Bess&George
Warren Scout
Hello everyone,
I now find myself in the situation I have dreaded for the past five years since the beginning of my rabbit ownership; I am left with just one if not elderly fairly mature rabbit.
George and Bess came from a rescue, and sadly we had to let Bess go recently after months of ill health.
We're left with Bess's son, George, who now lives alone outside. My husband is adamant that we should not get another rabbit to keep him company as we'd just end up with an endless cycle of rabbits. I do agree with him, to some extent at least, as Bess was my soul bunny, she was such a loving gentle creature, and for me the joy in rabbit ownership has gone with her. Also for practical reasons I am reluctant to get another rabbit, George is almost 6 and if you get another rabbit of similar age and life expectancy, you would not be able to insure them. Over the years I have claimed probably £3000 in insurance, and would not go without one.
Moving George indoors is also not an option. Even if we overlook the fact the we haven't got much space and George is very destructive (he used to live indoors) he really isn't a people's bunny. He tolerates me as his food source but he doesn't particularly like being stroked or spending time with any of us, not even now that he's a lone bunny. I always (secretly) wished that Bess would be the rabbit we'd be left with in the end, she loved spending time with us and used to come and sit in the living room with us when we were watching tv when they lived indoors, whereas George stayed away, so moving her back indoors would have been a natural choice.
But most importantly, the main reason I decided to move the rabbits outside a couple of years ago was that George was always sneezing and snotty when living indoors. I'm not sure what it was, dust, snuffles, central heating or just stress of having to live so close to people, but he was always on and off antibiotics due to poor health. But once he moved outside he was instantly better and hasn't even sneezed since and just loves living outside.
So I'm at loss with what I should do with him. My husband thinks we should rehome him but I'm quite reluctant to burden the already overstretched rescues. I imagine a 6 year old large REW who doesn't like people that much would be hard to rehome.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I have heard of some rescues offering bunnies for long-term fostering for this exact situation, but don't know who actually does that. We're based in London in case anyone has any suggestions.
Thank you for reading, sorry it's so long.
I now find myself in the situation I have dreaded for the past five years since the beginning of my rabbit ownership; I am left with just one if not elderly fairly mature rabbit.
George and Bess came from a rescue, and sadly we had to let Bess go recently after months of ill health.
We're left with Bess's son, George, who now lives alone outside. My husband is adamant that we should not get another rabbit to keep him company as we'd just end up with an endless cycle of rabbits. I do agree with him, to some extent at least, as Bess was my soul bunny, she was such a loving gentle creature, and for me the joy in rabbit ownership has gone with her. Also for practical reasons I am reluctant to get another rabbit, George is almost 6 and if you get another rabbit of similar age and life expectancy, you would not be able to insure them. Over the years I have claimed probably £3000 in insurance, and would not go without one.
Moving George indoors is also not an option. Even if we overlook the fact the we haven't got much space and George is very destructive (he used to live indoors) he really isn't a people's bunny. He tolerates me as his food source but he doesn't particularly like being stroked or spending time with any of us, not even now that he's a lone bunny. I always (secretly) wished that Bess would be the rabbit we'd be left with in the end, she loved spending time with us and used to come and sit in the living room with us when we were watching tv when they lived indoors, whereas George stayed away, so moving her back indoors would have been a natural choice.
But most importantly, the main reason I decided to move the rabbits outside a couple of years ago was that George was always sneezing and snotty when living indoors. I'm not sure what it was, dust, snuffles, central heating or just stress of having to live so close to people, but he was always on and off antibiotics due to poor health. But once he moved outside he was instantly better and hasn't even sneezed since and just loves living outside.
So I'm at loss with what I should do with him. My husband thinks we should rehome him but I'm quite reluctant to burden the already overstretched rescues. I imagine a 6 year old large REW who doesn't like people that much would be hard to rehome.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I have heard of some rescues offering bunnies for long-term fostering for this exact situation, but don't know who actually does that. We're based in London in case anyone has any suggestions.
Thank you for reading, sorry it's so long.