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Bunman

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Joined
Dec 11, 2005
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Location
, Connecticut, USA
Because there are so many unwanted rabbits in shelters or just dumped on the streets, the best way to get a bunny is from a shelter, rabbit rescue, or classified ad from a private seller. Rabbits in shops are often poorly treated & unhealthy & buying from a shop puts more rabbits in the same conditions.

Check your Yellow Pages for animal shelters & search Google online with "rabbit rescue". If you have friends thinking about getting a bun, pass this on. Save a life.
 
I agree but what do you do when there are no rabbit rescues in the country? And none in the shelters? And you can't find any in the newspaper? :?

My only choice is petshop or breeder (which is also difficult to find!!)
 
I agree with Bunman on giving sheltersa higher priority than pet stores but I have to agree with Michaela in that a pet store or breeder may be a best option when shelters are not available.

All I can say is that bunnies deserve good homes with responsible people who will love and care for them.

Wallace


 
One option would be to use Internet rabbit sites to advertise that you are looking.

It's hard but i suppose in a case like what Michaela describes we have to reckon the extent of the problem we may be contributing to. For example, the rates of abandonment may be less in some countries than here, especially in countries where rabbits are not generally kept as pets. My aim is to remind people of the situation, give some options, & necessarily leave it to them make the decision that's best for rabbits.
 
Thing is, rabbits are neglected here, it's terrible, rabbits are the most abused pet in Britain!!:shock:

Maybe this is different for NI though :?

I have searched and searched on the Internet, there is nothing, or else it is too small to have a website which I guess is possible.

I have occasionally saw notices up in pet shops about rabbits needing to be re-homed, but nothing recently,I will keep an eye out.

I would love so much to rescue one, especially now that we have lost Berri. :(
 
It's a great feeling, Michaela, knowing that you are giving a good home to a bunny(s) that desperately need it. I wish the world at large could see how wonderful it is to have rabbits as house pets because of how much they offer.

Wallace


 
I understand where you are coming from and I myself foster rabbits. Three of my rabbits are from petstores. One as recent as last month. The rabbit before that was adopted in November from the rescue I foster for. One was from a shelter. Another was a personal rescue.

I am against breeders who don't care about there animals, who do it for the money. Who are not responsible. On this board though we have breeders who would do anything for their rabbits and prove that there are good breeders.They areresponsible.

Some people have had very bad experiences with rescues and because of that won't go back.

Two of my rabbits are not fixed, some rescues will not allow me to adopt even thoughthey can not be fixed. Well hopefully that changes soon for Connor.

In the end remember this every animal rabbit, cat, dog, etc deserves a good home.

I will not limit myself ever in providing an animal a good home.

Oh my dog is from a breeder.
 
Sometimes when people are looking for a new pet and they start their research, they stumble across the idea of' 'breeds''. Not everyone who is ready for a new pet is looking for a mutt, and sometiems their dream animal comes in a more specific form like a labrador retriever, a french lop, or a thorough bred. After our dog passed away, i had my sights set on a weener dog. Some breeds are harder to find in shelters and stuff, so I dont' blame people for going to a breeder.

I've sold more rabbits as pets than for show and brood to other people. Most people are online looking for that special bunny. which 90% of the time is a french lop. I guess there aren't many french lop breeders in my area so a lot of people come my way.

I wish more shelter animals could find homes.

Online sites like PEtfinder usually can provide everything you're looking for. Though most people don't know anything or much abou the rabbits they're advertising. A lop of ''lops'' were...not. And like %70 of them, under dominant breed, were listed as ''American''. Which is not much of a possibility due to t he rarity of Americans and the fact that most of them looked nothing like an American or had lopped ears.
 
Where I live, a *lot* of "purebred" rabbits end up in shelters (both rescues and shelters that have to euthanize). This is a heavily agricultural area, and many of them are cast offs from 4H projects. (I have nothing against 4H per se, but I do *so* wish that the emphasis with rabbits would be on responsible pet ownership...)

if I let myself, I'd be over run with rabbits here, as after the agricultural fairs in July and August the local pet stores (not chains, but mom-and-pop stores) have more baby and adult rabbits than they know what to do with. I've yet to see them properly housed and fed - let alone sexed and separated accordingly.

So I stay out of pet stores unless I really need something, and tend to go to a local Petco which doesn't sell rabbits.

No offense to the good breeders, but there are far too many kids - and adults - out there who think that pets of all kinds are disposable, andthere's far too little information (or even concern!) about proper petcare. (Not so much for dogs, cats and horses, but small animals ...argh!!!)

Note: I adopted my bun from a rescue. she's a "mismarked" Dutch. At that time they also had beautiful fuzzy lops, a sweet-natured Frenchlop girl (lovely markings and coat color, too), even a silver marten. They're always slightly beyond capacity, and could easily double or triple the shelter population if they had the means to do so.
 
We only have 3 pet stores that sell bunnies in my area. A Petco, a Pet Supplies Plus, and a local pet store I used to work at privtely owned by a crazy Italian man.

Pet Supplies plus only sells one rabbit at a time, though their enclosure it a little small, they usually sell really fast and are well taken care of. I sold a bunny there once and all t he employees fell in love with it and gave him a bath and played with him all day, one of them ended up taking him home.

Petco always has like 5 baby bunnies in a small enclosure. Though its clean adn they do have food and water, I feel bad there's not a lot of room for them. But they do spay and neuther their bunnies before selling them.

The pet store I worked at...yeesh. The bunnies don't sell as well and then they grow up and start mounting each other and fighting a lot.

When I sell pet bunnies, I used to always print out a care sheet. My printer has been on strike for a while though so I put everything online for new owners to read and just about all of them i'm regularly in contact with and they always coem to me if they have a question.

If you're just looking for a pet bunny, a shelter or local animal rescue is the best way to go.
 
I completely agree. Not enough people have this as their first thought in bringing home a bunny (myself included, I'm sorry to say...I haven't had the opportunity to adopt ashelter bunny...though Flower was a direct rescue we did ourselves).

Though, all three of my bunnies were special circumstances that were more opportunities that I couldn't pass up. (Maisie being from a very responsible girl from my daughter's school, and was the bunny that started it all for me. Trixie being from our sweet Denise, Trixie Rabbit, way over in New York.)

I SOOOOO wanted to take home at least three of the bunnies I saw at the BunnyLuv shelter on Saturday...though I very literally do not have the space.

I LOVE that you do that Care Sheet, Jesse...that's WONDERFUL!! :D

JAK Rabbitry wrote:
If you're just looking for a pet bunny, a shelter or local animal rescue is the best way to go.
 
I got my rabbit at a pet store. My BF got her for me and when he was little that is where he got his.



Misssweetpeacopy.jpg


Isn't he cute! I don't know what happened.:dunno:

I think that my next rabbit will be from the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, I didn't know that they had rabbits until after I got my TinkleBunny. I don't feel guilty that I got my bunny at a petstore, because I knew when I first saw her that she was my heart bunny. :bunnyheart

~Star~

 
Yay! I'm wonderful!

Its helped a lot of first-time bunny owners out. And it makes me feel more comfortable selling them the bunny. I had soem guy come out here and buy THREE French lops, a first time rabbit owner. He was originalyl goign to get one, maybe a pair for company, but I was quite desperate to get rid of these babie before they started making more babies, I told him if he wanted #3, it was his for $10. So he figured the more the merrier. He was a swell guy, asked lots of questions, and still emails me ocasionally to tell me how they're doing or to ask something. He was very cautious about buying bunnies and had really done his research! I admire people like that. He surprised me with an email the day before I left for Convention saying '' Let me know how you do at convention! MAke sure to take pictures for me and have a safetrip!". Tht was nice of him. I was even more surprised that here membered the convention date...he bought the rabbits right before christmas. Convention was Feb 3-4. He's really excited to get his daughters into 4H and showing now, and I told him he's welcomed to tag along to a show and bring his lops. HE may be goign to Ohio Convention with me. He's all excited...like a little kid. He bought the lops for his granddaughters. (and the $10 for their mother!). He said they're all doing great and he just loves them to death and he's really just amazed and taken with these bunnies.

Another girl from Pittsburgh, thought she was ready for a rabbit. She had read up about htem some and came across my website. She said she was looking for a smaller, friendly rabbit. I told her all about dutch rabbits and about hte ones I had for sale and she said it sounded like the kind of bunny she wanted. I had a little runt that almost didn't make it...she was teeny tiny, but healthy and eating just fine. The woman, Didi, called me an left me a message earlier int hat day saying ''Just from yout alking abuot her, I really think I want runty you were talking about, can I come by around 6 to get her?''. She was just thrilled with her bunny and I was only asking $10 for her but her mother absolutely insisted on giving me $20, they were just tickled pink. All my bunnies sold from my house also go with a big grovery bag of food & hay and a mineral wheel. Not to mention a life time of free tech support! (bunny support I guess). I still talk to her very often, too. And she's named the bunny ''Teacup''. What a great name for a runty!

I started a ''testimonials'' page on my website, where buyers can speak their mind about their new bunnies and overall experience. Didi and 3-lop guy all left me very nice comments, and I think its really reassuring for other peole to read who come to my website. I hate dealing with rotten people. I really go out of my way for my sales and my bunnies and customers. And then whiel looking for another french lop, I run into what i'm not used to. Most the peopl Ie mailed i gnored me. Thuogh I was very polite in my emails, I told them all I hadn't known when they last updated their sites and if they may have something for salet hat wasn't on the site. The one lady I emailed hit me back and was kinda rude about saying her site is updated all the time and she had no bunnies for sale, and i'll jsut have to check back later. Geez, ok.
If someone inquires about a bunny I don't have, I put them on a waiting list nad frequently call and email to make sure they're still interested. I deleted that woman's email, I'll find a lop from someone else.

I'm done blabbing now.



maherwoman wrote:
I LOVE that you do that Care Sheet, Jesse...that's WONDERFUL!! :D

JAK Rabbitry wrote:
If you're just looking for a pet bunny, a shelter or local animal rescue is the best way to go.
 
Starina, i need to add that the the proper way to hold a bunny is to support the hind quarters also, otherwise the bun could hurt itself. It will also feel secure this way.
 
Yeah, I know. :rollseyesHe was under 10 years old in that pic. He is 32 now, and knows better now. Sorry if that upset anyone. I should add, DON'T HOLD YOUR BUNNY LIKE THIS. ;)



~Star~
 

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