13 Secrets To A Happy Rabbit

Afternoon people out there!

It’s been a while… I know.

As my post title suggests, we’ll be talking about a beach house bunny today- the secret to a happy rabbit.

Before I begin on how to take care of your pet rabbit or how to share your apartment with a bunny, which would be a better title for this, let me tell you what all we have juggled a lot. A lot means, a lot.

In Pursuit of that Perfect Pet

Since the time we’ve started staying together, we’ve been looking for pets. Dogs, cats, fishes, at adoption sites, rescue lists, pet shops, from a friend of a friend who eventually decided to not give his lab puppy away after we’ve travelled 50 kilometres to get him and were mentally prepared- it was never ending. We exchanged links over email keeping our most important assignments at bay, we liked several rescue pages over Facebook to see if that dream puppy was somewhere along- nothing. When does one call enough, enough?

Tired and beaten and badly wanting, Ro decided we’ll keep fishes. So there we were in the pet shop, several hours later waiting to pick up Ro’s favorite fighter fish and guess what happened? From a whole room full of potential pets, I impulsively picked up a baby bunny. I could never let it go!

I’ve heard that they stay best in pairs so we took 2. One grey and one white.

Unfortunately, the Grey one died after a week.

On close heels of his death, we got 3 rabbits to keep the one who survived from the first lot company but all of them died, one after the other, leaving him alone as ever.

🙁

We read it up online and found no source to explain the sudden deaths. I also read somewhere that they die sudden.What a major heartbreak man!

We decided to never get another rabbit again and keep him single with us.
We thought he’d die in a week as we’ve heard they are social animals. Pardon us for being cruel- when you see too many deaths, you tend to get annoyingly practical.

Myth Bust

Its over a month and a half now- fluffy is doing great and he is very happy. He is that little creature who trots on your feet as you make yourself a cup of coffee and needlessly give you all the love he has. He might nibble on your favorite slippers and sometime your fat toe too but its all too sweet to even pay attention to the damage. They are your everyday mental damage control device.

So how did he survive? How did that happen?

This is where I’ll give you the secrets to a happy rabbit and bust some myth’s arse.

From what I have learnt-

1. Not all bunnies survive. Take this hard fact from me. Bred in captivity and in enormous numbers, its evident that only some will have survival-of-the-fittest genes. Count 1 out of 20. So, if your baby bunny die, don’t blame yourself for the rest of your life. They might be from a bad stock.

2. Your bunny will always be happy if you interact with it. Call it names, go near it, play with it, snuggle it a bit. They are social animals remember? Not rabittically speaking but for real. They love company.

3. Never, ever give your baby bunny a bath. It kills them. Sponge them with lukewarm water atleast until they are a month old, if you feel he’s gotten dirty. They generally clean themselves.

4. Hay is the happy secret. Make it mandatory to give him hay. Make it available to him all times of the day. Your rabbit can eat cabbage, fresh coriander, tomatoes, beetroot, spinach (fluffy hates it. He just ignores it) along with hay. You can feed them veggies twice or in little amounts throughout the day. One very important thing to note: Please make sure you are feeding your bunny at the same spot- ideally his basket. This will also train him to expect food only in his corner. For added benefits, read point 7!

5. There is no need to buy expensive cages and bedding and running wheels or whatever you buy. Get a big enough basket, line it with newspaper, get cheap straw and make his bed. On one side, keep his hay. Get a bigger basket to keep him caged when you want to.

6. The best exercise your bunny can get is to run around the house. Let him. Its fun.

7. You cannot potty train anyone. However, you can notice where it generally pees. Rabbits are good. They poop and pee while they eat and all one really needs to do is give him his food in his home and cage him. Do it for 5 days and it will automatically poop there. MOSTLY. Don’t be surprised if you find round pellet like poop in corners. Just broom it out and throw them in the dustbin. If they pee everywhere but their cage, clean it with dettol. They hate dettol and never pees there 😛 My bunny however has chosen one rug and his home as his loo. Your bunny will choose 2-3 areas for himself. Note these areas and provide cheap rugs. MYTH: Rabbits pee stinks. Ball-talk. It doesn’t. You can just wash the rug once in 3 months.

8. Keep straw in his bed and not fancy self-absorbing stuff because it absorbs pee like magic, its cheap and it dries really fast, keeping his home dry.

9. They tend to eat their poop sometimes. Allow him. Its full of fiber.

10. Limit sweet treats to once in 15 days. Pet him and give it to him. He will lick your hands with tiny tongue that feels like heaven.

11. When you want to punish him, cage him and scold him. It really works.

12. A single rabbit can be your pet. That social thing is bullshit.

13. If you have free wires running around the house, just switch the connecting plugs off. They actually dont bite wires. They like hairbands though 😛

Sharing it for securing a place in Bunny Heaven:

Monday

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