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Am I a bad bunny owner? :o(

*Red*

Mama Doe
Okay, well after being on here for two days I now feel like the worst/nastiest rabbit owner in the world!! :(

I never brought a bunny book when I got Bramble, I just took tips from my mum (who had bunnies when she was little - many years ago!) and friends who had them, and basic common sense (which now it seems I must have lacked!). Having everything from hamsters, mice, rats and guinea pigs since I was 11, I thought I'd look after my bunny just fine. And up until now I thought I was pretty much. From other posts, you've probably read that he's now indoors as of last night and he seems to be liking it. But I've obviously been doing something really wrong in terms of basic bedding and food.

Pet wood shavings have always lined the bottom of his hutch/cage, with straw in his sleeping area and hay to eat.
A bowl of standard pet shop rabbit food is always available and topped up or renewed every couple of days. He's a fussy lil sod and we've tried loads of different foods on him! Fruit and Veg I'm fine with.. I have a list of what to and not to feed and he doesn't get over fed on it because of the sugars etc.

But is everything else I've been doing all wrong? :shock:
Should he be on just straw?
Should I now have a small cat litter tray in the cage?
Should he be fed just pellets and more hay available?
I read somewhere yesterday that wood, paper or straw-based cat litters can be used if you avoid clay-based cat litters that clump and can cause intestinal obstructions?

I'm now really confused and feel really bad!

Any advice would be appreciated!
I've looked through a few topics on here.. but there's so many and I'm at work so I shouldn't really be spending hours reading through forums! :p

Thanks,
Sarah & Bramble xx
 
Ah don't feel bad - you are not a bad bunny owner. Is your rabbit healthy and well? If so, then you are doing a great job.

There are many ideas and suggestions on these forums and I think it is up to the individual owner, and their bunny, to decide what is best for them.

I tend to use this forum as a way of finding out new things and trying them if I think it's appropriate, not as a "I must do this or else I am failing my bunny" type of thing.

Bunnies are individuals too, and what works for one might not for another!!
 
Thank you, I guess you're right.

I just wanted to see if I can improve his life in any way.. and now I've come across all different ideas and opinions and it's thrown me a bit!!

He is healthy and I think happy so I must be doing something right I suppose!
 
I felt the same as you when i started on this forum.

As long as your bunny is healthy, not over or underweight and seems happy, ie bright eyed, runs about, get lots of exercise etc then thats great & hay is always available!

I put a litter tray in Alfie's hutch as it makes cleaning easier, i put hay in it but thats not right and its not wrong.
 
dont feel bad about the care you are giving your bunny . it realy doesnt matter which bedding/litter etc you use for your bunny( as long as its safe ). A bunny needs to be warm ,dry,well fed, loved , have treatment when ill and space to excersise . it sounds like your bun has all these things so im sure hes fit and happy.
then to top all that youve brought your bun inside ....i ask you what more can a bunny want.

Angie
 
Ditto! I thought I was doing great until I read this forum. I wasn't doing wrong before, but have certainly made my bunnies' lives better.
Mine have litter trays to do their business in. I no longer use shavings, basically because it's too messy :D and use newpaper, then straw and hay in the trays. Tis goes for their bedding too.
They are fed a daily ration of Allen and Page pellets, veg in the morning and evening, then hay all the time.
However, this is the way I do it, but others may disagree and do other things. The fact that you care makes you a super bunny mum! :D
 
Red says
But is everything else I've been doing all wrong?
Should he be on just straw?
Should I now have a small cat litter tray in the cage?
Should he be fed just pellets and more hay available?
I read somewhere yesterday that wood, paper or straw-based cat litters can be used if you avoid clay-based cat litters that clump and can cause intestinal obstructions?

There are lots of different ways to look after your rabbits , for a lot of things there is no right or wrong ways. Such as litter trays, you don't in theory need a litter tray and your rabbits don't really need to be litter trained. Most of us use litter trays to make life easier for themselves. Most rabbits naturally use a corner in a cage or run or indoors as their dirty area, for most people by putting a litter tray in this place it makes life easier for cleaning out, it also saves the carpet if they are indoors and helps to keep an outdoor cage cleaner, fresher and stops it rotting. The choice really is yours, but for me it does make cleaning out so much quicker and easier, I will always try and litter tray all the buns I have here. What you put in a tray can vary, somepeople use shavings, others use paper covered in hay, straw or a non clumping cat litter, the choice is yours.

I have to admit I don't use straw, my main reason is I havent the space to store a bale of hay and straw ... I use hay because it is better for them to eat and helps to keep their teeth and gut in working order. Straw on the other hand has very little nutritious value but can be more insulating than hay. They can live without straw but hay should be a large part of their diet.

I feed my buns, pellets (rather than a mix), hay and more hay.

You are a good bunny owner because you are trying to find out what is best for your bun, you give him attention, love, food, water, bedding, excercise and seek help from the professionals when they are ill. A bad owner leaves their bun at the end of the garden locked in a small cage, they feed them when they remember and hope that their illnesses go away.

Don't condemn yourself, learn everything you can and pass on your knowledge to any other bunny people that you can.

Janice
 
I'll tell you a secret ;) Virtually everyone on here started feeling the same way! If it sounds like we're all know it all bunny owners it's only because we've had a bit of practice.

In a few weeks you'll be helping out all the newbies to the forum with how to look after their bunnies and they'll be thinking what an excellent owner you are :D

Tam
 
*Red* said:
Okay, well after being on here for two days I now feel like the worst/nastiest rabbit owner in the world!! :(

I never brought a bunny book when I got Bramble, I just took tips from my mum (who had bunnies when she was little - many years ago!) and friends who had them, and basic common sense (which now it seems I must have lacked!). Having everything from hamsters, mice, rats and guinea pigs since I was 11, I thought I'd look after my bunny just fine. And up until now I thought I was pretty much. From other posts, you've probably read that he's now indoors as of last night and he seems to be liking it. But I've obviously been doing something really wrong in terms of basic bedding and food.

Pet wood shavings have always lined the bottom of his hutch/cage, with straw in his sleeping area and hay to eat.
A bowl of standard pet shop rabbit food is always available and topped up or renewed every couple of days. He's a fussy lil sod and we've tried loads of different foods on him! Fruit and Veg I'm fine with.. I have a list of what to and not to feed and he doesn't get over fed on it because of the sugars etc.

But is everything else I've been doing all wrong? :shock:
Should he be on just straw?
Should I now have a small cat litter tray in the cage?
Should he be fed just pellets and more hay available?
I read somewhere yesterday that wood, paper or straw-based cat litters can be used if you avoid clay-based cat litters that clump and can cause intestinal obstructions?

I'm now really confused and feel really bad!

Any advice would be appreciated!
I've looked through a few topics on here.. but there's so many and I'm at work so I shouldn't really be spending hours reading through forums! :p

Thanks,
Sarah & Bramble xx

Don't worry hunnybun you sound like a really caring loving person! The fact that you have signed up and been open about how you look after your bun (which isn’t wrong by the way) just shows your love. I pretty much look after Toby the same way, and I have kept rabbits for years! Toby only has a cage with no litter tray (he probably wouldn't know what to do with it anyway :roll: back in his day it was just a cage corner :lol: ) As for food, I only feed Toby on mix because his a fussy ****** as well. As long as your bunny is loved and healthy that is all that matters.
 
As the others have said you care as we all do and thats the most important thing.

I was just like you to start and found things had changed from when I last cared for bunnies and so we learnt as we went on.

Ive found litter trays are just easy esp pellets just way less messy I dont suppose Dylan and silky care a bit.

As for straw again Ive just found vet bed cleaner and easier to clean plus dont have to keep buying it. Also Dyl got mites and the first time the vet said avoid dodgy hay as it harbours loads and use paper.

The real important thing is hay as the theory says this keeps their teeth worn down and they should eat grass. I was giving too much food and silkys teeth started to get a little bit too unworn and was told to feed only a handful a day of pellets and lots and lots of hay. But then I read that a lot of teeth problems are heriditary so you never know.....

I think mine would be happiest hopping around the garden all day and all night all weathers except for the foxes and the rats but thats another story......
 
Boy Do We Know Where Your Coming From :lol: :lol: :lol:


WELCOME TO THE BUNNY WORRY CLUB :D :D :D


ENJOY!!!!!!!!



Maureen
 
Hee hee.. thank you.

I feel a lot better now and have completely re-vamped his home which he's refusing to come out of at the moment even though the door's been open for the last hour or so and he's got free range of the whole of upstairs!

So he either loves it, is sulking for some reason or is ill! But I'm hoping it's not that!
 
The way you keep your bunny sounds fine to me! Just think about how some bunnies are kept. Locked in a tiny hutch all day, just having a bit of food thrown in every now and again, hardly ever cleaned out and left sitting in their own mess. Now thats what I would class as a bad bunny owner!

Sooty doesn't have a hutch, she sleeps in a pet carrier, with door taken off, stuffed with hay! She has the run of the conservatory. Tinkerbell has the run of the downstairs of the house during the day or when the weather is warmer, has half of the bottom bit of the garden to run round. She sleeps in a hutch in the conservatory at night which has sawdust in it, loads of hay, but no litter tray. They both eat rabbit mix cos neither of them will touch pellets. They have veg daily and sometimes have fruity rabbit treats :shock:

Although the way my bunnies live may not be 100% correct, they are both happy and this to me is the most important thing.

You love your bunny and are providing it with a lovely life. That is all that matters.

Kate
 
I think we can all improve the way our bunnies are kept - no one here can truely hand on heart say their rabbit's lives are perfect but we can do our best for them :D !

Looking back now the way I kept my first rabbit was a bit of a disaster and in some ways I was lucky he got ill so young as I started to do a whole lot more research into rabbits. Unfortunately what he had wasn't curable but in the meantime I found out I had been doing things a bit pants.

My OH had bought a bag of mix in a hurry after he collect Fudge from the breeder (he wasn't given any of his food) so we just fed him that and some cheap hay my OH had also picked up. He was kept on shavings and his house cage was too small considering he was a baby giant!

When I had to start over I vowed to do it properly but even then I later found out there were things I could have improved on when I joined here!

My rabbits are on a high fibre pellet (not mix so they don't selectivly feed and get a higher fibre content), have a cat wood pellet litter filled tray with fresh farm hay in and a hay ball stuffed with a mix of hay for constant nibbling. Have a huge playhouse and run in the garage and a run outside, lots of toys and I still know there are improvements I could make but I have finally come close to as perfect a life as I can.

Don't worry too much :wink: !

Caz
 
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