When people bring a bunny into their home on Easter, they usually don’t stay there very long. In fact, almost 80 percent of bunnies that are up for adoption at shelters were purchased as Easter gifts, MyFoxPhilly.com reports. Sick and tired of these furballs ending up in the wrong hands, a bunny owner has used her pet rabbit Maurie as an example to show the things one has to think about before getting one.
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Image credits: MsHissyPants
Rabbits are the third most popular pet in America, after cats and dogs, according to the Humane Society of the United States, and the third most abandoned. Most people have an idea of how long cats and dogs live, the kind of care they need, their behaviors. But rabbits? Not so much.
“Bunnies grow very quickly, and they’re not tiny and cute for very long,” Carolyn Gracie of Main Line Animal Rescue told the news source. “Often after a very short time, people abandon them and they end up in shelters, or worse.”
Jennifer McGee, co-manager of the Georgia chapter of House Rabbit Society, a shelter in the southeastern part of the state, told National Geographic they normally receive one to two calls a week about abandoned rabbits. But in the six weeks after Easter, the shelter gets three to four calls a day.
Image credits: MsHissyPants
And although rabbits can make delightful companions, they’re not easy pets. Not surprisingly, vets and insurance companies consider them exotic pets. That means their medical care can be more expensive than for a cat or dog. Rabbits also need a lot of exercise and shouldn’t live in a cage. This means they need to learn to use a litterbox, which takes patience, just as it does for cats. They’re also prey animals and generally don’t like to be picked up by humans; they prefer to be in control, their feet on the ground.
Other rabbit owners started sharing their own experiences
People who get pets for holidays and then abandon them deserve a special place in hell. On an unrelated note: look at that fluffy butt!
I read an article about a growing trend of people buying a pet dog or cat just for a summer vacation home and then abandoning it when they went home. Made me genuinely sick to my stomach that some people are like this :(
I don't get what people like this are thinking.
They're kind of likes birds. They poop EVERYWHERE and they require fresh fruits and greens -not just seed. Plus you need to have an incredible amount of patience to tame them. I have three birds, which I love to bits and have gone all out for with UV lights and an outdoor aviary. But like bunnies, I feel like these animals are sometimes better off in the wild where they have exactly what they need to survive. Some animals just don't do as well domesticating. As much as I adore my birdies, I don't think I'd ever get them again because deep down I feel a pang of guilt keeping them as pets.
I wonder if people in this situation could foster a pet for the local animal shelter? That way they still get to enjoy a short term pet without costing that pet a chance at a permanent home
Elizabeth, fostering would certainly be better than simply abandoning the animal once vacation is over. Maybe that would be a good idea for vacation spots. The residence (motel, B&B, whatever) could keep some adoptable animals on site as fosters and visitors can spend time with them and maybe even adopt them.
Which is why I disagree with parents that surprise their kids with a new dog or cat for Christmas. You need to do your research and actually prepare before doing something like that, as well as making sure the kids can be responsible and help with caring for the pet. Shelters get really full around New Years because of families that get a pet for Christmas and then find out just how much work they weren’t ready for.
I´m relieved to be living in a country where we don´t see bunnies or chicks being marketed as eastergifts, its horrible! Animals deserve better
here in the US you used to could buy little turtles and baby gators at the five and dime stores. and at the state fair (in Dallas)you could win lizards with a string tied on one leg and a safety pin on other end so you could pin it on and let it crawl around on you shoulder. even on the rides....
That's horrible!
Disgusting
I have a bunny too! Only I adopted her around six months ago. If you upset them, they'll poop all over the floor, even if they are litter box trained. They're extremely territorial and if you move one thing in their cage. Mine likes to pick up and drop her metal food and water bowls in the middle of the night. Also, they will eat wires, carpets, blankets, clothing, and anything else they can get their little paws on.
Ours ate the walls!
Mine ate walls too. But we bought this cartoon used by cats to blunt their claws and stick to walls in the place he has eaten them. Surprisingly it worked.
Their teeth never stop growing. You have to give them branches or wooden chew toys to help grind them down.
Get your bunny a friend. She needs company.
I would but she doesn't get along well with others and I couldn't afford it.
I used to give mine prunings from my rose bushes to chew on. She'd make short work of them and it kept her teeth worn down.
They don't poop out of anger, that is how they mark territory. They are saying "your carpet is mine..."
ikr
This comment has been deleted.
People who get pets for holidays and then abandon them deserve a special place in hell. On an unrelated note: look at that fluffy butt!
I read an article about a growing trend of people buying a pet dog or cat just for a summer vacation home and then abandoning it when they went home. Made me genuinely sick to my stomach that some people are like this :(
I don't get what people like this are thinking.
They're kind of likes birds. They poop EVERYWHERE and they require fresh fruits and greens -not just seed. Plus you need to have an incredible amount of patience to tame them. I have three birds, which I love to bits and have gone all out for with UV lights and an outdoor aviary. But like bunnies, I feel like these animals are sometimes better off in the wild where they have exactly what they need to survive. Some animals just don't do as well domesticating. As much as I adore my birdies, I don't think I'd ever get them again because deep down I feel a pang of guilt keeping them as pets.
I wonder if people in this situation could foster a pet for the local animal shelter? That way they still get to enjoy a short term pet without costing that pet a chance at a permanent home
Elizabeth, fostering would certainly be better than simply abandoning the animal once vacation is over. Maybe that would be a good idea for vacation spots. The residence (motel, B&B, whatever) could keep some adoptable animals on site as fosters and visitors can spend time with them and maybe even adopt them.
Which is why I disagree with parents that surprise their kids with a new dog or cat for Christmas. You need to do your research and actually prepare before doing something like that, as well as making sure the kids can be responsible and help with caring for the pet. Shelters get really full around New Years because of families that get a pet for Christmas and then find out just how much work they weren’t ready for.
I´m relieved to be living in a country where we don´t see bunnies or chicks being marketed as eastergifts, its horrible! Animals deserve better
here in the US you used to could buy little turtles and baby gators at the five and dime stores. and at the state fair (in Dallas)you could win lizards with a string tied on one leg and a safety pin on other end so you could pin it on and let it crawl around on you shoulder. even on the rides....
That's horrible!
Disgusting
I have a bunny too! Only I adopted her around six months ago. If you upset them, they'll poop all over the floor, even if they are litter box trained. They're extremely territorial and if you move one thing in their cage. Mine likes to pick up and drop her metal food and water bowls in the middle of the night. Also, they will eat wires, carpets, blankets, clothing, and anything else they can get their little paws on.
Ours ate the walls!
Mine ate walls too. But we bought this cartoon used by cats to blunt their claws and stick to walls in the place he has eaten them. Surprisingly it worked.
Their teeth never stop growing. You have to give them branches or wooden chew toys to help grind them down.
Get your bunny a friend. She needs company.
I would but she doesn't get along well with others and I couldn't afford it.
I used to give mine prunings from my rose bushes to chew on. She'd make short work of them and it kept her teeth worn down.
They don't poop out of anger, that is how they mark territory. They are saying "your carpet is mine..."
ikr
This comment has been deleted.