Ali's Hot Topic 4-3-10 (Month 2)

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JadeIcing

JadeIcing

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Now with Easter's coming we know that people will be buying that "Easter Bunny", some will luck out and the new owners will have done research but most will not have done it. While a topic that comes up all the time being so close to Easter thought it would be nice to bring it up.

Three things to you should do...


1)Try not toannoy the person
2) Where do you start
3) How much information do you give at a time


1) Ways not to annoy the person....

Watch how you approach the situation, you do not want to annoy the person. One misstep and they may not listen to anything you say. So make a small suggestion... EX: "Hey did you know that bunnies can eat (insert something)" "Hey cheap toy is the toilet paper roll'.

2) Where do you start....

One thing it took a long time to learn is how do I start the conversation. Do I jump into the food discussion? Do I mention the cage? Do I mention bunny proofing?

One I tend to mention is bunny proofing because I find that if you appeal to their wallet they like that. :DAlso if you help try to reduce some of the negative than it enhances the positive.

If the bunny flops out, if the bunny does the bunny 500 mention how good that is. That the bunny is happy with them.



3) How much information do you give at a time...

Ithink the key is look at who you are talking to. How much can they take? How you handle depends very much how much the person can take. Cater to who you are talking to.

Ok so everyone share your tips, your insight!
 
great topic!i tend to say something like ' i got my bunnies when i gave up smoking - had to do something with my smoking shed and all the money i was saving'. i can then follow up with 'keeping my vet employed what with all the vaccinations'. once the ice is broken its easy to chat about food and toys.

im an adult leader with girl guiding - my rainbow unit ranges from 5 to 7 years. if one of them says they want a rabbit i tell them to make sure their mum wants one too. i normally chat to the parents when they collect the girls, so can mention the rabbit. i take it from there:)
 
I tend to say that they have a lot of needs and they live longer then a couple of years.

I find most people think they only love a couple of years.

If starting a convo I show pictures of my two. That is normally the ice breaker. I also go to feed and cage size. And spaying those are also my main points.

Kat:bunnydance:
 
I think it is a lot easier to start a discussion with someone considering getting a bunny to someone who already has one and is doing things wrong.
 
I agree with you on that. People who already own rabbits are 3x harder to convince sometimes, depending on the topic.

I have the luxury of being at Petco withthe shelter buns and all our equipment, so whenever someone comes by with questions or stories of their bunnies, I can demo rabbit care, diet, housing, proofing, on the spot. Showing them is much more effective than just telling them about it.

I like to approach a situation first by asking them how they do it, if I suspect that something sounds off. Then I ask if they ever see the bunny act funny or dislike whateverit is, and if they offer any detail about it, I try to suggest something that might help the bunny. That way, they won't feel like I'm prying and criticizing, but only making conversation and offering helpful suggestions...

If they tell me something that sounds off, but they don't indicate that their rabbit has any negative feedback about it, I might just express a bit of wonder and say it's quite unusual, and offer up how we normally see bunnies react to that sort of thing.

Example - if someone has brought a bunny home and hasn't spayed or neutered their bunny, and have no intention of fixing them, I might ask how old the bunny is, does he/she seem very hormonal/charged up, aggressive, or territorial, bad litter habits, etc. Usually the response to this is "yes, my bunny does seem to poop and pee everywhere no matter what I do" -- and this is my "in" to tell them about the benefits of fixing the bunny, particularly the benefits for a female rabbit. This then opens the way to talk about lifespan of a bun.

Of course you never want to annoy the person. And you pick and choose based on how the conversation goes which topic is most important for them to hear about. If you start to rattle off a short list of 5 or 6 things they are doing "wrong", without convincingly backing up your words. I think if you offer up one solid recommendation and you get them to buy it, they will be more willing to continue to listen to the other things you have to say.
 
JadeIcing wrote:
I think it is a lot easier to start a discussion with someone considering getting a bunny to someone who already has one and is doing things wrong.
Click to expand...

i agree! if it's the latter i tend to say something like ' i know what you mean, i had that with my bunny. my vet suggested i try what ever - worked like a dream! would never have tried it if they hadnt told me' and let things go on from there.

i think it's all in the tone and strategic use of a few white lies. i shall duck as i type this bit but do unto others as you would be done by:)
 
The easiest way it seems for me to educate is when people come to my home and see how my rabbits live. They see the hay ("Rabbits eat that?" "Yep, they need it pretty much 24/7 to keep their tummies working and to keep them from getting sick.") their toys ("Rabbits like to play?" "Oh yeah, you should see Breakfast with his willow balls.") their pellets ("Where are the colored bits?" "Oh the colored bits are bad for bunnies, I just give mine the plain pellets because it's healthier for them) their cages ("Your rabbits have a lot of room." "Well they need a lot of space to stretch out and move freely.") and their litterboxes ("Your rabbits use that?" "Yeah you can housetrain them like cats. It's really neat. And when they're fixed they are much better at it too.). It's easy to go from there, and talk about it.
 
LOL Kat

I do a lot of the things others have mentioned when people come in to the adoption center where I volunteer.

I pet-sat a bunny that wasn't fed well and was very overweight. I appealed to the owners' love for the bunny, saying that he's uncomfortable because he can't clean his bottom, and that his tummy is a bit upset, and that he might be happier if he were skinnier. I also gave a lot of info--the House Rabbit Handbook, websites, etc. I feel that if you give somebody an information source, they'll eventually have a question and will go looking for answers, so if they have the book or website that they already know has good info, they'll go there first.
 
I think it really depends on the person.

If the individual "loves" their rabbit but is just ignorant, it helps to engage them in a conversation about their rabbit, and start gently making contrasts between their husbandry and yours in a proactive manner. Ie. "You know what my bunny loves? Fleece blankets. I have them all over the bottom of his exercise pen. I've heard that wire bottom cages can hurt their feet - you might want to see if your bunny likes a pen with a fleece bottom too. I bet he'd love that."

If the person is indifferent to their rabbit, it is often because they are uneducated about bunnies and may find them boring/stupid/uninteresting. I find in these cases it is best to bring up some interesting facts or behaviors to try and draw them in. "Boring? Well have you ever tried giving him a toy? My rabbits love to chew up wicker baskets, roll rattles around - heck one of them even has a stuffed animal s/he carries around like a dog!"

I find a conversation on improving care can be started by asking some prodding questions. IE. "Oh what a cute bunny. Does he love dandelion greens as much as mine does?" or "Aw what a sweet bunny. I bet it's hilarious watching him race around the room." and so fourth. When they indicate things like "Greens? my rabbits eat nothing but pellets!" or "Mr. Bunny doesn't get let out; he tries to chew wires" you can start making suggestions carefully.

I don't agree with inundating people with information, but I try to give them a few suggestions, then say "Woah, at the rate I'm going you'll have to write stuff down; sorry, I get passionate about bunnies. Hey, how about I give you the link to this awesome website were you can learn all kinds of cool stuff about rabbits?"
 
I don't know many bunny slaves but people are always asking me questions and are fastenated by my litter trained house buns and how they roam free just like a dog! I would approach it the way many of you described if ever in a situation with a bunny that wasn't getting proper care.
 
I had a similar experience recently. I was doing a dog grooming exam and asked my friends if their dogs needed grooming, one girl brought her dog, which was extremely matted. Now I know they're nice people and love the dogs, and how easy it is to let them get matted, so I wasn't mean to her (also she has a baby and alot of things going on). So I just complimented the dog lots, saying how lovely he was, he looked really young for his age and had lovely teeth (all true) and didn't give out about him being matted. Then I said she could bring him to me anytime and I'd groom him for free. She was delighted with how he looked afterwards and she said she'd definitely bring him and two other dogs (not matted) over to me again, and that she'd pay me to groom them (though I will only charge a small price).

So I think, just be really nice, compliment what they are doing right, and understand that they might just not know they are doing things wrong, or are just not finding the time rather than being cruel deliberately, and then give advice. :)
 
What really irks me is when someone has a rabbit and something is medically wrong with it, and they wont take it to a vet because its "just a $5 rabbit" and its "not worth spending hundreds in vet bills". In that case its hard to decide what to do, because they obviously don't value the poor thing enough to help it get healthy.
 
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