Here again!

[bunnyornot]

Hello everyone! I was here a couple of months ago figuring out if a rabbit was right for us and whether or not it would be a good idea to introduce a rabbit to our cat and what-not.

Well we decided to indeed get a rabbit! Not as a cat companion - the rabbit has her own room and the cat isn't alloud in. I did introduce them and all Sass did was sniff her ears but I don't trust sass enough due to the fact that she has claws and if something happens it would be awful.

Anyway, I came back on board because I'm sure I will have questions along the way. Her mommy is a dwarf/lionhead and her daddy was a lionhead. She's 9 weeks old. I've been giving her alfalfa hay and pellets. I would like to potty train her but I'm not too worried about that just yet, and I've been looking for a vet for her so she can be spayed. I've read that I need to have it done while she's young. I am curious as to when exactly is the best time to spay her/ at what age exactly.

I've also read conflicting things on when to introduce vegetables. I've read articles that said 7 weeks to 6 months to a year so I wanted to know what you guys think.

Thanks guys!

 

[Azerane]

Hi there She sounds like an adorable little rabbit, does she have a name yet?

Spaying shouldn't be done until she is mature. It could technically be done from about 3-4 months of age, but I would probably personally wait until 6 months since it's an invasive surgery and she might still be growing. Others might give different recommendations on when to spay (I'm no vet, and I have a boy rabbit, not a girl!).

As for the veggies, there's many people that give greens from a young age and have absolutely no problem with it and others that hold off until 6 months or a year. I personally feel that there's nothing wrong with starting to introduce small amounts of greens from 3-4 months, although of course if your bunny reacts badly to it, it's best to wait a while before trying again or before trying a different green.

 

[missyscove]

Congratulations on the new addition.

This is our listing of rabbit-savvy vets (not comprehensive, but a good place to start). http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f21/
Your vet can advise you on when they feel comfortable spaying your bun.

 

[bunnyornot]

Okay. that sounds good. I am actually really nervouse of the thought of spaying her because she is so small but I know it will be good for her. Her name is Penny. I'll have to post a pic of her she is so cute I just love her.

I'm really excited about introducing her to veggies. I wrote down all the lists to that I know what kind of stuff to let her try.

 

[bunnyornot]

here she is!

 

[PaGal]

She is adorable! No reason not to litter train young. My bun was ten weeks old when I brought him home. He never peed outside his cage and it only took three days for him to be litter trained.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Very cute little bunny. How sure are you on the sex? Mostly we've had males done around 4 months as they were really annoying and the females at 6 months. Our vet said to intro veggies at 4 months, slowly, so they don't get loose stool and keep them on alfalfa til six months and then to Timothy or orchard grass--we use orchard grass because of allergies. Potty training only took a few days. Our hutches have wire floors, so they have carpet, tile and wood with a litter pan in the corner full of kiln dried pine shavings and all took to it right off. We do consider them to be "trained" if they use their pan for urine as they leave a lot of poop around when they are out, but a few seconds with a shop vac takes care of that.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Hello and welcome to RO! Such an adorable bunny!

 

[bunnyornot]

Thank you all for comments and welcomes!

I will start litter training her soon then. I've been looking for the right sized litter pan (or in my opinion) I've found really huge ones and very small ones. I really want something in between the sizes I've found. I hope I have good luck as well. I was told she was female - I haven't really looked myself so I assume they were correct. I really didn't have a preference I picked her based on how friendly she was.

I at least now have a good reference point for when everyone else did all of these things so we'll start making plans.

 

[middlemuse]

You don't need to use something that's labeled as a litter pan. A plastic storage bin or dish tub works fine and there's more variety in sizes on those. Good luck with litter training!

 

[PaGal]

For my bonded girls I use a plastic under the bed storage box for a litter pan. Some people that have buns that chew plastic use metal or glass baking dishes for litter boxes.

Of all the items I have for the buns everything was made for other animals or human use. The only thing I own made specifically for buns is a water bottle that is only up for emergencies, in case my bun spills all of his water while I'm not home.

 

[FreezeNkody]

I have 3 rabbits, 2 cats, and 3 dogs and they all get along great!


Sent from my iPhone using Rabbit Forum

 

[bunnyornot]

Thanks guys!
She's actually taken to the litterbox great! she's got it down! I went ahead and just got a litterbox from the pet store but I will probably use a plastic tub in the future once her actual room is ready for her and she will get to hop around more freely. Her cage is in the tv room right now so we let her out when we're in there to watch her because it's not bunny proofed. but her room will be.

I really think her and sass would get along fine but I'm worried about the what if moment. Sass gets really weird especially about her tail and my biggest fear is Penny will get near her tail and she'll swipe with her claws. So I'm not trying to have them get together quite yet. Sass is a very moody cat.

 

[Lorelei]

I wouldn't be so sure about the sex at that age...I was told Sugar was a female, and when I checked him at thirteen weeks, he looked female to me! Then about a month later "she" started circling me and humping my cat (who tolerated this indignity with resignation). It turns out that a rabbit's testicles don't drop until sixteen weeks, and until then it's VERY hard to tell the difference. Fortunately a neuter is cheaper than a spay, and I'd planned on getting him fixed regardless of sex, so it all worked out fine.

You can probably safely introduce your cat and your rabbit once she's a bit older...cats usually treat rabbits the exact way they'd treat another cat. Whether that means your cat will ignore her, dislike her, or befriend her is up to your individual cat. I have two Ragdolls, and I just had a roommate move in with her three cats who've never even seen a rabbit, and everyone gets along fine.

 

[beatrixpoppy]

Hello and welcome, she is adorable! I have a mini lion lop so i love the breed of the lionheads I got Poppy spayed when she was just over a year old, the vet advised anytime after 6 months and the op was fairly straight forward and she recovered really well from it.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing more about your new family member.

 

[bunnyornot]

Thanks guys. over the past two days we've been letting sass see her more with our supervision. although today sass ran up to Penny and smacked her. It was more of a curious looking smack. I checked Penny over really good to make sure no claws got on her. thank goodness she has white fur. because sass smacked her I'm going to back off for a while and keep sass out. too scary. Penny hops right up to sass without any reservation. I think sass just got the courage like "okay I'm going to touch you" then as soon as she did it she ran away as fast as she could. I'm terrified that she is going to sctratch penny with claws she doesn't typically use claws but I'm still scared she also doesn't stalk penny she more so just sits and stares at her like "what is it!" then when penny hops towards her she backs away.

I won't be sad if Penny turns out to be a he. like you said it's cheaper but I did find out that the same veterinarian that sass goes to also sees rabbits so we will definitely make a check up soon and ask all the questions.