I def agree with those above. it can seem like a nice idea at first (and there are plenty who sadly endorse it), and ofc there’s harnesses for sale too. I’ve done it it before, but it was a stupid idea and I really endangered myself & my rabbits.
there isn’t one single way to make walking your rabbit safe - nor using a harness at all actually. I wanna go more in depth as to why:
to begin with..rabbits are prey animals. having something restricting on them (or around their necks) is quite distressing for them. rabbits don’t enjoy it and its cruel to subject them to such stress for no reason.
even if your rabbit seems “fine” with a harness on.. they’re not safe. rabbits are quite easily scared, if they bolt, you have a few choices:
- chase after them, thus causing them to be more scared and possibly even injuring them by stepping/kicking on them if they zig zag. the fright of what caused them to bolt and you chasing them (as that would be akin to a predator) could cause a heart attack.
- don’t move, in which they’d run out of leash and strangle themselves or break their necks/back
- drop the leash, in which you could lose them or have them get killed
you also could not guarantee that your walk around the block would be safe, you can not guarantee that there would be no cars, loud noises, predators. even dogs are predators and would go for a rabbit. many owners walk dogs of leash, or may fail to hold them back.....simply put, dead bunny.
rabbits will bolt for a number of reasons. an ambulance, dogs barking, people yelling, cars going by. you wouldnt see these things coming, and you can’t prevent them.
there is no safe way to walk your rabbit, nor to make it safe.
even if you intended to use a harness in your back yard, its not safe either. harnesses can result in broken necks & backs easily, their paws can get caught in the harness when moving, which could cause injury.
harnesses really don’t fit well on rabbits, after all rabbits are a bit like a bag of bones and can fit through gaps their head does, so it makes sense. thus, harnesses are loose.
even in your back yard, they can get easily scared, resulting in what I mentioned above.
as harsh as this is, walking your rabbit or putting them on a harness is dancing with death itself, which never ends well, as we have no control over death.
please don’t. you’re endangering your rabbit for no reason,
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