Help advice replacing a rabbit for friends

[redthunderrabbits]

Sorry this is long

Might be in the wrong post!!

A family friend asked me to help them with the care of their rabbit through the winter because they had no place to keep it and their child is deeply attached to the animal. I asked them a few questions that you would normally ask someone like where was the rabbit kept prior. What kind of feed do you feed? (ECT) The woman told me “well ... Outside and the same thing you always feed rabbits carrots.” I was shocked about the carrots I asked how long they had the rabbit and she said ‘a few months or weeks or something.” I agreed to take the rabbit and started it on food and hay while still giving it one baby carrot or so a week. I have raised rabbits a long time and I have never seen anything like this!! They agreed to have the kids and parents come over so I could show them what I do to care for my rabbits. So they could learn for the future and their bunny. They never showed up!! I felt bad for the rabbit and the poor kids but I could not keep the rabbit if they refused to help care for it properly. Yesterday I found it dead in its cage. It was eating and drinking I didn’t know what happened. When I called the family to inform them the mother was very, very mean and demanded I replace her rabbit!! I told her I did you a favor and I tried to correct the current state the rabbit was in. She proceeded to tell me that the rabbit was kept in her son’s bedroom until her husband could no longer stand the odor of the rabbit and sent it outside so it went from 65 – 72 degree weather to negative temperatures here in Upstate N.Y!! I feel bad for the kids and I would love to give them a new rabbit I just can’t do it, if I sell a rabbit to children even 4H youths I have a long conversation with the parents. Am I a bad person for not selling them another rabbit??

thank you!!

 

[MiniLopHop]

Some people do not deserve to be animal guardians. Unfortunately it sounds like they are in this category due to their responses. I'm not even sure why they want the rabbit replaced because they clearly didn't care for the one they had. There is no way I would give these people another animal. They show no interest in improving or learning.

 

[irishbunny]

No, you definitely are not!
I would not give them a new rabbit, they obviously have no idea how to care for it. That wouldn't bother me too much as long as they were willing to learn how to look after it properly but it sounds like they aren't willing to hear how to look after rabbits from anyone else. You were looking after the rabbit right and so it isn't your fault that it died. They might be really mad, and maybe not want to be friends any more but that is better then having another rabbit suffer in their hands. They'd probably be contacting you to take the rabbit in a few months cause they would be sick of it anyway.

Plus, they had to send their rabbit away for the Winter? Why would you get a rabbit when you have no place to keep it for the Winter? They would be expecting you to take the rabbit every Winter, if it even lasted till next Winter in their hands. If for some reason you couldn't take the rabbit some Winter then God only knows where the bun would end up.

Your definitely not a bad person for not replacing this family's rabbit.

 

[Ronin Shinobi]

Is it too late to call the ASPCA and have something charged on them for neglect.

 

[jujub793]

if they really wanted this rabbit they would have found a way! rabbits don't stink only dirty litterboxes! there are people on this forum that keep there rabbits in the bathtub, i myself keep mine in the kitchen.... they don't deserve another rabbit!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat: Sorry to hear the bunny passed. I would usually tell them "to cordially attend the theological place of eternal punishment", as they have no business having a bunny in the first place. When we adopted out one of our babies, I would talk to you and then go to your house to look things over. Most didn't make it past the "talk" stage.

 

[Sweetie]

redthunderrabbits wrote:

Sorry this is long

Might be in the wrong post!!

A family friend asked me to help them with the care of their rabbit through the winter because they had no place to keep it and their child is deeply attached to the animal. I asked them a few questions that you would normally ask someone like where was the rabbit kept prior. What kind of feed do you feed? (ECT) The woman told me “well ... Outside and the same thing you always feed rabbits carrots.” I was shocked about the carrots I asked how long they had the rabbit and she said ‘a few months or weeks or something.” I agreed to take the rabbit and started it on food and hay while still giving it one baby carrot or so a week. I have raised rabbits a long time and I have never seen anything like this!! They agreed to have the kids and parents come over so I could show them what I do to care for my rabbits. So they could learn for the future and their bunny. They never showed up!! I felt bad for the rabbit and the poor kids but I could not keep the rabbit if they refused to help care for it properly. Yesterday I found it dead in its cage. It was eating and drinking I didn’t know what happened. When I called the family to inform them the mother was very, very mean and demanded I replace her rabbit!! I told her I did you a favor and I tried to correct the current state the rabbit was in. She proceeded to tell me that the rabbit was kept in her son’s bedroom until her husband could no longer stand the odor of the rabbit and sent it outside so it went from 65 – 72 degree weather to negative temperatures here in Upstate N.Y!! I feel bad for the kids and I would love to give them a new rabbit I just can’t do it, if I sell a rabbit to children even 4H youths I have a long conversation with the parents. Am I a bad person for not selling them another rabbit??

thank you!!

You are NOT a bad person for not selling these people another rabbit. It was not your fault that this rabbit died, it was theirs because of their negligence about rabbits. It was probably, from what I have read in your post, that this rabbit was neglected and not cared for properly. This rabbit probably had health issues because of not being cared for properly by them. You tried to save its life by giving it the right food and care that it needed, all that happened was it unfortunately was too late for the rabbit. I am sorry the rabbit passed. Just think, "it is in a better place now and will be properly cared for".

These people need to learn that rabbits may be animals but they depend on a humans care to survive. They are not like cats and dogs. Rabbits are delicate creatures.

I applaud you for stepping in and helping to take care of this rabbit. Good for you!

These people need to be educated on rabbits. My brother can take care of rabbits better than these people can. People on here, rabbitsonline.net can take better care of rabbits than these people can.

 

[butsy]

maybe tell the mother that their kids are more than welcome to come play with your bunnies, but would rather not sell one to them as they can not properly care for it

 

[woahlookitsme]

Could it be you starting him on pellets upsetted his stomach?

 

[Kipcha]

Ronin Shinobi wrote:

Is it too late to call the ASPCA and have something charged on them for neglect.

Despite the improper care, as long as the animal was being provided with food and water and some sort of shelter, even if it's under a deck or something, the SPCA can't do anything.

No, you aren't a bad person for not wanting to give them another rabbit at all. To think of sending an innocent bunny into those conditions would be more then I could handle

 

[redthunderrabbits]

Thank you all and I did tell them No after reading these responses!! Thank you all for your advice!!

 

[Sweetie]

You're welcome

 

[jcottonl02]

redthunderrabbits wrote:

Thank you all and I did tell them No after reading these responses!! Thank you all for your advice!!

Well done!

You don't want to provide them with another animal to treat cruely- you did the right thing!!! Although the sad thing is rabbits are often so cheap to pick up .

Hate reading this kinda stuff. Makes me so sad. How can people lack the caring gene? Why are we normal and other people are I swear to god born with black hearts.....

Jen

 

[Alek]

You can't report them however you can tell local animal shelters about them privately so they can keep an eye out for them and even go so far as to deny adoptions.
I dealt with a similar instance when I was breeding hamsters. I refused to replace the hamster because it was there fault it died and I also refused to sell them another. Because of the seriousness of what happened I alerted my fellow breeders and the animal shelters I worked with about the situation. Because the people neglected there pet and treated it horribly I made it known among my local breeders not to sell to them and it paid off in the end. They later bought a sugar glider that was later taken from them by the animal shelter because they were only feeding it marshmellows.
You have an obligation to the animals you care for first so don't feel bad.