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Rabbit Care

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Tips_for_buying_rabbits

Where to buy a rabbit

Information for new pet owners

 I will briefly go into each subject below.

If you have more questions please feel free to contact me and I will go into more detail

Disclaimer

These articles are based on my own personal experiences. I will not be held liable for any actions. Every rabbit is different and the needs vary. This is only here to give basic information and what I have learned through the years with my rabbits.

Picking out a more gentle Rabbit for a pet

The best way I have found my more trusting gentle pets is by turning them over on their backs , the ones that stop kicking fairly soon  are the ones that have been the most gentle and trusting. They seem to be a calmer bunny. These bunnies love to play and get lots of attention. If the baby keeps fighting and kicking when turned over, these have been the ones that are less trusting.  You can make these bunnies more trusting with a lot of patients and handling them so they gain your trust.

Important note: Please have the breeder show you how to turn your bunny over properly so your bunny does not get hurt. They can get seriously injured with a broken back if not taught how to properly turn the babies over on their backs.

Teeth

Make sure your rabbit has the top teeth over the bottom teeth when buying a bunny. This is the correct bite on a rabbit. You can ask the breeder to show you the teeth.  A rabbits teeth grow all the time and need to wear properly.

Do not buy if the teeth are not correct.

If the teeth are meeting this is called butting ..... they may or may not correct. Some rabbits with large heads go through stages of jaw shifting as the head is developing and the rabbit may be in one of those shifts. I would wait on buying that rabbit until they corrected.

If the bottom teeth are over the top teeth they will not wear off properly and the teeth will grow into their mouth or nose and will prevent the rabbit from eating. The rabbit will starve and die.

Housing

Rabbits need a wire bottom in their cage to  keep the rabbit healthy until they get litter train to a litter box.

Your new bunny will need a safe place to live. We use all wire cages with trays . They make several different styles of cages from the simple wire with trays or out door hutches, to the 2 story fancy cages. The main thing your rabbit will need is a safe place for him/her to stay when you can not watch them. Cages can be bought at pet stores or some feed stores.

           All wire cage with tray         

Indoor rabbit cage on rollers

                     Out door hutch

 

Rabbit Equipment

You will need a water crock or water bottle for your cage. 

Top Fill bottles you do not have to take off the cage to water. The wide mouth bottle you will need to take off the cage to water rabbit and leaks more than the top fill. I use the top fill in the first picture of water bottle for my Lion heads, The spout is shorter and less likely to tear manes. these can be purchased at Woodys Wabbits at http://www.woodyswabbits.com/

 

 

 

 

 

These crocks are easy to put on your cage and take off for cleaning. You can use the blue one for water and food dishes for your holland lops.  The holland lops will need the larger dishes because they will have a larger head when they grow up. The lionheads can not have any metal feeders or water crocks or they will wear their manes off. I prefer these feeder for the lionheads and the top fill water bottles for lionheads. You can also use one of the stoneware dishes for water and feed for your holland lops and lionheads.

resting matt

The resting mat goes on the bottom of the cage. This is not required for holland lops or lionheads. Rex ,mini rex & velveteen lops require the resting matt for their feet to get off the wire bottoms. The reason is because these breeds do not have as much fur on the bottom of their feet and can make their feet sore sitting on the wire all the time.

Toys

Rabbits love to play. Here are some things your bunny can play with

Feeding your new bunny

This website has a good article on nutrition for your rabbit.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/nutrition.htm

Never feed rabbits lettuce.

 This can give them diarrhea and they can die in 24 hours if not taken care of.

8 weeks until 3 months

I free feed pellets. All the bunny wants to eat of his/her pellets

At 3 month

 you will cut your pellets down to 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of pellets a day depending on size of rabbit.

Your rabbit only needs 1 ounce of food per pound to live a long happy life.

A fat rabbit will not live as long or be as healthy. A rabbit will eat constantly if allowed to.

Feed a hand full of hay daily.

They say a rabbit should clean up their pellets with in 30 minutes of feeding them. I give them a couple hours to finish their food.

I give hay and treats in the morning and their pellet food at night. Only feed the pellets once a day. I do not give their treats on top of their feed because they will start scooping out their feed looking for more treats this is another reason I feed treats in the morning and pellets at night.

Babies are developing their digestive system until they are 6 months old. Your new bunny will need a good rabbit pellet with 16% protein and high fiber. If you can not find 16% try to get the lowest you can find in protein. Do not get the mixed packages of rabbit food from places like Walmart and Petsmart. Your rabbit needs a good nutritional 16% rabbit pellet for the main food. The mixed packages are not just pellets they have other things in them which does not help your rabbit get the nutrition he she needs.

I use Kings Brand( Integrifeed) 16% rabbit pellets for my rabbits. This has been the best rabbit feed I have found. It has the best nutrition and has done wonders for my rabbits and keeping them healthy. My rabbits are in better flesh condition for showing, my older rabbits are more active and youthful acting since going on this feed. It also has cut way down on the odors by using yucca plant. it has ingredients and formulated to help the digestive system work better. I notice a big difference in my rabbits after going on this feed. Best of all this feed has a locked formula. This means they are not changing the ingredients with every batch made according to what commodities are cheapest at the time. It is so very hard to find a locked formula in rabbit pellets. Kings Brand( Integrifeed)  uses the same quality ingredients with every batch. I have had a lot of good reports from other rabbit breeders how wonderful this food is.  The cavy owners even notice a big difference in their cavies/pigs

The only place in Idaho you can buy this feed is at

Hay-

Your babies need some hay daily to help keep wool block down and keep them healthy. Do not use alfalfa hay for your rabbits. I use timothy or oat hay as  my first choice of hay or orchard, brome  hay or some type grass hay. Alfalfa hay with the pellets will be to high in protein and can cause them to burn their tummies out. I do not like to feed grass clipping either, sometimes they have chemicals on them or can be to rich for your bunny.

Treats

Doc's Rabbit Enhancer. This will be a great treat every day from babies on to adulthood. You can purchase your 7 pound jug at Jackie's in Middleton, Idaho. You can order this at http://www.klubertanz.com or http://www.kwcages.com

(Jackie is checking into getting some in her store in the bulk for pet owners)

Always start a new treat out on your new bunny slowly. Give them small amounts of treats at first so they can get used to them.

8 weeks to 4 months

Rabbits are still developing their digestive systems until they are 6 months old so I do not feed a lot of treats.

I only feed the babies Cheerios and spoon size shredded wheat for a treat at this young age. You can feed Doc's Rabbit Enhancer at this young age for a wonderful treat. They love the timothy hay for treats.

 4 months to 6 months

You can start introducing in small quantities and slowly You can feed them a small apple slice, very small piece of banana this is really fattening, so not more than twice a week and in small portions and  baby carrots, You can still feed any of the above.You can slowly introduce  fresh or dried  (not canned) pineapple, Fresh or dried papaya,  once a week a small leaf of spinach,

Water

It is very important to give your rabbits fresh water daily. Water helps keep the rabbit healthy and hydrated. Without water your rabbit will not eat very well and can get dehydrated and die.

How long do rabbit live?

Rabbits can live 5 to 12 years

Spaying and Neutering

My Opinion

Here is a good article http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/spaying_and_neutering.htm

In my personal experience and my belief I do not believe cancer is big issue with rabbits. Cavies and rats do get cancer more often, I would be more concerned about them  getting cancer than a rabbit. I have been around rabbits for 42 years and only known of 1 rabbit in those 42 years get  tumors with cancer. That rabbit was an over weight buck . The places I have read on line about your Does getting cancer are associated with House Rabbit Society or rescue shelters and places that want all animals spayed and neutered to cut the animal population down.

Bucks:

I do not very often have a buck that sprays. There are some bucks that will spray. My Dutch were my biggest sprayers. Very rarely will I get a holland lop that will spray. I feel some of this runs in the lines from past experience with my rabbits and I do not keep rabbits that spray for breeding. Some causes for spraying are the smell of other pets, sometimes certain perfumes like musk. The rabbit will want to mark their scent on it. I have not had any spraying bucks for a very long time now. I would wait to see if they are going to spray or not before considering neutering your bucks. If they do mark an area use white vinegar on the spot to keep them from coming back to that area. I have used white vinegar even on carpets when training puppies. You can dilute it half water half vinegar or use it full strength like I do.

Does:

My Does do not get what I call PMS (with her hormones) very often when they want to be bred.... but there are some Does that will get grumpy when they want to be bred. Sometimes spaying may calm this part down. I would not suggest spaying her until you find out if she is going to have this problem or not since many of the Does do not have this PMS problem.

Spaying and Neutering Dangers

If you are going to get your rabbits Spayed or neutered you will need to make sure you go to a vet that has done several rabbits successfully. Not all vets are familiar with rabbits and  spaying or neutering a  rabbits. Rabbits can die very easily with anesthesia. The anesthesia can be very problematic if the vet does do it properly for a rabbit. Stress is very hard on a rabbit and they can die from severe stress alone. If the vet has not done surgery on several rabbits before with great success I would keep looking for a vet that has.

Cleaning

With the care of a rabbit also includes cleaning.

Keep the bottom of your cage clean where they sit. I use wire brushes to knock off any manure that may be on the cage floor . I use a damp toilet brush to pick up any hair left of the cage from a molt. Molting may require daily cage cleaning.  You will need to clean your water crock or bottle and feed dishes once a week with a solution of Clorox water Keep your trays or litter boxes clean. You should clean your trays before you start to smell ammonia.  Depending what you use in the trays or litter box you may need to clean it every other day to once a week. In the litter pans  I would suggest wood stove pellets. In trays under the cage with the rabbit not sitting in it you can use pine shavings or shredded beet pulp. Do not use Cedar  this will give off poisonous odors with the urine and cause upper respiratory  problems.

House training your rabbit

Other suggestions for house training:

http://www.ontariorabbits.org/pdfs/littertraining.pdf  (Note I do not like using hay or straw because the rabbit may want to eat it I also do not like the rabbits eating ink so I stay away from newspaper etc..)

Litter box training your bunny is fairly easy since your bunny naturally chooses a certain location to eliminate. The older the bunny the easier it is to litter train. Your bunny's first two weeks home should be spent in their cage. They need to define where  home is and feel safe in their surroundings before he/she is allowed freedom.  Your bunny's cage is also good when you are not home or sleeping. As time goes on, you will know how much your bunny can be trusted and you can leave them out of their cage accordingly. I would always be there when you let your bunny have freedom. Rabbit do like to chew so you will want to watch them for that.

When your bunny is comfortable in his cage, you can let him out for some exploring in a small area. By using small areas, it reduces the chance that he will find another spot to use as his potty outside of what you have in mind. I use a small cage to set on the floor or you can use a litter box in their cage after you determine where the bunny is going potty in cage. Carrying your bunny right to the litter box after opening his cage can also help teach him where to go. Keep his freedom area small at first until they learn where to go potty. Take them to the box often. Do not leave the bunny out of the cage for more than 10 or 15 minutes at first to help cut down on accidents.  If your bunny is having trouble becoming litter box trained, his play area might be too big too soon.

Grooming

Holland lops

Rabbits molt in the fall and spring time every year or a sudden feed change can cause a molt. while they are having a molt their loose hair needs to be combed out .I like to use a horse grooming block .This black can be broken in half to make it easier to handle. You use the grooming block like a comb and make short combing strokes to pull out the loose hair. When you get finished you can dampen your hands with water and pet the rabbit to finish getting the lose hair. To get the loose hair off your hands or clothes you can dampen your hands and moving in a circular motion to get the hair to ball up them just pull off and throw away or you can use a pet hair removal tape to get it off your clothes. You may need to repeat this daily while the rabbit is molting. make sure you increase the hay during this time since the rabbit do groom themselves often they will ingest some of the hair and need the hair to help remove it.

Lionheads

Lionheads will need to be combed out about twice a week while they have their baby coat. After they have their adult coat you will need to comb them once a week. It is very quick to comb out a lionhead until you let them get matted. You will use a pin comb or pin brush to comb the lionheads. I will show you what I use when you pick up your lionhead and demonstrate combing your new baby. Do not forget to comb by the tail.

These are the brushs and comb I use for the lionheads.

Antistatic comb pin brush

Clipping Toenails

Your rabbits toenails will need to be clipped. I use cat toenail clippers to clip toenails. You will want to buy some Kwik Stop you can buy at any pet store to keep on hand to stop the bleeding if you get the vein. I will trim the babies nails before they leave my house. If you do not have any Kwik Stop apply pressure to the end of the toenail until it stops bleeding or you can try to use flour as a thick paste to put over the bleeding nail. Dark toenails  as a rule do not clip above the curve of the toenail.  White toe nails you will see the blood vein easy. If you live in the Boise area you are more than welcome to bring your bunny over and I will clip the toe nails for you if you feel more comfortable.

Picture below is provided to you by Kwik Stop.

Summer Care

Winter Care

Rabbit Suppliers

http://www.woodyswabbits.com/

http://www.klubertanz.com/

http://www.kwcages.com/

Suggested reading about rabbit care

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com (many different subject)

http://islandgems.net/houserabbit.html

http://islandgems.net/rabbit_care_for_kids.html

Rabbit Clubs

http://www.arba.net/nationalclub.htm

http://www.lionhead.us/

http://www.hlrsc.com

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