Care for Your Pet Bunny Rabbit

Learning how to properly care for your pet bunny rabbit is vital in providing for its needs to keep it healthy and happy. Rabbits make excellent pets either living indoors or out and we’ll touch on both today. They are clean, quiet animals that are very social and bond well to humans generally.

To provide proper care for your rabbit starts even before bringing home your new beloved pet. It’s important to research what breed of rabbit would be the best fit for your family. Just like in dogs with breeds being known for certain traits, the same is true in the rabbit world.

Six weeks is the earliest a baby bunny should be weaned from it’s mother, with 8-9 weeks being preferable. You’ll want to make sure children are calm and quiet when playing with the rabbit, as they are easily frightened, especially when getting used to a new home.

You’ll want to feed as the mainstay in your rabbit’s diet a good, commercial rabbit pellet food. Usually the best and most economical place to buy the food is at a local farm store. Rabbits can be free feed, meaning their feed dish is always full, but there are some real advantages to feeding a daily portion every evening or morning. Read the manufacturer’s directions for the recommended amount for the rabbit’s size.

Rabbits are delicate animals and if something begins to ail their health, they tend to go downhill very fast. Not eating their daily portion of food is one of the earliest alerts that something may be wrong. This is the main benefit to feeding a daily allowance.

Not all rabbits eat or even like carrots. If yours does, it’s fine to give ½ a carrot a day, or a few slices of apples. Do not give rabbits lettuce, cabbage or the green leafy vegetables, because it can cause diarrhea, which can cause serious health problems for rabbits. If you notice a rabbit, especially a young one, get sudden diarrhea, get the rabbit to a vet asap. This can be a fatal condition that can kill quickly, the only hope being early intervention.

They also benefit greatly with a daily handful or two of grass hay, ensure that the hay is clean and dry and doesn’t have any mold. This is especially critical when they are molting their fur which happens once or twice a year on average.

Bunnies also need a constant supply of fresh, clean drinking water. Generally they will use the animal drinking bottles with the little ball at the end. In winter months it’s important that the water be replenished several times a day so it doesn’t freeze.

Rabbits will typically molt their fur, which is a complete shedding on average once or twice a year once they are adults. This process is fairly intense on a rabbit’s health and some extra precaution measures should be taken during this time.

It’s not uncommon for rabbits to drop weight during a molt. The biggest health risk during a molt is getting hair balls in their intestines from their own grooming. These hair balls can cause fatal blockages in their intestines.

When you notice your rabbit starting to shed more than just a few hairs at a time, begin gentling brushing of the bunny once or twice daily. When it is in heavy molt, which will be obvious by massive amounts of fur coming out, you may want to increase the frequency to help get as much out as quickly as possible. A very fine toothed hacksaw blade actually works well during this stage, or any other animal brush.

It’s important to make sure the rabbit is getting plenty of roughage in the diet during this time, supplement several handfuls of grass hay daily in addition to its regular food. You can also give it one or two tablets of papaya enzyme as well.

You’ll also want to make sure the rabbit has oil to its diet at this stage, to help any ingested fur move through the digestive track. One of the best ways I’ve found to do this was to take about ¼ cup of oatmeal, and mix 1 T. of dark molasses (to give extra energy and calories needed during the molt), and 2-4 T. of a corn or olive oil and mix together. They generally love this treat; give it daily during the molt.

If you notice the rabbit getting lethargic, not moving much, just not it’s usual perky self, keep a very close eye out. If you see the rabbit not eat its daily portion of food, get your rabbit to the vet immediately. Early treatment is about the only way to save a rabbit.

Housing

Rabbits can either live indoors or outdoors. Or they can live outdoors and be brought indoors for play time. In general, rabbits should not live two or more in a cage together. They are territorial animals and will either fight (unless they are already bonded), or you could end up with babies. Single rabbits also will bond more to their human owners, making them a better pet, rather than a pair.

Outdoor Housing

One could either build on their own a rabbit hutch, or buy a wire cage and secure it up off the ground in some way. Make sure the cage will be big enough for the breed of rabbit you will be getting. Most rabbits are much larger than most people realize.

The considerations for outdoor housing must be these requirements:

• Off the ground
• Wire bottom
• Protected from the sun
• Put in a shady area
• Protection from rain and wind
• Protected from dogs or other predators

Within the wire bottom of the cage, you will also need to either have a portion of the hutch be wood bottom, or simply place a 2X3 flat piece of plywood inside the cage. The point is to have an area where the rabbit can get off the wire for part of the day. This is important for proper rabbit foot care. Be sure to check the bottom of your rabbit’s feet periodically to make sure the fur isn’t being worn off and sores developing. If you notice this happening, see a vet.

Do not put blankets and such in a rabbit’s cage, it simply adds hygiene problems and the rabbit will most likely chew it up and can cause intestine blockage.

Be sure the cage is covered for sun, wind, rain protection and safe from predators, don’t overlook the sides of the cage as well. A rabbit can survive the cold better than heat, but if a rabbit gets wet, it makes it more susceptible to sickness.

Summer heat can be a challenge, especially in high temps. Rabbits need to be kept as cool as possible, ensure their cage is in shade, especially in the heat of the day. When temps hit over 90 degrees, you’ll need to be watching your bunny closer. Rabbits cool off by panting, and their ears are a method of cooling down. If you see your rabbit panting, and their ears feel hot, time to intervene. Take a washcloth with cool water (not ice water), and wring the majority of the water out, moisten their ears with the cool water. This will help drop their body temperature. Do this several times a day during the hottest part of the day. Another method is to take a cool water humidifier or other misting system and allow a cool mist to run very near the rabbit’s living quarters. Perhaps set a large block of ice on the ground below the rabbit’s cage will also help drop the temp some.

Rabbit’s teeth continue to grow its entire life. Whether your rabbit is an indoor or outdoor living bunny, make sure it has untreated wood blocks available to chew on. This helps to naturally keep the teeth trimmed down, and it a vital health issue.

This is why they have an instinct to chew.

Rabbit’s teeth alignment should not be top and bottom teeth meeting in the middle. The normal bite of a rabbit’s teeth is that the top incisors should be slightly in front of the lower teeth. When buying a rabbit, you should check that this is normal. If it’s not, it will most likely involve taking your rabbit to a vet several times a year to have the veterinary shave the teeth so the rabbit can eat. Malformed teeth can be fatal as the rabbit ages, if this is not done.

Indoor Living for Rabbits

Rabbits can be litter boxed trained. Generally the rabbit will want to urinate in a certain corner of the house or room. At first, set a litter box (without a lid) into the room. If the rabbit uses a different corner, put the litter box in the corner it does use. Rabbits are clean animals and will tend to use the same area over and over. Training for the rabbit pellets is a bit more challenging, some will so to the litter box, others you’ll have to vacuum up after.

The biggest issue with indoor rabbits will be the chewing of cords and furniture. Make sure bunny has plenty of wood chew blocks available to chew. Get all cords out of the rabbit’s reach. You could get plastic wrap in a garden supply store that is intended to keep rabbits from chewing young trees, and wrap legs of furniture with this.

You may want to get a wire indoor cage (be sure to put some area of wood in the cage as well), and keep bunny in the cage at night or when nobody’s home. Or he can live in the cage inside, only being allowed out of the cage during active playtimes.

Rabbit Toenails

Rabbits have sharp toenails that will need to be trimmed often. It’s better to trim small amounts frequently than large amounts infrequently. Be sure not to cut into the nail portion with the vein, which is very painful and will bleed. They will get quite used to having the nails trimmed, but if you cut into the quick they’ll remember that pain, and trimming will be a much harder process. So, proceed carefully.

Young children should be encouraged not to pick up the rabbits, but instead play with them on the floor. The rabbit scratches hurt and are nearly unavoidable when they are held. Make sure to wear long sleeved shirts as that will reduce the scratches.

When a rabbit thumps loudly, it means like are in alert mode and that they are sensing danger. Do your best to reassure and make sure the rabbit is safe when this happens. It may be another animal is nearby, or kids are being too loud. Find out why they are scared. Rabbits do scream, and their scream is the worst sound in the world it seems. They only scream however when they are extremely frightened, or are hurt. If you ever hear a rabbit scream, it will be nearly impossible to ignore it. Your instinct will be to jump up to find out what's wrong.

Rabbits will lick their owners when they are feeling very affectionate, they love to play and will bond well in most cases, provided they are cared for well. They make amazing pets!

If you have a rabbit, read our article how to Begin a Worm Farm, How and Why, its as natural a fit as a hand and glove.

If you have dogs or cats, try visiting Eliminating Pet Smells from Your Home and Carpets.