If you consciously decided to let your rabbit have one litter...............

[Sky-O]

But noone would hate you for this, hate is such a strong emotion. xxx

I hate me for it, so the assumption is that others would too. Especially if they knew all that happened.

 

[William]

Yes I can imagine that's much harder to find a competent, affordable bunny vet in the States than it is here in the UK

I don't know if you've seen this or how up to date the list is, but there's a list of 'bunny savvy' vets in the US here: http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

I dunno, I got mine done for $55 each which is quite cheap I also have a great bunny savvy vet very close by and there are 2 other vets a little further off that are also good, just more expensive. I've always thought vets seem generally more expensive over there than they are in my state.

I think yes to some degree one purpose of life is to bring children into the world- to reproduce and create offspring. I think this should apply philosophically to a rabbit also- ( unless you thought they were a lower life form than yourself and not entitled to the same human rights). I do feel that humans play god in this respect with domesticated animals preventing offspring- in the same way a mother could get sterilized if she wanted to prevent children.

But they don't have human rights (nor should they) and they can't think in teh same way we do. We consciously decide whether we want to have kids- rabbits have no idea what mating does, its just instinct to do it. They don't ever dwell on the thought of having kids, they aren't even aware of it until they do have babies. Then instinct kicks in again and they know to care for them.

 

[Stator]

Given the litter sizes of rabbits their numbers would grow exponentially.

ps William is correct, rabbits don't have an internal monologue like us, they don't 'think' in the same way.

 

[Zahirre]

We've had one totally accidental litter. And it was an accident... Dexter was behind a safety gate whilst I cleaned out Pumpkin's indoor cage. I turned round and saw Dexter and her 'at it'. I pulled him off her and made an immediate appointment with the vets.
Saw the vets a few days later and Dexter was neutered. A few weeks later, saw the vets again so she could feel Pumpkin's tum. Vet didn't feel a thing so thought we'd gotten away with it. She was still slightly too little to be spayed so the vets and I thought it was best to wait till after Christmas to get her done.
Unfortunately, 3 days before Christmas, she had babies.
It was a terrifying experience! I panicked every day. Then, finding them homes was horrendous so 3 have ended up staying. There was no way that I would have let them go to a home that I wasn't 1000% happy with.
Watching some random person walk away with my babies would have made me feel sick and awful. Especially if I didn't know what kind of home they would give to my buns.
It's made me very wary of un-spayed buns now. I know even safety gates don't work now!!! Lol.

Ps. Tracey, don't be so hard on yourself! We all make mistakes and it's whether we learn from them that is the important thing! You did, so be kind to yourself for that xxx

 

[Jaysmonkey]

I wouldn't, simples.

 

[Ambience]

We've had one totally accidental litter. And it was an accident... Dexter was behind a safety gate whilst I cleaned out Pumpkin's indoor cage. I turned round and saw Dexter and her 'at it'. I pulled him off her and made an immediate appointment with the vets.
Saw the vets a few days later and Dexter was neutered. A few weeks later, saw the vets again so she could feel Pumpkin's tum. Vet didn't feel a thing so thought we'd gotten away with it. She was still slightly too little to be spayed so the vets and I thought it was best to wait till after Christmas to get her done.
Unfortunately, 3 days before Christmas, she had babies.
It was a terrifying experience! I panicked every day. Then, finding them homes was horrendous so 3 have ended up staying. There was no way that I would have let them go to a home that I wasn't 1000% happy with.
Watching some random person walk away with my babies would have made me feel sick and awful. Especially if I didn't know what kind of home they would give to my buns.
It's made me very wary of un-spayed buns now. I know even safety gates don't work now!!! Lol.

Ps. Tracey, don't be so hard on yourself! We all make mistakes and it's whether we learn from them that is the important thing! You did, so be kind to yourself for that xxx

Hey by the way- sorry to hijack things here but flopsey and hermy are bonding- spent all night and today togther with no issues. I thought hermy would bite flopsey as she bit me when i was giving her veggies, but no they are perfect together so far. Was abit concerned, but now think it will be a successful bond Just thought i'd let you know- will post pics when i sort my camera out xxxx

 

[steph182]

I hate me for it, so the assumption is that others would too. Especially if they knew all that happened.

I wouldn't hate you for it, it's SO difficult to get decent advice on bunnys. It's no wonder people breed with no second thought, because none of the people who give advice (like petshops and BYB) know what they're on about. It's only the bad advice that gets passed easily around.
I came by RU through sheer luck and if I hadn't, I wouldn't know a single thing about keeping bunnys properly... I would have followed petshops advice which was sooo wrong.

 

[abbymarysmokey]

My first pair of house rabbits had an accidental litter because the person who gave them to me said they were the same sex and I didn't think to get them checked :roll:

I suspect that most litters from ordinary owners (as opposed to owners who consciously breed lots of litters) probably come about through similar circumstances.

 

[Zahirre]

Hey by the way- sorry to hijack things here but flopsey and hermy are bonding- spent all night and today togther with no issues. I thought hermy would bite flopsey as she bit me when i was giving her veggies, but no they are perfect together so far. Was abit concerned, but now think it will be a successful bond Just thought i'd let you know- will post pics when i sort my camera out xxxx

CANNOT WAIT for piccies!!!! Mega excited I knew they would love eachother still when they got back together

 

[Amy104]

I suspect that most litters from ordinary owners (as opposed to owners who consciously breed lots of litters) probably come about through similar circumstances.

This is how I ended up with fiver and Crunchie. Oddly though when I collected them there was also a slightly younger litter but I assume that was because dad already re-impregnated mum before anyone had chance to seperate them. Am I right in thinking this can happen?

 

[AnnieElms]

I have done this, and its not something I ever intend to do again.

At the time, when we first bred Flash, it was just to have cute babies. :roll: They would all have been kept. This was before I knew about rabbit rescues, before I was involved in the RSPCA, before I knew anything.

The other litters were after Flash died and they were created and driven on by grief. It was stupid and selfish but I couldn't cope without him, so I tried to bring him back. I was well into a full on breakdown. I did many stupid, ignorant things, and both me and my bunnies paid for my stupidity. Not a day goes by where I don't feel guilt, or regret, or shame, and total self hatred for what I did.

The last litter was done far more responsibly than all the others, and it was my last. Again, still before I knew about rabbit rescues, still before my volunteering days, but I knew more and I had learnt about breeding- primarily because I had stuffed up before. That was my last litter and everything went right. All bunnies kept, all bunnies relatively healthy (although a rogue dental gene showed up). Those babies will be four at the start of June and I've not considered mating anyone since. It's now been just over three years since I got involved in the RSPCA and I have found another way to keep Flash with me, and alive. It doesn't have to be genetically. All my bunnies are spayed/neutered except Wish who is far too vulnerable.

I know I was stupid, and I know I deserve to be hated, so go ahead and do your worst because no one, not any one person could say anything or feel anything, that comes close to the hate I feel for myself.

Please don't feel like this. I think many of us have cared for pets in the past in a way we wouldn't do now. I had one bunny as a child, who lived with two guinea pigs . I bought my first bunny as an adult from Pets at Home , and it was only when I bought him that I started to research properly, and learned how rabbits should be cared for properly. I'm not proud of this at all, but I am glad that now I understand better and can give the best life I possibly can to my animals.

 

[The Duchess]

So do we have anyone on the forum at the moment who has deliberately bred for pleasure (one off or otherwise) who would like to help us understand the urge to do this?

I understand how lovely it is to see tiny bunnies, but actually I have no desire whatsover to ever have any. I prefer mature rabbits whose personality is already formed.

I once had a volunteer at a rescue I helped at and where I took care of the school kids that came on a Sunday. We had one girl who told us all about how they were going to have baby rabbits. She said her mum wanted her to see what it was like.

We felt it only right to talk to the parents when they came to collect her and explain why it was contrary to everything we were trying to do at the rescue and all we got for our trouble was a mouth full of foul language. They just didn't understand the issues that made us passionately opposed to 'litters for fun'.

 

[abbymarysmokey]

This is how I ended up with fiver and Crunchie. Oddly though when I collected them there was also a slightly younger litter but I assume that was because dad already re-impregnated mum before anyone had chance to seperate them. Am I right in thinking this can happen?

Yep. Rabbits don't come into season like most other mammals, so she can get pregnant again as soon as she's given birth. I suspect that most owners probably don't even realise the rabbit is pregnant until babies appear, so mum is often already pregnant again by the time dad is removed.

 

[tiger_lily]

Not rabbits, but all the female cats we had at home had a litter as my mum thought it would help them relax and stop being broody, and it did. We had one feral who we took in who wouldn't come anywhere near us, then when she was pregnant and had her litter she became much more trusting, and has been ever since even after her spay.

Having kittens around the house was amazing, watching them grow up and we found them homes with our friends and people we knew and trusted. If we couldn't find a home, we simply kept the kitten ourselves- keeping 4 out of the 4 litters we had altogether.

Would I do it now I know about all the different animals in rescues? Probably not. It doesn't make it wrong when we did though, and I certainly don't regret it.

 

[Amy104]

Yep. Rabbits don't come into season like most other mammals, so she can get pregnant again as soon as she's given birth. I suspect that most owners probably don't even realise the rabbit is pregnant until babies appear, so mum is often already pregnant by the time dad is removed.

Its so sad. All the babies were agouite aswell so I do wonder if they struggled to rehome them all.

 

[Elena]

I let Mischa sire a litter. I did it because I didn't realise the implications involved for the doe and for the offspring and for the rabbits in rescue. Basically I allowed it because I was ignorant. The owner of the doe wanted her children to experience baby bunnies. I think that was her main motivation. I just didnt see the harm at the time. She had potential homes for the litter but in the end there were only three kits and I had one and they had the other two.

Saying all that though I would never give up Mini for the world.

 

[Mrs Ord]

I haven't done it but I did consider it. Dexter had started nesting last year about a month before she was due for her spay. I felt really guilty knowing she'd be building her nest for nothing. I wondered if it was her way of asking me for babies (how I was going to give her babies though is another matter :lol I had her partner already for after her spay. Then they accidentally got in together she jumped the pen divider and was in his part of the run. I know that sounds very coincidental since I'd considered letting her have kits but it is the gods honest truth. I thought it was further proof she wanted babies but also started to panic as she is so small and I already had four buns so couldn't keep the kits if she had any. I wouldn't of managed to rehome as i'd be far to fussy and probably just pee people off so they'd go elsewhere. In the end she had an emergency spay about two days after getting in with Jasper. All in all I decided against for her safety she is small and I worried about the effects of pregnancy on her little body I couldn't live with myself if she has suffered or worse because of me.

 

[William]

Would I do it now I know about all the different animals in rescues? Probably not. It doesn't make it wrong when we did though, and I certainly don't regret it.

This While I never purposefully bred, we have had an accidental litter with our cat (we found 3 kittens, probably only a few days old, in our yard from a stray, kept all 3) back in 2005. We were waiting for all 3 to reach 1 year old to spay them (better for boys-reduces the risk of urinary tract infections..not sure about girls but i think we believed at the time it was best for girls as well to be spayed at 10-12 months).

Around that time we were gone and the boys had opened the door and got to Penny. Penny had 4 kittens that we kept and I don't regret it at all. That was a wonderful experience, as was raising the 3 kittens since they were only a few days old. There's really nothing like babies, no matter whether its a baby bunny, human, or fish. The cuteness, innocence, playfulness...everything about them.

Do those kittens mean that we could have adopted 4 cats/kittens instead? I don't think so. Yes, we have adopted 2 strays that came in 06 and 08 but it just kinda happened (they followed us home) and I don't think my parents would have otherwise let me go out and adopt 4 cats when we already had 5...so really my kittens didn't take up homes that homeless cats could have had and I wouldn't change them anyway

 

[nessar]

My mother bred my bunny Snowey when I was younger, she purposefully bought Simpson and kept them together. She thought it would be a good lesson on life for me.

I loved having the little bunnies around, but I didnt like the fact they were so nervous of me. I actually found the whole experience quite traumatic. I saw a dead kit that had been pushed out of the nest and we had kits eaten too. One was rejected and pushed out but still alive so we handreared her. She grew up very strange and didnt get on with the other rabbits, it was like she didnt know how to communicate with them properly, and she became very agressive to anyone except my mother.

I didnt like the experience because I grew attached to these bunnies, and then they were taken away from me. I didnt want the people to come and take my new friends away, especially my favourites. We did keep one of every litter, they all sold. We had a light ginger colour called 'champagne' apparently and they would sell the very same day we took them to the pet shop.

Mother got the male neutered, but not until he had impregnated his daughter. He died under anesthetic so she refused to get any more neutered and all the rabbits were inbred and kept breeding. They were all kept in a stable and the males kept in hutches in the stable, but the females worked out how to let them out.

It was all done very irresponsibly, and I learnt nothing except that my mother would sell my pets and take them away from me. In the end they all, except original Snowey, went to a rescue, as my stepdad lots his job. I hated her for taking them away from me and leaving them to an uncertain future, especially my favourite Smokey, I was sure he wouldnt get a home as he didnt have a tail. Snowey hated us too. From that day she became very bitter, she would attack everyone. I knew she hated me for taking away her babies and leaving her alone. She was also plagued by phantom pregnancies from then on, constantly. We never even considered getting her spayed, just ignorance. I tried to rebuild her bond with me but she was never happy again. I had to wear oven gloves just to go near her. She died miserable. I wish I had known then what I know now and had gotten her a friend, but I just never thought of it.

eta- I dont actually know the amount we had all together, but I estimate the figure to be above 50. The most we had together at one time was around 25.

 

[Jenova]

So do we have anyone on the forum at the moment who has deliberately bred for pleasure (one off or otherwise) who would like to help us understand the urge to do this?

I understand how lovely it is to see tiny bunnies, but actually I have no desire whatsover to ever have any. I prefer mature rabbits whose personality is already formed.

I once had a volunteer at a rescue I helped at and where I took care of the school kids that came on a Sunday. We had one girl who told us all about how they were going to have baby rabbits. She said her mum wanted her to see what it was like.

We felt it only right to talk to the parents when they came to collect her and explain why it was contrary to everything we were trying to do at the rescue and all we got for our trouble was a mouth full of foul language. They just didn't understand the issues that made us passionately opposed to 'litters for fun'.

Not with rabbits but I can tell you about my chinchillas.
I had no idea there were so many in rescues, I just thought they were endangered in the wild and had never met anyone who had owned one. I just didn't know.
We thought Cheech was male so we bought another male from a breeder. She was from a pet shop who had no idea... Anyway the breeders who are lovely people and very responsible offered to come over and sex Cheech for us, so we found out she was female before we bonded them. I was already in love with Chong, the male, so we just decided to bond them anyway. I had been told that often chinchillas won't mate... :roll: I thought if they did have babies I would rehome them and then get Chong neutered. Well a chinchilla's gestation period is 111 days so about three months. They had been bonded for two months when she gave birth... so, yeah chinchillas don't mate... sneaky little Chong. :lol:

I couldn't part with the babies who are still with us.

I did a lot of research and she had all the right diet etc while she was pregnant and feeding, and I know Snake and Big Boss (the babies) got the right start in life. It took me a year to get Chong neutered afterwards and he was living on his own all that time, next to the girls. I was so scared it would all go wrong as it's more dangerous for chinchillas as they're so small. I found a wonderful vet, got him neutered and bonded him back with the girls. The babies will be three in June.

I would never, ever breed again. Not now I have learned what I have. About rescues, about health, about everything. Also, Snake has a runny eye so no doubt she will have dental problems in the future.