCA may not be able to as they are rabbit specialists. Also make use for this forum too, people on here gave me loads of advice any many of them do or have previously fostered too.

Think about hygiene as rabbits can transmit illnesses to each other without direct contact, how and with what will you clean all foster buns accommodation and toys?

Think about diet and enrichment (do you or can you add forage to their diet? Do you have enough toys or can you make enough so that you can keep a high energy bunny entertained) will their diet/routine need to be different from your own rabbits if a potential foster has special requirements and how will you deal with this? Do you have the extra time needed not just to clean and feed but also to socialise any foster rabbits and assess their behaviour.

What arrangements do you have regarding holiday cover, vets visits for foster rabbits and being reimbursed for any money you spend on them if needed.

Make sure your accommodation far exceeds those required by the organisation and also RWA especially if you will be having potential adoptive parents meeting foster buns at your home. Also have printed information regarding RWA approved housing suppliers, diet, health, websites to buy rabbit products etc available to pass on.

Good luck, fostering is amazingly rewarding :)
 
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So, it seems I am hooked on rabbits. It didn't take long!

Recently I adopted 2 lovely buns from the RSPCA (after hijacking the husbands shed and converting it into a bunny residence). Within 3 weeks we lost one bun after a GA, which was awful. But now the remaining bun went back to the RSPCA for a short speed dating holiday, and is now home with her new friend.

And now, I have signed up as a fosterer for the RSPCA, and am super excited to have the opportunity to give some beautiful buns a lovely home, whilst they wait for their forever home :love:

Does anyone else foster? I'd be keen to hear your experiences

I'm so sorry you lost your bunny - how sad :cry:

I have fostered for various rescues over the last 20 years. Yes I get attached, but all my own buns are now indoors so I know I can't have any more! My philosophy is never to keep my own rabbits penned up - in any way, be it in a shed/hutch/pen ... Therefore it's rather easier for me to let my fosters go, as they have been living outside in a very large hutch and run. Something I would never subject my own bunnies to, but essential for the majority of people who can't have them free roaming the house day and night :shock:
 
I foster for the RSPCA :wave:

I had a long stay bunny a few years back, Farore, who was with me for over a year, before she found her forever home with Hele :love:

Then I stopped fostering for a year and a bit, but this year have started again and so far have had 2 foster bunnies. I tend to get the difficult/ill ones. My first one, Ted, was a lunger and food aggressive. He stayed with me for a couple of months for a bit of one to one care to try and manage his lunging then went off and was bonded with a lovely dutch lady and has a free range indoor home now :)

My second foster, Moo, was a megacolon bunny and was very timid, thankfully I managed to tinker her diet to get her MC symptoms manageable and she came out of her shell whilst she was here, so much so that she went back to the foster co-ordinator and was bonded to another long stay bunny. They were supposed to both come back to me but sadly a few days before she was supposed to come back she become gravely ill and died in hospital :(

So it can be stressful/upsetting, but it is so very worthwhile. I was supposed to be having another foster a few weeks back but she has been in and out of hospital and is not eating at the moment, so they understandably don't want to move her.

Hopefully towards the end of summer I will have another foster bun anyway :love:
 
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