Tabitha & Buddy

[Tabitha]

Meet Tabitha.

She was dropped off at our house 2 nights ago. She was foundput out at the curb of the road with the trash cans.

She was in an all wire cage that smelled horrible.

I have never considered getting a rabbit as a pet but after 2 days of being with Tabitha, she has really grown on me.

She is a absolute sweetheart, loves people and dogs, loves to cuddleand be held, snuggles under your neck, has a great appetite and justloves any attention she can get.

I have no idea what kind of rabbit she is. I have beenresearching the internet non-stop for two days trying to learn as muchas possible about caring for rabbits as i am a complete novice tokeeping rabbits. I THINK she is female, so i named herTabitha.

I have already got her a nice new cage with all the supplies andtoys. I made her a screened playpen for the yard today so shehas a safe area on the lawn to play during theday.

She seems to be quite happy here with me even though i really don't have a clue what i am doing.

I would be extremely greatful to any help possible.

I would also like to figure out what kind of rabbit she is.

She is mostly grey with a white wash and light tan areasthroughout. She has a short coat but dense fur standing awayfrom the body, exceptionally silky soft. She is about 12inches from nose to tail. BIG brown eyes and roundish dollface. Her ears and shortish and stand perfectly straight upand very close together.

She is by far the nicest bunny i have ever met and so smart.She runs to the side of the cage when she sees someone and puts herhead down so you can scratch it. If her food dish is empty,she picks it up and carries it over to the door of the cage and turnsit upside down.

Check out her pictures and let me know what you think about her.

 

[Pipp]

What a sweet little bunny! How could anybody do something like that. :cry4:

I didn't want a pet, certainly not a rabbit, until I took one in offthe street. I had no idea they were so sweet,smartand awesome! i'm sitting here with eight atthe moment. :lookaround

She looks like a little dwarf, but I'm not a breed expert.Her ears look a we bit long, which could mean she's still young and isgrowing into them, or she's just really skinny.

How much does she weigh?

Most important thing is to try and not change her diet, but who knowswhat she was getting before. Safest with a LOT of hay andsome plain alfalfa pellets with just a tiny bit ofveggiesslowly introduced over time. No sugar or carbs atall, except for a teeny tiny bit of fruit -- very teeny for now,anyway.

Make sure she has a lot to drink and keep a very close eye on herpoops, That's usually the first sign of trouble -- if theyget smaller or stop or if she has diarrhea or whatever.

She looks like she's molting, so she'll be ingesting more hair thanusual. If you can wet your hands and run it over her fur toget as much out as possible, it will help. You also may wantto slowly introduce her to a little canned pumpkin, it's a good sourceof wet fibre for molting bunnies.

Any questions, just ask, lots of good, knowledgeable people here.

And congrats on adopting such a sweetheart!

sas and the gang :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Haley]

:wave: Hi there and welcome! :hello

Tabitha is adorable. I cant believe someone would turn her out like that. It just makes me sick to think about.

Shes very lucky you found her. It looks like youre doing a great jobwith her! I can tell shes spoiled already (as all bunnies should be) .

Just one question: is she housed outdoors? Its not that thats bad, itsjust that Im a bit concerned about the cage if shes housed outdoors.Those can be a bit flimsy for outdoor housing. I would be afraid of adog or other predator coming in to the yard. But, if its fenced off orsomething than Im sure its fine.

Be sure to check out our resource center for more info on care, health, behavior and all kinds of random bunny info.

Again, welcome to you and beautiful Tabitha! :hug2:

-Haley, Basil :rabbithop, Max :dutch, Mr. Tumnus :bunny19 and Lucy :brown-bunny

 

[MyBoyHarper]

What a beautiful bunny, with big gorgeous eyes.She looks like she's somewhat of a mixed breed, but I'm not sure.Beautiful coloration though!

 

[Tabitha]

Thank you.

Hubby and i were trying to figure out what kind of rabbit she is buthaven't had any luck. She actually looks more like the wildrabbits we have running through our backyard.

From the state of the cage that she was found in, it looks as thoughshe was a outdoor bunny probably her whole life. The cage igot her is an indoor cage and we roll it into the garage at night (it'sa 2 car garage with a double wide window, so it has a lot of light andairflow). During the day i roll the cage out onto the frontporch and she goes into her rabbit run i built her yesterday to frolicaround in the yard.

We live the city limits of Orlando, but on a agricultural area so wehave a lot of woods and wildlife (wild rabbits, raccoons, bears, largeowls, hawls, eagles, snakes, giant rats, ect). That was mybiggest concern about housing Tabitha. I wanted her to besafe at night. We unfortunately can not bring her into thehouse as my stepdaughter is allergic to rabbits. She breaksout into a red rash all over her body and her eyes swell up.She still loves the bunny but just can't touch it or get really closeto it.

I am already drawing up plans to design and built a "Rabbitville" forTabitha. We have a lot of land and i would really like tomake a 50 foot long by 10 foot wide rabbit run with a nice weatherproofand easy to clean 2 story rabbit mansion.

Just from watching Tabitha for the past few days, she just loves toinvestigate and jump and climb. She utilizes all the space igive her. I hate confining animals to a limited space. All mybirds have oversized cages and elborate playstands and a birdroom withtv all to themselves. My dogs have 1.25 acres to run on andfree range of the house, so it's only fair that Tabitha have her ownlittle estate.

Once i learn a lot more about caring for bunnies, i am sure we will goand adopt another bunny to keep Tabitha company.She is such a social bunny i really think she would get terribly lonelyby herself. Buti have a lot more to learn aboutrabbits before that happens and i would have to rack all your brainsabout the best way to introduce a new rabbit to her so that it is asuccessful match.

I am already falling in love with Tabitha. I woke up thismorning and went out to see her. There she was sitting uppretty waiting for me. As soon as i put my hand in the cageshe ran over and snuggled her head into my hand and then dragged herempty food dish over to me as if to say " Goodmorning Mum, what's forbreakfast?"

Anyway, i am sure you are going to be hear way too much about Tabithain the future and i am sure there will be lots of cute pictures too.

 

[Haley]

Thats great! Sounds like you are mastering this whole bunny slave thing

Its wonderful that youre going above and beyond to give Tabitha such agreat home. She is one very lucky bunny! I think you guys are making upfor the horrible neglect of her past owner..Isnt it wonderful how theycan still love us even after theyve been treated like crap by humans?

Dont feel bad about housing her outside, many bunnies can livewonderful and happy lives housed outdoors, assuming they get just asmuch attention, which I can see she is.

And I think getting her a friend down the road would be great! You'llprobably want to have her spayed first, but many rabbit rescues willallow you to bring her in to meet potential partners. Its a great wayto avoid all that difficult bonding!

Keep those pics and stories coming! I love hearing about this special little girl.

 

[Tabitha]

:laugh:

BUNNY SLAVE!

You got that right!

Tabitha already runs the show in this house.

I think she figured out i didn't have a clue how to take care ofrabbits so she figured she better take charge and tell me what shewants.

She does very good at communicating with me.

:sunshine:

 

[cookie2006]

Tabitha is beautiful! I would say thatshe may be some kind of netherland dwarf cross of somesort.She looks very much like my Cookie did, just a slightly differentcolour. Here is a pic of him:

He also wasn't a pure netherland dwarf and looked more like our wildrabbits around here. We got him from a shelter, so he mayhave been part wild for all I knew.

It sounds like Tabitha is very lucky that you found her and are takingsuch good care of her. I am sure she will make a wonderfuland loyal pet.

 

[LuvaBun]

Tabitha is a really pretty girl, and it does look like she has some Netherland Dwarf in her. She has a lovely colouring.

Sounds like she is going to have a fantastic place to live, and I'msure she will give you lots of enjoyment watching her personality shinethrough. She is one lucky girl to survive what she has been through andend up with you

Jan

 

[maherwoman]

What a beautiful girl Tabitha is!Hehe..of course, I'm a bit biased, because she looks just like myMaisie girl.

Sounds like you're really getting the hang of being a bunnymum!! That's wonderful! She sounds really happy,too! Wonderful...

What a happy little girl she must be to have such a great home!

 

[Tabitha]

You know, i am really starting to think Tabithamay be part wild too. She is too much like the wild rabbitswe have here in our back yard. She is the same size, ears,coat, color, features and even the little black and white tail that ihave only seen on wild rabbits.

It is highly possible someone caught her as a baby and kept her as a pet.

I have rescued baby possums, snakes and raccoons from our back yardthat have fled or been orphans due to housing developments demolishingthe woods.

 

[naturestee]

What a beautiful bun! She really came to the right place.

She looks like a Netherland dwarf cross to me, maybe some BritanniaPetite? Wild crosses are not possible in the US because theyaren't the same species. Domestic rabbits are descended fromEuropean wild rabbits and can still mate with them, but US cottontailsare actually very different genetically.

Have you checked out Bunny 101? There's lots of great info,including about cages/hutches. I've found that the Brits arereally good with outdoor housing and you can find some good plans outthere. Here's the main thread:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11792&forum_id=17

Here's a website with good info and some building plans.
http://www.therabbithouse.com/

And some examples of really nice outdoor homes.
http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/hutch.asp

If you're looking big, you could look at using a small shed instead ofa hutch. You can attach the run to it through a cat door orsomething similar. There's some examples in that secondwebsite.

Have fun!

 

[Tabitha]

Cool! Thank you.

I like the shed idea. I was also thinking about a outdoor dog house too.

I'm not so worried about the cold weather her in Florida as we only get3 or 4 nights that drop below 32 degrees F. I amworried about the heat here. I need to be able to protect herfrom heat stroke.

I don't want a BBQ bunny!:yuck

 

[Hollie]

What a gorgeous bun! She's very luck to have found you Welcome to slavedom!

 

[HoneyPot]

naturestee wrote:

She looks like a Netherland dwarf cross to me, maybe some Britannia Petite?

I was also going to say Britannia Petite - she looks JUST like Misty who I think is a BP.

She's gorgeous! Welcome to BSA (Bunny Slaves Anonymous)!

__________
Nadia

 

[Tabitha]

I am starting on Tabitha'a Bunny Estatetomorrow. I will take before and after pictures so you canall see the transformation.:construction

After the attitude she gave me this morning, i figured i had better get a move on and make her bunny estate.

Yesterday, she had to stay in her cage all day because it was rainingall day. This morning when i went to feed her, she kicked meand then turned her back on me and grunted.:bunnybutt: Shewas mad at me because i hadn't let her out in the yard to playyesterday. I knelt down and asked her if she wanted to comeout and she ran over to me and stretched up on her hind legs like shewanted to be picked up.

As soon as i put her in her pen today, she was all happyagain. She is so use to running around in her pen everyday inthe yard that she expects it now.:runningrabbit:

 

[Haley]

Hurray! Cant wait to see it!

 

[Starina]

Tabitha wrote:

Cool! Thank you.

I like the shed idea. I was also thinking about a outdoor dog house too.

I'm not so worried about the cold weather her in Florida as we only get3 or 4 nights that drop below 32 degrees F. I amworried about the heat here. I need to be able to protect herfrom heat stroke.

I don't want a BBQ bunny!:yuck

Take some soda bottles filled with water and stick them in the freezer.Gice her one to lay next to when it gets hot. It works great.



She is a real cutie. It is great that she found someone like you tolove her and give her the protection that she needs. Idon't know how people can be so cruel to animals. It makes me so angry.



Congrats on you new pretty lady!

~Star~

~Star~

 

[Tabitha]

You know that is a really good idea withfreezing the soda bottles. I do something similar for myLabs. For them i take the big ice tubs fill them with waterand freeze them. It makes giant ice blocks that they sit andlick on on the porch. They usually end up sliding it aroundand making a game of it.

Starina wrote:

Tabitha wrote:

Cool! Thank you.

I like the shed idea. I was also thinking about a outdoor dog house too.

I'm not so worried about the cold weather her in Florida as we only get3 or 4 nights that drop below 32 degrees F. I amworried about the heat here. I need to be able to protect herfrom heat stroke.

I don't want a BBQ bunny!:yuck

Take some soda bottles filled with water and stick them in the freezer.Gice her one to lay next to when it gets hot. It works great.



She is a real cutie. It is great that she found someone like you tolove her and give her the protection that she needs. Idon't know how people can be so cruel to animals. It makes me so angry.



Congrats on you new pretty lady!

~Star~

~Star~

 

[Haley]

Another great thing is to by tiles (like clayones) and put them in the freezer, then set a few out for her to lay onwhen it gets hot. And, of course lots of shade and water!