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looking to rehome rabbit does it have to be local?

Beatrix Potter

Mama Doe
I've started looking at the rehoming thread to find a bunny friend for my wild bun Spudsey.

Now I've seen a couple in my area, and I know there are a few rescues about but I'm being lazy and prefer to search them out on the web.:oops:

My o/h is even worse, he has been searching them too but is looking for a particular bunny that he likes the look of. He can't stand these odd looking bunnies with an odd hairdo or colour he just wants a nice cute looking bun! Age doesn't matter as long as the breed is small as Spudsey is tiny, so we have no preference to taking on an older bunny though not too old as we want him and spudsey to have lots of happy years together :D

We've seen a couple on rabbitrehome but they are probably about 50 (?) miles away. Is this wrong? should we not be so lazy and fussy and search out the local buns first?
 
Any new rabbit you will adopt, will need to be something you feel you can bond with, some people fall for 'all' rabbits, others for something more specific. What ever you take on, for your own sake and the sake of the rabbit you need to be able to bond with. For this reason, I see nothing wrong with looking for something specific. Many rescues are happy to deal with enquiries out of area, as long as it is a reasonable request.

The furthest ARC have been asked to rehome to was a man who emailed us from Italy ... he wanted us to deliver the rabbit as well :roll: For a number of reasons Donna did not feel this was an acceptable enquiry and he was not allowed to adopt.
 
easiest way to find out is to contact the rescue that has the bunnies you have seen and see what they think. I guess alot will depend if they are able to do a homecheck in your area but if they are on here then often rescues put out a request.
Which rescue is it? Maybe they have a contact on here ;) Cheryl in Norwich had alot of bunnies last i heard but she's nearer 100 miles from you i would think. Theres a few in Cambridgeshire area, and some list on RR, some have contacts on here who may know what rabbits they have. The other think if you travel to get a specific rabbit is the not knowing if your own rabbit will accept him/her and if not its a long way to take him/her back. Hopefully your rabbit will accept a new mate no problem or you could take spudsey with you to the rescue to test it out before you leave;)
 
There's bun runs & people do homechecks for Rescues up & down the country, so I shouldn't let distance stop you if you have fallen for a particular bun. Some Rescues will only rehome locally, but you could always ask:D

Or else let a local Rescue look for you:D

Personally I'm just gonna bunny nap all Diddeen's cuties:shock: :D
 
Squirrel is being rehomed by a private individual who is a volunteer for nottinghams animal rescue unit 73 miles away (!) but looks a lovely bun and a similar colour to Spudsey.

And Comfrey is being rehomed by hopperhaven who are 90 miles away in worcestershire.

Bit further than the 50 miles I first said :oops:
 
We travelled about 50 miles to Honeybunny in Leicester to get Ant at the weekend and it was well worth it. If you can give a rescue bunny a loving home and are prepared to travel that far then go for it! x
 
We're having the same dilemma - looking to get Rosie a husbun but there are no rabbit rescues nearer than 100 miles. We'll have to travel to one, but are happy to do that to ensure she is bonded with the right bun.

Good luck! :D
 
Are the bunnies ok to travel that far????? :?

Yeah, we checked with the rescues that we are considering and took their advice. One bunny we saw would not cope well with the travelling, but there are others who would be ok. The rescues didn't exclude us on grounds of distance.

As Angie says, rescues will be able to advise :thumb:
 
We travelled about 50 miles to Honeybunny in Leicester to get Ant at the weekend and it was well worth it. If you can give a rescue bunny a loving home and are prepared to travel that far then go for it! x


Yep and his brother Beetle is still looking for a home Suzy!..Leicester isn't too far away:D
 
Suzy - Ant is GORGEOUS and wonderful :D We saw Beetle and he's very handsome. It would be good if you could offer him a home x
 
awwww I hope 'Beetle' finds a good home soon!

We may have found a potential bunny friend hes the one in nottingham. he looks wild which is why we like him. heard back from the lady who has him and shes happy to rehome far away if suitable.

fingers crossed!
 
All my rabbits bar one have been rehomed locally and I don't really like going further afield. I admit that my Alaska (white lionhead) came from further away (three hours drive each way), because I totally fell in love with that litter when I saw it on here. But I would not recommend to rehome from so far away... after all, there are plenty of homeless rabbits almost anywhere in the country, so there is no need to transport big distances. Apart from that, the longer the trip home is, the more stressful for the bunny.

Vera
 
All my rabbits bar one have been rehomed locally and I don't really like going further afield. I admit that my Alaska (white lionhead) came from further away (three hours drive each way), because I totally fell in love with that litter when I saw it on here. But I would not recommend to rehome from so far away... after all, there are plenty of homeless rabbits almost anywhere in the country, so there is no need to transport big distances. Apart from that, the longer the trip home is, the more stressful for the bunny.

Vera


This one is an hour and a half away. If the rescue advised not to travel with it I wouldn't. I took 2 of my wild bunnies with me to Wales (3 1/2 hours) and they were fine. And after advice from others on here, Spudsey is going to make the same journey in a couple of weeks! :)
 
I think it depends really on the rabbit.

There's no way I could have driven an hour and a half with Inky, he hates cars with a passion. Smokey isn't a fan but would tolerate it. Both mine came from a local rescue centre and I do agree with LurcherGirl that there are so many needy bunnies in the local area, that there is no need to travel. Also, if there are problems, it's easier to sort things out (like failed bondings etc) with a rescue centre closer to home.

Having said all that, my guinea pigs that I rescued came from about 90 miles away, they travelled in their hutches. However, they were rescued from a stables and they certainly were not going back there!

Overall though, I guess if you see a rabbit that you think is perfect and you need to travel a bit to get it, that's what you have to do.
 
It's all very well to use a rescue locally if you have a one near you, some of us don't though :(

There were even very few bunnies last time I checked at SSPCA centres closer to us, and of course they don't provide a bonding service which, personally speaking, is very important to us to ensure Rosie chooses the right partner.

So some of us have far fewer options. As said before, any rescue will advise on their bunnies' ability to travel :thumb:
 
rosie rabbit, I wasn't pillorying people who do not rehome local rabbits!

If there is no local rescue centre then of course you have to look at rabbits from a greater distance. I just think if you can, it's important to look locally first, then widen your search if you need to.
 
rosie rabbit, I wasn't pillorying people who do not rehome local rabbits!

If there is no local rescue centre then of course you have to look at rabbits from a greater distance. I just think if you can, it's important to look locally first, then widen your search if you need to.

Oh no sorry, I didn't mean you were :oops:

It just that there are very few options close to me, so a longer distance is the only option :)

I agree that if there are rescues close by, you should look there first ideally when rehoming.
 
It's a good starting point to look on here at buns, but many rescues (such as Hopper Haven) are so busy and so short staffed that not all the buns get listed. It's really well worth trekking around your local rescues for a good nosey about!
 
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