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Pets At Home - Very Skinny Rabbit

L

LumyKingsley

New Kit
Hello there! We don't currently have any bunnies of our own, but are desperately looking for any advice as we are very very worried.

Whilst buying guinea pig food today, my partner and I spotted a very, very skinny rabbit in the 'adoption' section of Pets At Home, listed as adoption as the poor thing had been in the shop too long. The rabbit's hips were clearly visible, the skinniest bunny I have ever seen.
Is there any advice for what we can do to help the bunny? We are worried the bunny may have a terminal or infectious disease, as so many online horror stories describe.

Thank you.
 
I would report to the rspca, and also to your local council too. I would speak to the manager too to see if anything is being done to help.
 
Zoobec said:
I would report to the rspca, and also to your local council too. I would speak to the manager too to see if anything is being done to help.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your advice, we thought about those options but will definitely give them a go if other people think they are a good idea.
 
Zoobec said:
I would report to the rspca, and also to your local council too. I would speak to the manager too to see if anything is being done to help.
Click to expand...
I'd definitely do this! Have you spoken to a store employee? I'd probably do that first and ask why the bun is so skinny etc, but wouldn't make a huge deal, because if I didn't think anything was really being done I'd then call the rspca personally.

Poor bun :(

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Graciee said:
I'd definitely do this! Have you spoken to a store employee? I'd probably do that first and ask why the bun is so skinny etc, but wouldn't make a huge deal, because if I didn't think anything was really being done I'd then call the rspca personally.

Poor bun :(

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sadly we did not ask about the rabbit while we were in there today as we were so anxious with how to best approach them, but we will definitely be going in there to speak to someone tomorrow about the poor thing, and then as you said depending on the response approach other organisation. Thank you for your response!
 
LumyKingsley said:
Sadly we did not ask about the rabbit while we were in there today as we were so anxious with how to best approach them, but we will definitely be going in there to speak to someone tomorrow about the poor thing, and then as you said depending on the response approach other organisation. Thank you for your response!
Click to expand...
dear lumykingsley,-I support,graciee,and zoobec,s move.--very sad that they present a bun that is bad off,..what you could do is find an exotic dvm and purchase the bun and have the bun examined,this would help the bun and your cause,you have my respect,.sincerely james waller from the other kent-usa--there is no time like the present
 
jewaller said:
dear lumykingsley,-I support,graciee,and zoobec,s move.--very sad that they present a bun that is bad off,..what you could do is find an exotic dvm and purchase the bun and have the bun examined,this would help the bun and your cause,you have my respect,.sincerely james waller from the other kent-usa--there is no time like the present
Click to expand...

Thank you for your comment, we did think about that but we worry about what we would do with the rabbit after we took it to a vet!
 
Update

Hello again, as an update we went and spoke to a staff member today about the rabbit, who told us that the rabbit was not underweight as he is just "streamlined" due to being a Dutch and English cross. We do not know much about rabbit breeds so we have attached what pictures of the rabbit we could get (sorry they are not the best). Can anyone confirm or falsify this, before we go further with trying to get vet appointments, contacting the RSPCA and/or the local council?

Apologies I could not work out how to attach a picture so I have linked to another forum where I posted the pictures of the rabbit.
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/pets-at-home-very-skinny-rabbit.96603/
 
LumyKingsley said:
Hello again, as an update we went and spoke to a staff member today about the rabbit, who told us that the rabbit was not underweight as he is just "streamlined" due to being a Dutch and English cross. We do not know much about rabbit breeds so we have attached what pictures of the rabbit we could get (sorry they are not the best). Can anyone confirm or falsify this, before we go further with trying to get vet appointments, contacting the RSPCA and/or the local council?

Apologies I could not work out how to attach a picture so I have linked to another forum where I posted the pictures of the rabbit.
https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/pets-at-home-very-skinny-rabbit.96603/
Click to expand...
Just had a look, I'm no expert but that rabbit doesn't look seriously underweight to me? It's hard to tell though because the first image the buns in a strange position, the second you can't see the body but the bun looks pretty normal in the second from what I can see of it..

Is it a male rabbit?

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It is quite difficult to assess weight by looks alone. To me this rabbit doesn't look emaciated. Its really lovely to know that non bunny owners are advocating for rabbits, you've a good heart
 
Graciee said:
Just had a look, I'm no expert but that rabbit doesn't look seriously underweight to me? It's hard to tell though because the first image the buns in a strange position, the second you can't see the body but the bun looks pretty normal in the second from what I can see of it..

Is it a male rabbit?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for having a look, well that's reasurring then! Yes sadly the pictures are not the best, and we are not very knowledgable in rabbits (we are currently only guinea pig parents, although I have two rabbits with my sister back in my family house :D). We were just worried as I've never seen a rabbit's hips so pronounced as when the bunny was slowly hopping around yesterday. But yes, think the rabbit is male from what the staff member said.
 
joey&boo said:
It is quite difficult to assess weight by looks alone. To me this rabbit doesn't look emaciated. Its really lovely to know that non bunny owners are advocating for rabbits, you've a good heart
Click to expand...

Thank you for responding and taking a look, yeah we appreciate it is hard to judge from pictures, especially bad ones! But as I responded to the previous comment, wereally appreciate eveyone's help and are relieved if we have been mistaken and that the rabbit is okay. Having owned two bunnies with my sister back in my hometown family house, I was just so worried seeing such pronounced pelvic/hip bones when he was slowly hopping around yesterday!
 
I'm just at the vet with my hamster, saw these, one for piggies too :)
1be03c6cfebcac23323fde73ff172a20.jpg
70962451145b7e193106fffdc6b9b409.jpg


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joey&boo said:
this is a good guide

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-weight.asp
Click to expand...


Graciee said:
I'm just at the vet with my hamster, saw these, one for piggies too :)
1be03c6cfebcac23323fde73ff172a20.jpg
70962451145b7e193106fffdc6b9b409.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank you both for those - we did have a look at charts like those today and yesterday, it's just so tricky with only being able to see the rabbit through a pane of glass without touching and feeling! I would describe the rump and sides as depressed but varies in severity as it moves around, so is so hard to judge and see in pictures. But hopefully the sweet thing will be alright then, and hopefully adopted by a loving foreverhome :love:
 
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