Photography courtesy of the Missouri House Rabbit Society
A Missouri House Rabbit Society bunny
If you’re thinking of adding a bunny to your family this Easter, it’s understandable. Rabbits are adorable, curious, affectionate, and incredibly intelligent. But according to Joy Gioia, chapter manager of Missouri House Rabbit Society-St. Louis, the rabbit-welfare organization gets more than 900 surrender calls per year. Gioia estimates that the large number of people wanting to give up their rabbits are because they purchased them without realizing what the animals are like. Rabbits are not low-maintenance pets, they don’t like to be picked up (they’re prey animals, and they think they’re being captured when you scoop them up), and they can be messy if they’re not spayed or neutered. The other 80 percent of surrenders happen, according to Gioia, because children get them as "starter" pets without realizing the animals can live up to 12 years or longer. “I have not once in 25 years seen a young child go from having that bunny all the way to that bunny passing away, which could be, if they're kept correctly, 8–12 years,” Gioia says. Rabbits can be wonderful for families, but only if the parents realize that the pets are likely going to end up serving as their companions, not the child’s. Here are some other things about rabbits to consider before taking the plunge and adopting one.
1. Adopt a rabbit instead of buying one from a pet store. The House Rabbit Society here has about 150 rabbits in their shelter at any given time. All potential rabbit adopters from the House Rabbit society have to take a 2-and-a-half-hour class on rabbit care and behavior. Gioia recommends that adults do that first, decide if a rabbit is right for their family, and then make an appointment with their children to sit with bunnies and see if the rabbits are interested in them. “We do a meet-and-greet,” Gioia says. “If the bunny doesn't like you, they're going to want nothing to do with you. It’s not the right fit. But if the bunny’s interested, they’ll be crawling in your lap and checking you out—these are good things.”
2. When considering if your kids would do well with a bunny, think about your children’s energy. “If they are loud, boisterous, and need to go outside and run off energy, they’re not a good candidate for a rabbit,” Gioia says. “If you have a child who likes quiet time or to read or to sit on the floor with a pet, those are the children who are going to be the most successful with a rabbit. It's not a criticism. I had two boys. It's just a matter of the right situation for the family.”
3. Consider the amount of time you have to devote to caring for the animal. Rabbits can leave 100-300 droppings each day, but they can be litter trained. If you do choose to train your rabbit and have them be a “free-roam” bunny, in which case they’ll be unpenned most of the day, you’re going to have to bunny-proof your electrical cords with split flexible tubing. If you’d rather pen your rabbit, they’ll need at least four hours of exercise outside of the enclosure each day. A 4-foot-by-4-foot exercise pen that’s at least 30 inches tall makes a good home for rabbits. Rabbits should only live indoors.
4. Most veterinarians haven’t been trained to care for rabbits. There are only two vets in the St. Louis region that the House Rabbit Society recommends. The rabbits will need to be spayed or neutered if they haven’t been already, and they’ll need to be vaccinated against the highly contagious and deadly virus RHDV2 and receive a booster every year.
5. “Rabbits are intelligent, and they get bored easily,” Gioia says. You have to give them toys to play with and rabbit-safe items to chew on. Otherwise, they’ll chew baseboards and furniture.
6. Eighty percent of your rabbit’s diet should be hay, and you should give them a bowl of water rather than a water bottle. They suck water like a horse, and the slow drip of a bottle can dehydrate them. Change the water daily and put it in a heavy ceramic bowl rather than a light plastic or metal bowl. Rabbits will pick those up and fling them like toys.
7. If you decide a rabbit isn’t the right pet for your family, you can always volunteer at the House Rabbit Society, which is a 100 percent volunteer organization, to get your bunny fix. Volunteers can be 13 and younger as long as they have a parent with them.
