Funny questions you get as a bunny owner

[inasaga]

Like me, I am sure many of you get the strange looks and curious questions from others about what owning a rabbit is like.

I want to hear the funny questions you've been asked. Or if you have provided these curious folks with some funny answers.

I am always asked:

• How did you litter train it? -Put him the box, he figured it out from there.
• Does it do tricks? -Is this the main purpose of a pet?
• What is it like? A dog or a cat? -Neither, it's a bunny. It may be a hybrid of the best qualities of a dog and cat.
• Blank, confused stare. -It's like a cat, but quiet, sweeter, not plotting your death, can't climb on as much furniture, and you can share vegetables with it.

So what have you been asked?

 

[whitelop]

-You have what in your house? - a rabbit, small black and white, cute...
-Are you going to eat it? - no, she's a pet.
-Does it get out of the cage? - yes, she free roams my kitchen.
-Isn't it a rat? - nope, its a lagomorph not a rodent.
-Does it poop everywhere? - no, she' litter trained, so she goes in the box like a cat.
-So when are you going to eat it? - uhmm...we've gone over this already.
-Why do you need so much hay? - I have a house rabbit whos main diet is hay. That person-blank stare - oh okay? A rabbit?
-Does it make any noise? - no, not much. She thumps and grunts sometimes but thats about it.

I have chickens too so I get all kinds of crazy questions about them and the rabbit. Its unbelievable that people can't just google rabbits and learn some things. haha. I finally stopped telling people I have a rabbit.

 

[agnesthelion]

I usually get judgement and it infuriates me!

"eww two rabbits? Dont they belong in a barn?"

"eww they smell"

Morgan, the eating thing is pretty funny. I usually get the jokes about rabbit stew, stuff like that.

Then people are always amazed they are free run a d litter trained.

 

[Imbrium]

-It's like a cat, but quiet, sweeter, not plotting your death, can't climb on as much furniture, and you can share vegetables with it.

I beg to differ. I've seen the looks I get after force-snuggling my bunnies and I'm pretty sure they're out to get me!

I honestly can't remember anything odd I've been asked about rabbits... though I know I've gotten plenty of quizzical looks from Home Depot employees when I mentioned something was for my bunnies (particularly when building their agility course). to be fair, the weird bunny-related questions have been totally out-shined by the "what in god's name is THAT??" questions regarding gliders (especially when Lemmy starts crabbing in a store, lol). at least most people can associate bunnies with veggies no matter how little they know... but people don't even know that much about gliders because they're so rare.

 

[PaGal]

I have only once had anyone ask me about owning a bunny. Every time I go and buy veggies I have to explain the bok choy. The store I but it from only has about four bunches available and no one ever knows the code which I have learned so that I can tell them instead of waiting while they ask others who do not know. The one incident was a worker who said she has always wanted one. She didn't ask anything funny but I did explain about litter training. That it is possible and that with Thump he took to it in a matter of days.

As far as eating them well in a way I can understand that question because so many people do. Or at least it seems that way. I found plenty of places when searching for a breeder that raise or sell meat rabbits. Not something I like to think about. My neighbor who is the definition of a country boy bought the two young teen kids each a bunny. His plan was if they bred, then eat the parents and keep the babies. I also try not to think about that.

 

[PwnzorsNTittylwinks]

my top questions always seem to be

"why do you give it such a big cage? its like a guinea pig. " -.- no. its not.
"doesnt your entire apartment smell like a barn?" -.- no. it doesnt.
and my favorite,
"why do you take it so serioiusly? its not like its a dog or something". -.- this one gets to me the most because i dont see why people like to place dogs and cats at the top of the pet totem pole and everything else gets belittled.

whats sad is 2 out of 3 of those came from a girl who said she used to own rabbits. im just glad it was a "used to"

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Here's one for all the idiots that ask about cooking--making rabbit stew. Whenever someone says "I hear rabbits make good stew", I tell them my rabbits are lazy little layabouts and won't cook me a darned thing.

 

[Toady]

This week I got a shocked looked from my psychologist when I told her that my 3 bunnies lived inside and she was amazed that Loki free-ranges during the day and I haven't had any messes as he goes back in his crate to do his business.

I also get the 'they're almost ready to cook' from my stepfather (who's an a*&@hole anyway) about the girls, I've told him they wouldn't be the size of quail once dressed cause the girls are only about 1.7kgs (about 3 lbs)... but I'm never going to allow him anywhere near my bunnies... thankfully my mother has a severe allergy to rabbit meat (uncontrollable vomiting at the smell of it) so he won't get any as long as she's in the house.

As for smell I think that my cats smell more than the bunnies do, although cleaning Loki's scent glands this week (for the first time in months) was quite smelly!

 

[PaGal]

Shoot my dog passes some horrible gas that at times gags us and it used to be worse!

Cat poop is one of the worst smelling things on the planet.

Thumper's urine is a bit strong but no where near the smell of the others I've listed.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Doing agility, there tend to be lots of odd questions and comments. Some common ones include:
Is that a rabbit? (It's not called the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club because we use dogs).
Do they really run the course? (No, we just like to set it up and sit here for 6 hours).
That one looks like a guinea pig. (Nope, it's a rabbit).
Do you eat the losers? (Hard to stay polite with this one).

There are other questions and comments about rabbits and how to care for them, many stories of rabbits people had that don't end well (I used to have a rabbit but...), comments about eating rabbits, comments about sending dogs after them to get them to run faster and many other annoying comments that I try to pretend not to hear. There are also some people who want to buy the rabbits.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Does he eat carrots?
Omg rabbits stink you have it in your house?!
When is the BBQ?
And you're tellin me you taught your RABBIT tricks? I didn't think rabbits had much of a brain to do that.

The kids:
OH MY GAWD A BUNNYYYYYYY!!!!
CAN I PET IT? WHY NOT? DOES HE BITE? I WANNA PET HIM!!!!

Me: no dang it!!!! Get outta here go play outside!

 

[Imbrium]

Doing agility, there tend to be lots of odd questions and comments. Some common ones include:
Is that a rabbit? (It's not called the Canadian Rabbit Hopping Club because we use dogs).
Do they really run the course? (No, we just like to set it up and sit here for 6 hours).

yeah, people always seem to be shocked that bunnies can/will/like to run an agility course. someone started a thread in the off-topic section of the sugar glider forum I use asking if anyone else did agility with their dogs and I said that I didn't have any dogs but I did agility with my bunnies. people seemed really impressed that bunnies would run a course of their own accord.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

yeah, people always seem to be shocked that bunnies can/will/like to run an agility course. someone started a thread in the off-topic section of the sugar glider forum I use asking if anyone else did agility with their dogs and I said that I didn't have any dogs but I did agility with my bunnies. people seemed really impressed that bunnies would run a course of their own accord.

People seem impressed that rabbits do anything at all. Even having them hopping around fascinates some people. The rabbits hardly have to jump anything to get a reaction, but people to get more impressed if the rabbits run fast to jump high.
It does kind of baffle me that many people don't know much about rabbits or have even been close to one. I guess dogs are out in public a lot and many people have cats, but rabbits tend to stay at home and aren't as popular or aren't around the house in the same way.

 

[Imbrium]

and way too many live in cages

 

[lyndym]

I typically get the same types of questions you guys do, but I got one particularly offensive question from a friend of mine shortly after my Dora passed away.. He actually asked me, "So what did you do with her, did you have her made into a hat or something?"

 

[Imbrium]

you should've smacked him.

 

[Azerane]

My very first rabbit that I owned was an agouti and looked much like any wild rabbit. My Uncle and Aunty (who own and run a farm) were over one day and my Uncle sees the rabbit in her hutch. He asked "Is that a normal rabbit?" At first I didn't know what on earth he meant because I wasn't aware there were normal and abnormal rabbits But I realised he was asking about whether it was a domestic pet or a wild one that we'd happened to catch. Just the farmer's mentality.

Otherwise, people at work just give me funny looks when I go through the checkouts and I tell them that what I'm buying (shadecloth, foam mats, plastic containers etc) is for my rabbit. Sometimes I've gotten stories about other people's rabbits, and sometimes they just ask me why. Haven't had many crazy questions yet, my mum's partner always asks whether he's fat enough yet, but that's just his way.

 

[kmaben]

My oddest question is "Is that a dog or a rabbit?" Usually in reference to Kai my German Giant. And he's a small German!

It's kind of funny when people are intimidated by him and he's a huge wuss who hides behind the three pound rabbit

 

[coco_puffs]

I typically get the same types of questions you guys do, but I got one particularly offensive question from a friend of mine shortly after my Dora passed away.. He actually asked me, "So what did you do with her, did you have her made into a hat or something?"

That's horrible. Just because humans have the biggest brains, doesn't mean everyone uses theirs. I'm sorry you had to hear that

 

[agnesthelion]

"why do you take it so serioiusly? its not like its a dog or something". -.- this one gets to me the most because i dont see why people like to place dogs and cats at the top of the pet totem pole and everything else gets belittled.

to"

Yep this is what I get also. No one I know understands why I love my two so much. It's fine to love a dog or a cat, but not a rabbit. Uuuuuuuugh I hate that! That's what eventually led me to RO because I was like, I need to able to talk to someone about these two amazing creatures who have stolen my heart and who will understand!!!!!