Have you ever had a pet rabbit?

Rabbits are OK but they are NOT cuddly pets. They require a lot of care and attention as they get into everything and will chew it up.

The link below is a GREAT YouTube channel all about rabbits as pets. If you want one, make sure you watch all her videos.

Some have more personality than others. I would not recommend having them as a pet unless you know what you're getting into.

You're correct, OP, they're not good pets and it is cruel to keep them in a cage. I had a friend way back in high school who had a pet rabbit and her family let it have a room in the (finished) basement to itself and hop around the house supervised. It sort of knew its name and seemed happy because it wasn't stuck in a little cage, but rabbits can't be litterbox trained so they shit everywhere.

They also live longer (6-8 years I believe) and are more expensive than people expect. To get a female spayed can cost as much as it would to spay a female cat - several hundred dollars in some cities. Their rear molars can also grow in crooked or grow too fast, especially if they don't like eating hay, and need to be surgically trimmed back by a vet every three months or the teeth will impede them from being able to chew.

If you keep them in an outdoor hutch they can die of fright because if a predator like a cat, dog or fox approaches their instinct is to thump their hind legs against the ground as hard as they can (probably to alert other rabbits to the danger) and then flee. If they're in a cage and can't run or burrow to safety, they may just keep thumping and kicking with the back legs so hard that they break their own backs.

Stupid parents get them for children for Easter. Within a few weeks they're flooding animal shelters and being dumped in the streets (where they suffer until they're eventually killed by predatory animals, or hit by cars). They don't have "intelligent" looking facial expressions (or rather, people aren't good at perceiving what a rabbit is thinking/feeling by looking at its body language) so people assume that they're just fluffy soft cute things that can be disposed of: that they don't have the needs or feelings of other animals like dogs or cats. It's the same as with the little dyed Easter chicks.

Moral of the story: don't get a pet rabbit. Or, if for some weird reason you like rabbits as pets, then adopt them.

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How come you know so much, R3? - very interesting :-

[quote]If you keep them in an outdoor hutch they can die of fright because if a predator like a cat, dog or fox approaches their instinct is to thump their hind legs against the ground as hard as they can (probably to alert other rabbits to the danger) and then flee. If they're in a cage and can't run or burrow to safety, they may just keep thumping and kicking with the back legs so hard that they break their own backs.

I found one running loose in the suburbs when I was middleschool aged, OP. She was all white and clearly had been an Easter bunny that someone had "set free" once she got big and stopped being an adorable baby bunny. I tried to catch her but gave up when she scrambled into a large wood pile, and then, in broad daylight, I saw a red fox go in the wood pile after her. I went back and made a bunch of noise and scared the fox away, then caught the bunny in my jacket and took her home. She was covered in fleas, cost $300 to spay and needed her teeth trimmed. I didn't want to keep her but didn't think I'd be able to find anyone else who'd want her either so I bought a hutch and kept her in my parents' garage for the rest of her life (after reading up on them and discovering that thing about how they can break their own backs if their hutches are left outside where predators can approach them).

Her front teeth were sharp and I am sorry to say that other than meeting her basic needs, I neglected to take her out of her hutch very often at all (she wouldn't bite me but she would casually bite my blue jeans or shoelaces and sever them with startling precision, so I always worried about putting my fingers near her mouth, and didn't want her to keep wrecking my clothes). She died after a few years. I still feel guilty because I think she deserved better, but in those days we didn't have the internet so it wasn't like I could find a Rabbit Enthusiasts FB page or whatever to help re-home her. It may have even been more humane to have let the fox eat her. I kept her clean and safe and fed but she didn't have any room to roam, any other rabbits for company, any significant daily interaction or affection.

My local animal shelter these days always has tons of bunnies that they're trying to unload...it really boggles my mind that anyone would think it's a good idea to keep them as pets. You'd be much better off with a hamster or pet rat. If you want the fluffiness and size of a bunny, get a soft cat.

I raised them for a 4-H project. A lot of work!

We had a rabbit growing up that we trained pretty much from birth, it was potty trained and lived indoors. We had it for 8 years, my father grew sick of it and slaughtered it for Easter dinner. I managed to not eat a bite by sneaking it off my plate and into the nook cushion, which I cleaned up later.

Holy fuck R8 with all my heart I hope you are kidding about your dad, how traumatic! I would hate to eat an 8 year old rabbit.

One end eats. The other end shits. That is all.

R8, that's really awful. I'm sorry that you experienced that.

We had a pet rabbit for a while when I was a kid. My Dad was given the rabbit by some co-worker, and he was given free rein over the basement. My Mom said he was mean (can't really say I'd blame him living in a basement). I have no recollection of what happened to him, but I think they re-homed him with someone else. My parents were animal-lovers, and there's no way he would have ended up on our dinner table. Remember, the rabbits they sell in pet stores are just that: domesticated. But they were domesticated to use as food: I don't object to raising them to eat, at least in principle, but I'd never be able to slaughter any animal to eat.

One of my friends had a younger sister who kept a little dwarf rabbit as a pet, and he had the run of the bedroom. She didn't seem to mind the damage to the carpet (from chewing) or vacuuming up the pellets every day, and she used to sleep with it, until she woke up one morning, to find that the rabbit had chewed off all the hair on the one side of her head.

r10, and not only that, but they shit twice: once as 'night feces', when they then re-ingest, and eventually become those little dark pellets on their second trip out the shoot.

I hear their pee is like motor oil.

I once had a rabbit as a pet because I was need to have something to get me entertained and at first it was cute but then they make such a mess and they seem to have like a peculiar smell. When I get bored of it I killed it my self and made a delicious dish, now I'm into seawater fish and teaching myself piano.

Isn't a guinea pig a lot easier to deal with for basically the same type of thing (small affectionate fuzzball)?

I've known a couple of rabbit owners who LOVED them--one even fostered rescued rabbits. But they were totally devoted and dedicated to taking care of the animals' needs. Not surprisingly they were all female.

Rabbits can be surprisingly affectionate.

We were given a pair of rabbits when I was younger, and they made fine pets. They were litter trained, returned to their cages upon a vocal command, and showed a great amount of affection to those of us who spent time with them. One lived for 10 years and the other almost 14.

Still, I wouldn't recommend rabbits as pets. I don't think that it's possible to give them a satisfactory life, unlike a dog, who is totally satisfied living among humans.

R8 was your rabbit named Fluffy and is your sister Eunice?

I had a rabbit as a child. My dad found her at the rubbish dump in a bag and brought her home.

She had the full run of the garden and the house. The flowerbeds had to be cordoned off with a rabbit proof fence, and cables had to be put inside tubes. They can be taught to use a litter tray, it's quite common for house rabbits. She died around ten I think. Her and the cat didn't get on at first but they eventually calmed down.

They can be extremely territorial. She chased one of my brother's friends and he hid in the shed.

my sister has had several and my daughter had one. they both let them roam free when they were home but unfortunately my daughter was in her rocking chair and rocked over & killed her rabbit. She got a cat

The lovely Amy Sedaris has had rabbits for years, and she is an advocate for educating people on how to care for them.

They are sweet and it is a damn dumb idea.

A former colleague of mine had two rabbits in the garden. My colleagues children, then around 6 and 8 years old, had to feed the rabbits, which had no names, but were known as the "Easter bunny" and the "Christmas bunny", because one would be slaughtered and eaten at Easter and the other at Christmas.... :-( She told me her children would learn to live with that kind of reality and would know beforehand what would happen with the bunnys one day... --- I only found that exceptionally cruel - to the rabbits and to the children. t

R23, I have very mixed feelings about that. I could never kill an animal for food, but I grew up in the suburbs. Kids growing up on farms are forced to face that reality from an early age. Even where I live, there's still a 4H club for kids from the other parts of the county, where kids compete for best in show of the various livestock they've raised, most of which are then sold off to be 'processed'. Now that more and more people in the suburbs are raising chickens and ducks and things like that for eggs or meat, I guess there's a certain kind of ethical consistency to it. But my family is a family of animal lovers, which is why I've never entertained the idea of raising chickens myself (although a few of my neighbors do).

Anyway, that story reminded me of the 70s classic 'Possum Living' where Dolly Freed wrote about raising rabbits in the basement, and using a pistol to kill them when it's time to butcher them.

I grew up on a farm and when I was little, my older brother raised them in outside hutches for slaughter as a way to make some money. I was little (4 or so) and didn't know that. I was so happy when I was given a small one that lived in the house with us. That rabbit let me do anything I wanted, which was to take it outside and play, or put it in my sisters' doll perambulator and push it around, etc. It always laid nicely in my arms like a baby and let me pet it. It died approximately a few months from what I was told was a heart attack. My mother told me later there was something wrong with it and they knew it would never grow to full size so it was not going to be raised for meat. I loved that rabbit very much but (remember I was 4 years old) was very disappointed that it wasn't interested in eating carrots like Bugs Bunny did; it preferred lettuce and rabbit pellets.

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Yep. I was about three or four. I used to carry him around by holding him under his front legs and so the rest of his body would just sort of dangle down. He was an awesome pet. He wasn't very friendly or affectionate to anyone else but he was great to me. He got on well with our baby Kangaroo. He always used to sleep huddled up next to him.

OP's really working it today. Does she get a quarter for every "I know nothing so tell me about X" thread?

The DL equivalent of click-bait.

My family had a rabbit when I was growing up. It was potty trained and sort of behaved like a cat- looked for affection when it wanted it but mostly slept all day. When she was young, she was chewing up things like books all over the house but as she got older, she seemed happy to be in one of three rooms on the house.

She was very pretty: big with fluffy gray fur. She was also lop-eared.

Yes. Hated the fucker.

Yes, horrible creatures.

[quote]OP's really working it today. Does she get a quarter for every "I know nothing so tell me about X" thread? The DL equivalent of click-bait.

No, she doesn't get anything. Slightly bugged by airheads (rabbit brains) like you though....and I started this on the 8th and someone bumped it. What's been your contribution lately? & you bet I ask about things I don't know about that interest me, why on earth not?

Years ago when I was selling real estate I had a repo where the owners had let a couple of rabbits wander through the house at will. Of course, that was the least of it, the house was completely wrecked, so we hired professional cleaners, replaced all the carpeting, and painted everything. It was like a new house.

At the very first open house this old couple walks in, and the guy stops, smells, and says, "Rabbits! I smell rabbits. There's been rabbits living in this house."

r11, I forgot about the "night feces"! My veterinarian called it their "magic poop." He said "once every 24 hours, always at night, the rabbits' body stores up all the best nutrients and minerals from the food it's eaten and turns it into a kind of special multivitamin, and then poops it out and eats it." Fascinating, but gross. Oh and yes their pee is kind of like motor oil---it's very dark and a little viscous and smells foul because it's extra concentrated compared to, say, dog piss. That's why we kept my rabbit's hutch in the garage instead of the house, and probably why it's common to keep them in basements.

I also forgot that, yes, you can litter box train them. Still though, just get a hamster/gerbil/mouse/rat/guinea pig/ferret/cat (depending on the lifespan you're prepared to commit to).

r13, stick to your saltwater fish. Psychopath.

When I was in high school, friends of the family got their kids a bunny. They already had a dog. We were all sitting on the porch when all of a sudden the dog starts eating the bunny shit as it was coming out.

bump

no one?

I had a rabbit when I was in high school. White with pink eyes. Named Riff-Raff. Kept her in a large, outside hutch that I built myself. I did my best to make it safe and comfortable, so I hope it wasn't a living hell for her.

But boy, do those things shit. I've never seen so much poop come out of a creature that small. I built the hutch elevated by about four feet, with the idea that the poop would fall through the mesh flooring to the ground below. It didn't take long for the mound to reach four feet. I was constantly having to shovel it out.

Inside, the two challenges were 1) obviously - poop everywhere. 2) She chewed everything. Once I saw lamp and power cords being chewed, I knew I couldn't leave her inside unattended.

She was affectionate, and I 'played' with her inside fairly regularly. But I daresay I left alone outside for longer periods than I should have - being an active high-schooler, my priorities were elsewhere. She always had fresh water and food, though, so I don't think I was neglectful.

young ones are fryers

old ones are stewers

We was gonna have it…for dinner!

Thanks OP. I really like this thread. Rabbits seem dirty, dangerous and destructive!