Ugh...in-laws -_-

[Katielovesleo3]

So went to see my fiances mother and her soon to be husband and her other son who is 5 I believe. Well she sent me a picture a week or two ago of her son, Kevin holding this tiny little rabbit and I could tell its eyes were bugged out like OMG HELP ME! And so I knew that I probably shouldn't go over for Christmas bc I would end up trying to steal away their rabbit. But I thought hey maybe it's the neighbors rabbit! And no no it's not, apparently they found this little baby rabbit roaming around at their church. So Kevin goes and grabs the rabbit up and they keep the rabbit. It must have been someone's pet but it's so small it's just a baby. Makes me so mad people just let their rabbits go in the wild. Anyway I go check him out and he has free range of the house, has chewed through numerous cords and tables and chairs and mom in law tells me they have been feeding him (or her since they haven't taken the poor thing to the vet) only lettuce and carrots and grass! *FACEPALM!* I was like o holy crap so I told her what all rabbits eat and to put special protector thingys on the cords but it was hard because she is Hispanic and her English is so so and my Spanish SUCKS! Lol! So then I sit on the couch and just watch him roam around I look for his water bowl and could not find one, and he is pretty friendly he will come up and sniff you and allow u to pet him, he doesn't like to be picked up. And then I notice that he is limping and putting no weight on it, it's his back leg, so I tell my fiancé that it looks broken and he says yeah they don't care so I tell them and he was right, they basically just ignored me and brushed it off. Ugh. I just wanted to scoop him up and take him home i just wish they would do research before getting a rabbit, people dont understand tht theyre kinda high maintenance, u cant just let him do whatever like a cat or a dog. And they are not doing too good right now financially, if I lived alone and didnt have to listen to my sweet hubby complain and nag, I would have said hey, let me take that rabbit off your hands. Phooey! it just made me so mad and I have no one to talk to about it so I am expressing it to my forum friends thank you for listening!

 

[Imbrium]

it's so frustrating to see a rabbit being fed a bad diet and not given needed veterinary care and not be able to do anything about it... I wanna go bunny-nap the little guy (or girl)!

 

[JBun]

I think I would have had to bunnynap the little guy! Poor thing Is there any way to convince them to hand him over? Technically speaking, if you really wanted them to give him up, you could mention that if the spca finds out they have an injured animal and don't get vet care for it, that they could get in serious trouble, be fined, and even face the possibility of jail. Not saying you want to do it, but just a thought.

With the leg, there's no guarantee that a vet would do more than tell them to restrict the rabbits movements and let the leg heal on it's own. Splinting a rabbit's leg isn't always possible. Though I don't like that they don't care and aren't concerned about taking care of it. And food wise, they would have to be feeding that rabbit a ton of carrots and lettuce for it not to be starving all the time, like more than a head of green leaf lettuce a day. But if it is getting a whole bunch of lettuce then, the missing water dish wouldn't be as big a problem because the rabbit would be getting lots of water from eating the lettuce.

In a way, it's nice that the rabbit gets to run around their house, if there wasn't the chance it could get electrocuted. But I can't believe they don't care about their cords getting chewed up either. You may want to mention that rabbits chewing on power cords can kill the rabbit and cause the cords to short and start a fire. A member on here had a fire start in his home, from a cord that got chewed on, not too long ago.

Could you maybe offer to take the little guy in to help him until his leg heals?

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Yeah it is frustrating. I told her that he could get electrocuted and she just said oh wow. Yeah that was nice he could run around at least. My fiancé won't let me get another bun, or any other animal for that matter. Plus she probably wouldn't want to give it up bc its Kevins "pet".....one he knows nothing about and cannot take care of bc he is 5. i really wanted to bunnynap him!!! :'( And I told her that carrots and lettuce will give him diarrhea and I also told her that rabbits eat their cecals and she didnt know that either. I mean geez, they have the Internet....do some research :/

 

[Nancy McClelland]

I'd be a bunny napper.

 

[whitelop]

I would also be a bunny-napper.
Are they feeding it pellets or hay at all? Do they have other animals with food on the floor? If they do, there's a good chance the bun is eating the dog/cat food thats on the floor. My bun ate dog/cat food and she got fed like 6 cups of greens a day with unlimited hay.
I know your fiance doesn't want another animal, but does he not care the bunny isn't getting proper care? I would be worried about that, with him. Sometimes I think it has to do with cultural differences. A lot of other countries don't think that animals matter, its a sad thing. But you said they're foreign, so maybe it has something to do with their cultural background that they don't feel the need to take care of the rabbit the way WE take care of our rabbits.
But a little research would be nice.

Maybe you could write up a care sheet for the rabbit, or something like that?

 

[Katielovesleo3]

No they're not and their dog got ran over a month ago. I guess he doesn't want to butt in bc it's his mommy...you know how men are with their moms *rolls eyes* lol. That reminds me of everybody loves Raymond haha. Anyway yeah, you are probably right about the cultural thing, heck...her soon to be husband doesn't even celebrate the holidays at all and they're both Christian. I'm clueless to why but anyway, that's another story lol! Yeah I think I will do that and mail it to them anonymously good idea!!

 

[Imbrium]

LOL... not sure how "anonymous" it would really be... but a care sheet would totally be a good idea

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Lol, I will do the freaky ransom note thing where you cut letters out of magazines! Muahahaha! Hehe jk, yeah I am thinking I will just email it

 

[Katielovesleo3]

I emailed it, it was so long and I hope she can translate it. I tried using small words not big ones lol. I haven't got a reply. I'm sure once she reads it she will be overwhelmed.