Neglect

hey guys,

I’ve recently bunny at 9 months old and it has brought a lot of pain to me, but I also look out for other people rabbits (how they’re being treated etc). There is someone on my street who I believe is highly neglectful of their rabbit.

The hutch is so small, there is no room to even turn around! The rabbit has no hay and is literally living off grass only ? I didn’t even see a **** water bowl or bottle in their. When it was raining really badly the other day they didn’t even bring the bunny inside, they covered it up with wooden planks!!

I called the RSPCA and they said they’ll get to it but nothing really has happened. I would confront the owner but I don’t want to spark any arguments as I’m only young and he is very scary.

I honestly just want to take the rabbit and help it and show it the affection I used to give to my little baby and oh give him freedom.

Please help!!

Keeping a rabbit outside is not neglect. Thousands of people keep their rabbits outside in hutches.
And hay is grass.
Perhaps photos to actually see how "bad" it is. Otherwise it seems unfair to judge someone because they house their animals different then you do.

If the rabbit doesn't have enough room to turn around, I think that would be abuse if not neglect. However, we live in a world of factory farming, and keeping an animal in such cages is not that uncommon. I live in suburb, and I was told that most hutch rabbits that end up at the shelter were put there for sanitation reasons. If you have animal control in your area, you might give them a try. Rabbits make good outdoor pets as long as they have a clean safe environment. More hutch rabbits end up being picked up by animal control than house rabbits because they are in view of others. Good for you for noticing.

All my rabbits eat grass and forage exclusivly when available, it's the better kind of "hay", hay is somewhat detoriated, conserved dead forage, very convienient for the owner, but for me just a fallback in winter when there is no fresh stuff available. Rabbits do not need hay, it doesn't exist in the wild anyway. Hay is just the next best thing to feed when fresh forage is not feasable, and it even has advantages when there are aný digestion problems.
My rabbits drink nothing all summer long, they get all the water they need through their food.

I can totally understand your plight, one of my fellow breeders in my road has "hutches" like in the picture (for size reference, look at the top cage), I try to nag and educate him in the right direction (get's easier every year, since not a single kit of about 4-5 litters survived this year), but there are many other things to consider, a lot of social stuff.

Him being scary, relax. Start talking, like what he feeds, and so on. Ask for advice on small matters. What the rabbits like, etc. I prefer that subversive kind of approach. Do not approach by knowing better.


As far as I can tell, what you do is forcing your opinion, based on quite limited knowledge, on others. That is something you should reconsider. It's not exactly positive.
Start talking to that people (not holding a sermon), help when it is doable. Show how it's done (if possible - I have that guy looking for my rabbits when I'm away, he learns a lot that way). Patience.

I remember years ago when I had outdoor rabbits. There were plenty of people accusing me of neglect and they never even bothered to check out my rabbits. Some people just assume that if a rabbit is outside, it is neglected. I don't think that is the case here if the rabbit doesn't even have fresh water. I also think it is a great idea to get to know the people better, to better evaluate the situation.

My rabbit did live outside so I’m not judging that it is outside. It the fact the cage is way to small for the rabbit it can barely even move. I’m not going to take a photo of someone else’s property and post it onto social media. All I asked was for some advice.

I didn’t know rabbits could survive without water & hay for that long, I was seeking assistance not to be put down for my concern.

I mean keeping a rabbit outside in a hutch isn't neglect. But I don't know where you live but we are getting major heat waves and that rabbits needs water or it will die. And I don't know if it has shade or not but that would make it even worse. And I don't know how big the cage is but I really hope it would be big enough for it to turn! a cage should be at LEAST (I don't even like) 4 or 5 times the size of a rabbit. But I would try for as big as you can. and the hay is okay because it has grass I guess. But with all the water in grass it might give the rabbit diarrhea which is deadly. I would try to get it out as fast as you can before it gets to hot out for the rabbit. (okay I'm sorry I just now see that you aren't in the USA) SO now that I see your not in the USA I wouldn't be to worried about the heat until your summer heat comes. Like once it reaches past 70 ish you should really bring it in. I hope this kinda helped even though I doubt it did

Maybe you can ask to see the bunny up close, I know all my neighbors have come over and asked to see my bunnies to pet and give treats.

You can do the same to see up close how it lives and look like. Don’t really think you sneak up into their yard. Maybe you missed something, you can also during that time strike up a conversation about bunnies (little sneaky).


If it live a really bad life, you can start from there. Maybe give information and so on, you will have to feel the situation.

Australia it’s a really warm place, so it will need water. Grass in the cage won’t be enough, just seeing my outdoor bunnies pen. The grass within disappeared in one day and my pen attached to the hutches are 10 sq m.

I had a boyfriend before, one in his family owned bunnies. During winter, they forgot feeding the bunnies and giving water to them. Which ended up with one of their bunnies dying.

I truly hope it’s not that bad and if it is, I hope you will manage to help the bunny.