Rabbits and Children

While I agree, a rabbit is not necessarily the best pet for a child, especially where their many health issues are concerned but (and you can shout at me if you like :lol: :lol: ) in defence of the child that so many of you label as brats etc, I would like to say that it is not the childs fault but the parents who are responsible for how they bring their child up and so, what ever the parents views are in life, will altermately be bestowed upon the child :wink:

I have to say that, I had excellent parents who taught me how to love and respect our beloved pets, and I have taught my children to do the same and have/would trust them whole heartedly with any of our family pets at the age that they are now They know to call my sister or mother in case of any emergency but at the end of the day, it is we, who, as parents teach our children that lays the foundation for future generations :wink:

when I hear 'the child got bored' senario, while I feel sorry for the animal that has ended up in care, I feel more angry at the parents than the child as it is the parents that are ultimately responsible for this situation arising :evil: not all anger can be placed upon the child Every young child will want everything they see as they grow up but a responsible adult would also not give in to such tantrums as they are aware that, life is not all take and screaming should not automatically mean the child gets :wink: Maybe I am a strict parent :shock: :lol: :lol:

Inevitably, it will be a slow process to turn things around with regards to petshops and this site really does get you thinking but, what if rescues, petshops and alike who sold live stock also required contact details of a vet and references before purchasing the animal If the potential new owner has never kept a pet before then it could be a case of ringing the petshop/rescue etc with the details of their vet with whom they have registered with a few days later after settling the pet in at home :wink:

Many irresponsible adults may be put off by this sort of scheme, and as we all know, you will very rarely go 6 months without seeing the vet with a rabbit so vets could actually keep records like dentists do, after all, if your bun is fit and well, it will need a trip to the vets as it will need its vaccinations :wink: this would monitor bun as well as parental responsibility to the rabbit even if it is a childs pet :wink:

OK, you can all chuck your eggs and tomato's at me now for sticking up for children :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Good points.

Had I demanded a rabbit as a child you can bet that either I wouldn't get one, or I wouldn't have been fed until I'd cleaned it out and fed it - I agree that it's largely down to how well the child has been raised.

well denny i definity wont chuck eggs or tomatoes at you! :lol:

i totally agree with you! how the hell is it the childs thought! why would you expect a child to know the value to life! when most adults dont!

it is 100% down to the parents, i have seen adults buy rabbits ans then say they need to get rid of the bun because they have not got the time to care for it! :twisted: should have thought of that before!

i have children and rabbits, but the rabbits are mine and my children know it! they have been taught to respect the animals! and now do so willingly, and feel that they have been taught a valuable lesson and will grow up to be caring individuals being around animals but also it hells because they see the pleasures of what a animal can bring without the responsiblitly to have to look after them, in saying that they also see how hard it is too look after them!

they have rescently asked me for a kitten, and when i say no because i am not prepared to look after it because of my reponsilbilty to my rabbits they totally understood! bless them and they are only 7 and 3!

parents use the children as an excuse to get rid of the animals! because oltimately they know it was there responsilbilty in the first place and if they didnt they should not even have the right to children which are the biggest responsablitly anyone has!!!


eve x

I agree with you as well denny, My next door nieghbour has four rabbits (They started with two thinking they had two sisters they ended up with brother and sister which of course had babies they kept two) which belong to their young childern who are aged three, five and six, and they have really taught their childern well they have been handling them since day one and still do to this day, they are always playing with them and feeding them of course the parents clean them out but are still showing them what to do when its come time for them to do it, the kids are great with them!!

There have many a time i have been to my local petshop to pick up feed only to hear childern screaming and crying the want a hamster or a rabbit the parents giving in just to shut the child up and then saying when they get to the check out 'anther animal for me to feed and clean out then' well why get it for them? if you know it will be always down to you to look after them why do it!! those people annoy me if you can't be bothered to show your child how to look after these pets and you can't be bothered either don't do it, it will be the animal that suffers in the end not you!! :x

I've got a few aunts/uncles in my family that have young children..

In particular two sisters. They have a Dutch Rabbit. Have had her about twp years now There are still as interested in her as they where the day the got her. The both share cleaning out/feeding etc. The Rabbit is allowed in the house and is litter trained. Even mum and dad get involved. She is a real family Rabbit and is spoilt rotten. I believe the way they look after this Rabbit is mainly down to the parents. Mom thoroughly researched Rabbits before she got the children one and talked to the children about it telling them what responsibilities would be involved etc.

On the other hand some other children in my family have just been bought two young Rabbits as the youngest child thought they looked cute. They have already had problems with the Rabbits as one of them got a bad case of the runs and got terribly dehydrated. The mom refused to take the Rabbit to the Vets as it cost too much and nursed the Rabbit as home. Luckily the Rabbit survived. It was then discovered that the water bottle was broken and the Rabbits couldn’t get any water. The parents obviously hadn’t been supervising the young children and the water bottle problem had gone unnoticed for several days.

I regularly send Rabbit care leaflets to both these families and when I see them offer advice and answer any Rabbit related questions.

I am a big believer in that a parent’s attitude can have a huge difference on the welfare of an animal, as my experiences show above.

A child cant possible be made totally responsible for a living animal. At the end of the day its down to the parent to take overall responsibly and make sure things are been done correctly.

Louise

I have to say i agree as well, i do not know what as to say to that.
I have to say i had hamsters and gerbils as pets when i was younger and it was my mum and dad who ended up looking after them because i got bored. They never taught me right from wrong when it came to animal care, so i didn't know what to do. It is the parents fault i have to agree.

We all learn from the examples we are set, did anyone see the behaviour programme on channel 4 last night, if you did then enough said.
As a nursery nurse i see many spoilt children who's demands are met by guilty parents and i feel so sorry for them because they will grow up without respect, pride or values.

I completly agree with you denny i have always had pets scinec being years old (my parents had dogs before i was born ad still do) My mum taught me to love respect and care for my animals and i always have done, if i did'nt want to go a feed, clean or water the animals when i was little my mum would always make me or come out with me and help me, i had lots of friends as a child who had piggies, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits and so on and when the children got bored the parents would never take any responsibility for the animals and they would either be left at the bottom of the garden or sent to a centre. a 5 year old child can not be held responsible for a pet if the parents are not willing to look after it when and if the child does get bored then they should not buy there children pets. My parents when i was small like many others took responsibility for the animals in our house so although me and my sisters cleaned them out feed them played with them it was always my mum, who on occasion had to coax us into doing the things the animals needed and if we were sick or down right stubbourn enough to refuse she would do it for us! To this day if i go away atall (which is never) My mum and dad still look after all my pets for me.

I think children should learn to respect life and take responsibility, i had dogs, cats and hamsters as a child, and looked after them well.

however, before a parent chooses to bring an animla to the house, they must want it themselves, for a child cannot pay for food, vet bills, essentials, so the parent must agreee to sole responsibility, and encouridge the child to help out as much as possible.

Well thats my two cents anyway.

I agree! Children learn by example and the pets should primarily be the parents responsibility, they will soon learn how to treat them with respect if this is how the parents act.

p.s. Mark, I saw the Channel 4 programme last night - OH MY GOD! :shock:

Completely agree with you and wish parents would act more responsibly in bringing their children up. I'm a secondary school teacher and teach kids with few or no manners and little respect for anything. I have to switch off when they mention animals, as i never know what I'm going to hear. I'd love to try and educate them about it, but they don't listen. They follow the actions of their parents.
Excellent idea to have your potential pet already registered at the vet before taking it home. It would certainly deter "impulse buying" of pets.
Incidentally, I have had eggs and tomatoes chucked at me and my house for a prolonged period by these very children who have not had a decent upbringing. These parents have alot to answer to.

uhuh im a child so i agree!! i wanted a rabbit since i was old enough to know what one was!! and i begged my parents, but they said no thank god! i would never have looked after it if they'd let me, so first when i was 10 i wanted one soo badly that they looked into it along with my help we found out lots, but they decided it was too much work for me right then, instead they got me a hamster and told me that if i looked after that hamster then they would conside letting me have a rabbit, that hamster was soo spoiled!! the best looked after hamster around and after a year or so, we looked round for more information and mum decided that she'd be willing to let me have one and she knew that she actually wanted one too and would take on the responsibility if i did not want it anymore. so we got dusty!! and now we also have 6 more :lol: but i totally agree its down to the parents!!!

well that was a nice response or are you all saving your eggs and tomato's :lol: :lol: :lol:

we were never allowed a dog when I was young as my parents said it was not fair on the dog as we were all out all day (school and work) My mom had always wanted a yorkshire terrier but dad always said that they would when they both retired but sadly, my dad passed away in 2001 and ironically, a couple of months after his passing, my sister saw an add in the newsagents window, free to good home a terrier :shock: we went to have a look and low and behold he was a yorkie we think it was dad sending his last gift to mom :wink:

Lovely story Denny.
I had my first dog when I was seven after whittling my parents for several years prior to that. My mum was at home whilst he was a pup but did work in the afternoons when I was 11. It was always my first job when I got in from school to walk him and I had to walk him every morning too. I would never have dreamed of not walking him. We also had a few cats, all abandoned or unwanted kittens or something but despite us not having alot of money, all our animals were neutered.
My kids understand that a pet is a responsibility, my daughter is especially good with the rabbits and if I am due to be late home from work, it is her I will ask to exercise them and feed them, she has told me if their poops are not normal and if she thinks that one bun is looking quiet.
The kids would love a dog but we are not 100% sure yet and may wait a year or two.

Me and my sister each had a hamster when we were younger (I was early teens, she was younger), Honey and Pepper. Pepper was mine, she was the smaller one. We put them in a cage together as didn't know any better and they fought like maniacs. We didn't know why because no one told us you couldn't keep them together. Stupidly the petshop where we got them did not encourage us to but TWO cages, so we let this go on for a while before eventually separating them.

I still have HUGE pangs of guilt that I let the hamsters go through this, esp Pepper as she was little and generally ended up worse off, but we really didn't know any better. My parents are fairly hopeless with animals and admit it. My mum had said she didn't want to end up doing all the cleaning out and of course she did. I feel really bad now that I am older and look back on it - I personally was nowhere near responsible enough to look after a pet at that age.

I would never buy a pet for my child, but I would buy a family pet that I was prepared to look after, and that the child could benefit from. This would teach the child how to look after animals, without expecting them to have full responsibility of looking after it (I'm talking young kids here!) I think it comes down to both the child and the parents. b-m

I'd always wanted a dog, I would have like a rabbit, but my mum wouldn't let me have either.

So when I was 14, I was finally allowed to have a hamster. I had another one after her and then chinchillas... Not once did my mum have to clean them out or even as much as remind me to look after them! The only exception being when I was on holiday or school trips etc.

So, true, not all kids are irresponsible. However, if a parent allows a child to have a pet, then they should always be prepared to look after them if the child gets bored of it!

Vera

with me pepper is my rabbit because i wanted him and my 3 no he is my rabbit the babbies we are getting tomorrow will be mine 2 i feed,clean water groom bath ect ect but all my kids no how to love him play with him they too have groomed him and fed him and also assisted me with cleaning him out the same applies to our gerbil jelly bean

i agree with all of you it is down to the parents and my mum has taught me, too look after animals brilliantly first off when i ask for animals she goes why do you want one- to her just wanting something to look after isnt a good enough answer, my answer was i think i can give them a loving home!
but i have had lots of animals in the past- i mean im still only 14 but have been brought up around animals!
on my ninth birthday i got a hamster 'nibbles' and i looked after him so well 3 years later he died and even mum cried because he was such a happy chapy then i got a rabbit which was rescued and had half of its ear bitten off (before rescued it!) well that died as at the time we never realised about jabs etc! then after that i got hamsters after hamsters!

i admit now that all hamsters i got after rabbit (about 4) was neglected because i didnt truley want them, but i have been after a rabbit for two years now and know for a fact i want one so much to give a home too- and i promise too all of you this bunnie will be loooked after soooo much!

amyxx

I bought Sooty for me primarily and to teach my children how to care for another living thing who totally relies on you. I hope in future years when they are old enough to choose an animal of their own that they will think long and hard about the care and commitment involved. i don't ask them to do anything for Sooty but they love to help through their own choice. My girls are very calm anyway so i have no problems with them being close to the bun.
An animal can't be used as an example of "See look what happens when you don't look after it!".

I totally agree too. I had to work hard as a child to show my commitment to owning a bunny, cat and pony - I wasn't just given animals/pets without though, especially as my family don't have a horsey background. It is totally the parents fault. I will certainly learn from my parents when I have kids.

I have recently rehomed a dwarf lop from a rabbit sanctury which had been given up because a child had become bored, this is not a good enough excuse. It makes me very sad that the commitment of a bunny is not thought through beforehand. My two bunnies are much harder work than my two cats and the vet bills are probably more expensive.