Beyond Your Backyard 🐇"What You Need to Know This Easter About Giving Live Rabbits as Gifts"
By Kimberly J. Epp
Easter is a time of new life.
Many animals are having their young.
Spring has sprung, and what's cuter than a baby rabbit?
After all, 2023 is the year of the rabbit.
Rabbits are cheap to buy, but they are far from cheap to keep.
Not to mention, a rabbit is a 10 year (or longer) investment.
If you decide to adopt a rabbit, it's important to do your research first.
Three young rabbits had been surrendered to Running Wild Rescue last year, a female and two males. None of them had been spayed or neutered, so the two males only wanted to fight.
They could have impregnated the female if they had not been brought in. They spent several months at the rescue.
I took in the two males to foster last November, and although the males were kept separate, their only focus was on each other.
Thankfully, I found a home within a week for one of the males, Bambi.
He went to a home with an older 12 year old male rabbit.
The two slept snuggled together their first night, and two weeks later Bambi helped his older friend cross the rainbow bridge.
But Bambi was not alone. The puppy of the family stepped up as his new best friend.
Rabbits can do well with other species, and the other rabbit (Groot) has bonded with kitten Sadie, who came to my home as a foster around the same time.
Sadie and Groot hanging out (Photo by Kimberly Epp)
Rabbits don't need to be kept in cages.
If you do decide to get a rabbit, you will need a cage for the rabbit to go in and out as it wants. But if you rabbit-proof your house, your bunny will be much happier free run.
Rabbits have small territories, and with small blockades, they will learn to remain in that area.
Any loose wires from lamps, water fountains, or anything in that area can simply be covered with wire loom.
Go through the whole room(s) to cover wires and block off anything you think they might chew.
Rabbits have an extra pair of smaller, very sharp teeth just behind their larger incisors.
This extra pair of cutting teeth is one of the main features that makes rabbits (and hares) different from other herbivores.
Generally, rabbits won't chew on any furniture, etc. as long as they have enough chew toys and 24 hour access to hay.
You can give them pine cones, dried corn cobs and cut fresh twigs from certain bushes for them to chew on as well.
Rabbits don't walk. They hop.
Wild rabbits and hares are very fast hoppers. Hares have been recorded at nearly 80 kilometers per hour over short distances while rabbits hop at about half that speed.
The powerful back legs are large and muscular. Although they move fast, wild rabbits and hares seldom go far.
Most spend their entire lives within 400 meters of their homes.
Rabbits are extremely intelligent.
They will immediately check out any changes to their habitat.
They are always alert to danger, so they take short naps. Their large ears catch every sound. Their twitching noses sniff the air for danger. They also feel the vibrations on the ground.
Domestic rabbits are always alert as well.
If you do decide to get a rabbit, there are always rabbits that need homes at shelters and rescues.
So please choose to adopt rather than buy.
If you give one as a gift for Easter, however, a rabbit is an expensive gift for the recipient.
Often when exotic pets are not fully understood, they don't get the attention they need. Some even get neglected. Others are even dumped outdoors to fend for themselves, but domestic rabbits don't have the survival instincts like wild rabbits do.
The best Easter bunny is a chocolate Easter bunny.
People are struggling with higher costs of living, so please consider this as well.
Bambi and Dotty (Photo by Brittney Andrews)
If you get more than one, you'll have to spay/neuter them.
But just as with cats, an adult that is not fixed has a higher chance of cancer and other illnesses. Males, especially if there are two, can also spray.
Rabbits are prey animals, so generally do not like being held.
If you have a loud and boisterous household, a rabbit may not be a good fit. Rabbits can easily go into heart failure if they get stressed, which is why wild rabbits and orphaned young do poorly in wildlife rehabilitation centres.
Your rabbit needs to feel like it is part of your family, but needs his or her own quiet space to sleep and rest in.
Rabbits do well with some cats and dogs, but not always.
If your dog, for example, is not gentle, then a rabbit is not a good fit - but there are lots of dogs and puppies that need good homes.
Rabbit claws must be trimmed monthly, both front and back.
As rabbits are herbivores, their incisors grow 2 centimeters per month, so you must provide adequate treats and chew toys specific to rabbits, along with their needed hay and food pellets.
Rabbits are easily litter trained, and are not messy as some people make them out to be. They are, in fact, very neat creatures.
Groot has a litter box made from a plastic tray, filled with hay and lined with newspaper.
Rabbits must re-eat their scat just as they do in the wild.
They do so because they cannot break down the nutrients needed well enough the first time the food goes through the digestive system.
Ensure you clean out their litter tray twice a day, but only after their droppings have been reingested. Fresh droppings are dark. Rabbits usually quickly reingest them.
The second time through the gut, the droppings are a light brown color.
Hay and food pellets alone will cost about $60.00 to $70.00.
If you don't provide chew treats and toys, you take the risk of then needing to take your rabbit into the vet to get dental surgery That's yet another expense.
Keep in mind that we no longer have an exotic pets veterinarian in Moose Jaw, so you'll have to travel to Regina.
Groot is restful here, but one ear up shows that he is still listening to what is going on around him.
I asked Exotic Veterinary Assistant, December Lucyk to give some advice on rabbits for this column.
December spent years working as a Assistant Wildlife Rehabber for Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation and she has a menagerie of several exotic pets at home.
She now works at Orchard Veterinary Clinic in Saskatoon.
December offered the following advice to anyone thinking about adopting a pet rabbit.
Rabbits are available and cheap, so people think they are also cheap to keep. That's not the case.
If a rabbit doesn't eat for 12 to 24 hours, they can die from GI stasis.
They can stop eating for several reasons. Most animals can go without food for that long, but not rabbits.
The reasons they may stop eating can include gas, eating food they normally don't eat, pain from an injury, illness or infection.
So not only do you need to try to figure out what is wrong with them, but you'll also have to force feed them.
You can buy an emergency kit for rabbits (online or through your vet) for your pet first aid kit.
Rabbits also need 24 hour access to good quality Timothy hay. If they get alfalfa hay, they can get a calcium build up and bladder stones.
If they get too many treats and food pellets and not enough hay, they may not wear their teeth down enough. They may then require dental surgery.
Some veggies are too high in calcium and oxalate, so be sure to rotate the veggies you give your rabbit.
There are many good groups online that can help you with diet information.
Rabbits should also be spayed and neutered.
Intact females have an 80 per cent chance of getting reproductive cancers, especially past the age of 2.
Males can get giant tumours on their testicles. Spaying and neutering is fairly routine as long as it's done by a rabbit-savvy vet.
Behaviourly, male rabbits tend to mark and become more territorial when intact.
Rabbits are very social, but you can only keep them together when they are fixed.
Groot rests in his favourite spot. Both ears are up, showing that he is alert and listening.
I have seen first-hand two males trying to fight, and December has seen a rabbit with his face nearly ripped off by another intact male.
Male rabbits will fight to the death if given the chance.
The biggest misconception is that rabbits must be kept in cages.
If you cannot bunny-proof your house, get a large dog pen. But the rabbit will be happiest being able to go about its business on his or her own terms.
Rabbits will get hock sores if not given enough cozy places to rest on, or if kept in wire bottom cages.
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease (RHD) is one last thing to be aware of.
It is a nasty disease spreading in wild and feral rabbit populations.
Although it hasn't yet been reported in Saskatchewan, it is only a matter of time as it has been reported in Alberta.
It is a horrific fatal disease that has been reported in pet rabbits as well.
The vaccine is now available in Canada, and it is recommended to all rabbit owners.
If you plan to have your rabbit spend time in an outdoor pen, you will need to first talk to your Veternarian about getting this vaccine for your rabbit beforehand.
There have even been cases of it being transferred to rabbits via food items.
For more information click here, https://cwhl.vet.cornell.edu/disease/rabbit-hemorrhagic-disease .
Many thanks to December for this valuable information!
(Photo by Brittney Andrews)
So you decided to get a rabbit after all.
Costs of a rabbit.
You'll have the start-up costs of a cage ($150 to $200), the costs of spaying or neutering (roughly $200 to $300, plus $100 for initial exam), RHD vaccine ($30), hay ($30 to $35), pellets ($30 to $40), chew toys/treats ($10 to $15), bowls ($5 to $10), bedding, wire loom ($10 to $20), a rabbit first aid/emergency care kit ($35 to $40), and weekly fresh vegetables.
Some vegetables are better than others, so please research that as well.
In the summer you can add dandelions to their diet, but leave some for the bees and wild rabbits, too.
If you have corn on the cob, save and dry the cobs for your bunny as a chew treat. Some fruits are ok, too.
Some rabbits like bananas and strawberries. Varying their treats is a good idea, but you'll have to see what your rabbit likes best.
How can you tell how a rabbit is feeling?
Rabbits become most active at night. They get their own form of "zoomies" when they are happy.
Rabbits may jump up and down on your furniture, and just become silly. This is a good thing. You can also tell how they are feeling through their ear signals.
If you've done all of your research and still want to adopt a rabbit, the best time may not be at Easter.
Sadly, many rabbits are surrendered when families realize that they require more than they are willing to give.
Consider adopting a surrendered rabbit.
Most shelters have rabbits, and some rescues do as well.
Spook and Ninjah (Photo by December Lucyk)
Petsmart, for example, usually has rabbits on display from the humane society.
Knowing all of the facts will help you make the best decision for you and your family.
Or maybe you will just choose to get a chocolate bunny after all.
Whatever you decide, remember that a pet is forever and that they are a part of your family.
Hoppy Easter!
Both ears down shows that Groot is feeling restful and not concerned with the sounds around him. Rabbits can sleep with their eyes open or closed.
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Epp is an Environmental Educator and writer. She is also Past President and Programs Coordinator of the Moose Jaw Nature Society.
She can be reached at kepp@shaw.ca or via the Moose Jaw Nature Society Facebook page.