Where did your first rabbit come from?

[Tamsin]

I thought it might be interesting to find out... please vote in the poll above and feel free to add comments as well.

Note: Votes are annoymous :)

Tam

[anon101]

Mine came from a farm. My farther was doing an electrical job and the farmer mentioned he had two Rabbit's looking for new homes as his kids had lost interest. So my farther brought the pair home for me and my sister.

We didnt have them long as they both died of Mxyi a few weeks later! :o(

Louise

[Lizzie]

Aaaaw, Louise, that's sad, if you were young it must have been very upsetting....well, let's face it, doesn't matter what age you are it is still upsetting but you know what I mean!

My Charlie came from a garden centre outside of Gloucester: I happened to be in there with my mum one day and saw this friendly little black chap with one white paw, just didn't look as though anyone wanted him as he was already around 20 weeks old......well, what could a girl do? He had to come and live here with us didn't he??!!! And I will confess that I knew absolutely nothing at all about rabbit care but, boy, I have I learnt a lot since I got him. It was my intention in the beginning for him to live outdoors but, first of all, I couldn't leave him out all night and, somehow, after he just became a house rabbit. He is a very special boy and is soooo cuddly.

[Karen2]

My first bun came fronm a wildllife trust..they bred rabbits to help raise funds for the wildlife??????....you live and learn. I was also told she was definatley a boy, even though I wasn't sure nluckikly she was named Charlie so it just went to Charli girl. The nest 11or 12 were from RNGP but I must admit I got an Agouti french lop Clifford from a breeder as I really wanted one and when I lost him I bought Taya from a breder ...if I hadn't she would have been bred from, after I lost Clifford the frenchy after 3 weeks of illnes ....eventually we thouyght he had turned the corner and was much better..back to his normal cheeky self when he suddenly died pver night. We ahd a pm onhimand it turned out he twisted his liver and ripped it. :cry: He was 7 months old

[Karen2]

My first bun came fronm a wildllife trust..they bred rabbits to help raise funds for the wildlife??????....you live and learn. I was also told she was definatley a boy, even though I wasn't sure nluckikly she was named Charlie so it just went to Charli girl. The nest 11or 12 were from RNGP but I must admit I got an Agouti french lop Clifford from a breeder as I really wanted one and when I lost him I bought Taya from a breder ...if I hadn't she would have been bred from, after I lost Clifford the frenchy after 3 weeks of illnes ....eventually we thouyght he had turned the corner and was much better..back to his normal cheeky self when he suddenly died pver night. We ahd a pm onhimand it turned out he twisted his liver and ripped it. :cry: He was 7 months old

[Towsbuns]

Alfie was advertised in the local supermarket as needing a new home, a year old, neutered and complete with hutch. We went to have a look at him and he was in the most tiny of hutches you could imagine so I couldn't leave him there. That weekend cost me a fortune as he immediately had a new hutch and run. We had him for five wonderful years and lost him this June while we were on holiday.

[bunnytales]

:D My First Bunny Buffy came from our local Petstore - a total impulse buy - went out for a loaf of bread and came back with a bunny!! - my hubby was not impressed at the time but now he is totally bonkers about her!

I remember so well picking her up and having our first cuddle and you know the feeling fellow rabbiters - "love and first sight" -
She was originally housed with our Guinea Pigs (Yep - you live and learn!!) until she was around 8 months old and then when she was spayed she came into the house and spent some time free range and has been a House Bunny ever since. I learned soooo much during those first months and then later after reading so much on the Internet decided to get her a Buddy - by then I'd been reading so much about the plight of bunnies that I visited our local RSPCA - walked through the door to the Bunny area and their he was - those big brown eyes and what a mischevious nature - Dillon was mine!! - Buffy and Dillon were a perfect match together and totally joined at the hip!! - sadly we lost Dillon earlier in the Year but Buffs is now bonded with Cagney and is now again a very happy content bunny.

I'm glad I went out for that loaf of bread - and even though life with bunnies seem to be a constant roller coaster - the ride is well worth it.

:bunny:

[Adele]

Oh "crumbs" Lany that tale brought a tear to my eye......and we can totally relate to this, as my husband went Christmas shopping one year and came back with bags of food and a box...inside was a tiny grey Netherland Dwarf baby, that David had taken pity on in a garden centre..it was cold weather, and all the other bunnies had been sold to forever homes....so "MISTLETOE" came into our lives and our home, and now 7 years is younger than ever, and still gets up to all kinds of mischief..he adores watching The Simpsons on television..a rabbit with good taste hey(!??)
:lol:

[bunnytales]

:lol: Ah Ah - Rascal Adele - I must stop posting these threads that make folks reach for the Kleenex - but you know Buffy has a special bond with her Aunt Adele.

I loved the story about Mistletoe - thats lovely and so well named!! - that David - what is he like - just don't ever send us both out shopping together then matety - lordy knows what we might come back with!!!!!!

Over and Out

[without_halo]

In total I have had 4 rabbits in my entire life.. 1st one I have no idea where my mum and dad got him from (ran away when we move house). 2nd one was from my aunts rabbits that had breed together (died he was about 3 years old). The 3rd and 4th we brought from a pet shop. If I can convince hubby I would love to get another bonded pair, this time from a rescue centre.

[Rexy bexy]

hi
my very first bunnies were from a pet shop but never again i had nothing but troubel with them.
i still have the one who is 4 1/2 years old but the other died at the age of 2 1/2 from bridging of the spine and i nuresd her for months but in the end she just gave up
i now bye from breeders or my own bread and since i have had no probs
all breeders i know r in the brc and are all willing to help and give good advice
becky

[Adele]

Hi there Rebecca..thank you for your story too, sorry you had such a sad experience.
You have a raised a good point that Breeders connected to the BRC can give good advise about rabbit care too, and these pure breeds tend to have less health problems , coming from generation after generation of good healthy stock.
:D

[happybunny]

Hi,

My first bunny came from my sisters neighbour.

They had bought their children a bunny each which they were told by the pet shop were both female. One turned out to be male and a few weeks later the female had a litter. I had just moved in with my boyfriend so Smokey became our first baby.

I convinced my other half she should stay indoors until she got used to us. He never had the heart to put her outside.

She loved attention and would bite your jeans is you ignored her or would jump up on the sofa to sit next to you. If you were eating cocolate she would try and pinch the wrapper. She was adorable!

Unfortunately she had a lot of problems with her teeth and she never came around from her 6th operation, she was 4. She is the reason I feel in love with bunnies.

[telekin]

I'm still on my first bun, The Dude (http://www.telekin.co.uk/dude/).

I got her two years ago from a village show near where I live. She was all caged up on display with her Ma, standing on her back legs and looking all inquisitive (I remember likening it to her doing a wheelie). Me and my girlfriend (as she was then, don't get me started on it!) snapped up the opportunity to bring her home and haven't looked back since.

I got custody and she now lives indoors with me, distracting me from my work.

It's weird because my younger sister used to keep rabbits when she was little (I think she got through about 7 or so), and became a vegetarian because of it. At the time I didn't really understand that due to the onset of adolescence and all that that entails, but now I find myself owning a rabbit and not eating meat because of it.

And that's not to say my sister was years ahead of me. I mean, you should see her now!

[LurcherGirl]

My first bunny Casper came from then called Petsmart... unfortunately I only learnt afterwards that many pets from there were ill and died within a short time after purchase... just like my baby Casper! This was over six years ago... for the last three years, all my pets have been adopted as rescues (with the exception of my cockatiel).

[Heather]

I got Bunny (my first) from focus do it all (pet section).

Wouldn't do it again though have had more satisfaction from rescuing!

[Terri]

our first rabbit chinaski came to us nearly a year ago, he was bought for my mums friends granddaughter who soon lost intrest, so i got a phone call from my mum asking if i wanted a rabbit i said no , mum said do you want a rabbit, i said no, this went on for a few mins until she wore me down and i said ok we will have the rabbit. Well this lovely mini lop came to us with a tiny cage, i had asked if he was nuetered and they did not know :shock: i turned him upside down and no he was not, he also had sores on his face and his bits. Next morning we took him for a health check and the poor we sole had syphillis(sp), so in the space of a week he was nuetered, treated to an indoor hutch that is never used and an outdoor hutch and i was about £250.00 poorer,but with no regrets.

Terri

[shushubat]

I used to live in a semi-rural area and there was a swap meet that had a lot of animal vendors. My wife went and felt bad for the baby rabbits that had to sit in little cramped cages. She brought one home and suddenly I had another pet.

[Charlie]

I got Dandi (who is my first rabbit) from a shop called Posh Paws. I never actually saw her until my dad bought her, because I couldn't get into the shop, but I went to the shop and waited in the car when she was bought, and she was moving around in the pet carrier in the back of the car. When my dad showed her to me, she certianly looked like a Dandilion, or Dandi for short! :wink:

[Thumps]

Ok, all my bunnies are from pet shops. Most of them from the same pet shop!! Oscar was an agouti Dwarf Lop who had some bizarre habits, he unfortunately passed away at 2 ish, Jasper was his partner in crime. She is still with me and very healthy and living it up at 6 years old. Apart from having a few saggy bits here and there you wouldn't think she is 6.
Although I have had bunnies in my life for 6 years I didn't know a thing about resuce until about 4 years ago and even then finding a rescue around Aberdeen was difficult, there just simply wasn't a rescue around.
I have discovered in the last year or so that Mrs Murray's Cat and Dog home do rehome rabbits for the SSPCA here. They won't look at me for rehoming though as my lot are strictly indoors and I have no access to a garden anymore (when I asked an employee why rabbits are to outdoor homes only the reply was simply cause they belong outside! They also quite happily hand rabbits over as kids pets with no homechecks would actually call them a rescue as such) If I was to go there weekend after weekend I may be lucky enough to find a rabbit which has come in as a house rabbit, which they may consider rehoming to me! Other than Mrs Murrays there is PAWSS, somewhere around here but um...... thats as far as rescue goes in Aberdeen well to my knowledge.

Angela

[Tamsin]

Rabbit Rescues do seem quite thin on the ground in Scotland. There is Lynda in Angus, Thumpers in Fraserburgh and Animal Ark in Inverness. Still a couple of hours to the closest though!!

Tam

[kathryn]

my first bun was one that i handreared from when she was less then 24 hours old. I work at a vet as a trainee vet nurse and a man bought her in after she had been attacked by a rabbit. It was really hard work handrearing her but worth every minute. Almost lost her at 3 weeks as she had bloat and i was injecting her, syringe feeding her gavisgon and pineapple juice and giving her prepulsid tablets. She pulled through though and is now a spoilt little monster :roll: and have since aquired another rescue bun through the vets.

[Thumps]

Rabbit Rescues do seem quite thin on the ground in Scotland. There is Lynda in Angus, Thumpers in Fraserburgh and Animal Ark in Inverness. Still a couple of hours to the closest though!!

Tam
Think Fraserburgh is the closest but you haven't seen me take bunny to the vet, Im not sure who's stressed me or bunny :lol: Think rescue remedy might work for bunny, I'd need a bottle of gin :lol: I am currently working on getting some contact details for PAWSS. My main problem seems to be that having no garden rescues aren't interested.

Angela

[beck]

My first bunny Hoppy I got through the small ads in the local paper. He was at a small holding that mum and litter had been left at. They had been left in a cardboard box on her doorstep.

My current rabbit Blueberry is from a breeder, I wanted a Frenchie or Giant, and as a well known animal shelter was rather funny about me wanting a houserabbit rather than outdoor bun, I decided to go to a breeder as I felt that was a better option than a pet shop.

Since finding rabbit rehome website I have discovered a local rescue that I am going to when I get a companion for Blueberry.

[shazlew]

i would be amazed to know what everyones first rabbit was ?
i am shocked that most come from pet shops!
as even though many pet owners will cane a breeder for selling to a petshop they got there first bun there!
also i will say this again even though i say it everywhere 95% of pet shop rabbits do not come from proper show breeders they are from the idiot pet owner who breeds mix breed to a pole say!
then the breeders who care will take the backlash!
no but if anyone sees fit be very intrested to know what sort of bun they got for them still to be keeping buns now must of been a nice breed!

[Tamsin]

I don't think its that surprising where people got their first bun from as petshops are the most visible option. When I first got a bun I didn't know about the existance of the BRC and tended to think of breeders as people that supplied petshops. I hasen to add I've learnt a lot since!!!!

Rescues weren't really on my radar either, I knew they existed but it didn't really occur to me that they would have rabbits.

I think you'll find though that where people got their second or later rabbits from may be quite different. For comparision shall we try that next?

Tam

[Adele]

[quote="Tamsin"

I think you'll find though that where people got their second or later rabbits from may be quite different. For comparision shall we try that next?

Tam[/quote]

That is a good idea Tamsin and it will be interesting to compare the results :D

[shazlew]

[and tended to think of breeders as people that supplied petshops. I hasen to add I've learnt a lot since!!!!

yes much has changed since then but and a big but breeders do and always sell to pet shops :(
problem i have with that if i was to sell some of my babies to a pet shop then mine would be healthy well weaned stock!
same as many breeders but you will always find the backyard breeder selling its underaged sick unweaned kits on which gives many breeders bad names!
also many dont care what type of cross they sell on which has a lot to do with why so many people end up with scared spiteful rabbits which then get dumped in rescue centres!
i guess you all must all of got good buns first time or many wouldnt be here now a? :D

[Tamsin]

I don't think cross breeds particularly have bad temprements, although you of course don't have the benefit of knowing the usual characteristics of the breed. I think the problem is often back yard breeders that supply petshops with large numbers of cross breeds don't do as much/any handling as apposed to a breeder just producing a few litters a year when all the babies get individual attention. Once bunnies that end up in rescues have had some tlc they usually turn into wonderful pets as I'm sure many of the members with cross breed buns can attest :D

Tam

[shazlew]

coming off topic breed has a lot to do with how bun turns out you can handle a polish from birth they aint turning nice for no one :?
put that into something else and man you have problems rex too they are stroppy as are dutch nethies and yep lionheads they can be gits :?
so yes these people who sell there offsrping to pet shops and no breed background as such no amount of handlings gonna change how they are!
my best rabbits are the nasty maybe cos noone else wants them i dont know but i have tried and its dont alwasy work!

[smallbrownfrog]

what a lot of interesting stories.

it's worrying that pets get sold often to people trying to 'do the right thing' and 'save' an animal coz they feel sorry for it, not realizing this in inflaiming the problem.

i have printed out the poster from the rabbit re-home site and put this up where i can (vets etc) to try to raise awairness, but generally people seem to remain quite unaware!

my first rabbit came from Uncle Sausage, a clown at Butlins. i was very young! at the start of his act he asked the audience if anyone wanted a rabbit for free. i put up my hand and was chosen. i can still remember my glee and the look on my mother's face!!! after the show i was taken backstage to chose a bun. there were 4or 5 in a litter tray on the floor and i chose a albino netherland dwarf. she stayed in the cardboard box she was handed to us in for the last few days of our holiday. poor girl. my family named her Pie. it was a good long while before i relised what they were calling her! and quickly changed her name to fudgee.


when we got her home we soom found out she was pregnant! bad clown!!! :x

so my second and third rabbits were from this litter. my next 8 rabbits came along soon after. we had kept fudgee and 2 kits, one of which had been wrongly sexed and was a boy!!

unfortunatly my parents had never heard of a rabbit being neutered!!

[Sage]

We got Branwen from our nearest rabbit rescue, I felt those bunnies deserve more love because of their rough start. So I dragged my Mum and brother along to the rescue and found there was only one rabbit there. She had been dumped at six weeks old, then brought to the rescue and was there until Febuary when we adopted her. Poor little girlie didn't even have a name. We fell for her in an instant and I named her the first thing that sprang to mind (Branwen of course).
Three days later we brought her home and she settled in quite happily.

Now I will always get rescue rabbits.