A lost rabbit called.....

[Josie]

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* UPDATE *

Dennis now has a lovely new home with my mum and her partner!

He’s absolutely gorgeous! He’s so friendly and exquisitive and he even said hello to Dog Dennis.

His teeth don’t sit correctly so weren’t getting worn down naturally. He has a vet trip in 4 weeks to see how they are.

 

[Caro Perry]

* UPDATE *

Dennis now has a lovely new home with my mum and her partner!

He’s absolutely gorgeous! He’s so friendly and exquisitive and he even said hello to Dog Dennis.

His teeth don’t sit correctly so weren’t getting worn down naturally. He has a vet trip in 4 weeks to see how they are.

I like a happy ending - may the giant wererabbit haunt his previous owners

 

[JudyN]

What a cutie! Josie, you do realise that rabbits are much happier living in pairs or groups, don't you?

 

[Violet Turner]

What a handsome rabbit, the colouring is lovely

 

[leashedForLife]

.

Yay!

With sufficient attn from humans, a [neutered] M rabbit is quite happy, solo - they can also bond with a cat, a dog, a parrot, virtually any other pet; they don't "need" another bunny to be happy, any more than a cat must have another cat to be happy.
I say neutered b/c INTACT male rabbits are amazingly aggro - they kick powerfully, bite, scratch, & spray urine; loose in a fenced area, they are perfectly capable of biting, spraying, or charging at either a familiar or novel human, who's just standing there, doing nothing to threaten or harass the rabbit.
Desex greatly reduces this aggro, & then they can be re-trained to accept handling.

Bunnies can be trained, too - just like cats, ppl often don't try to train them, but they *are* train-able.
They can learn tricks, come to their names, run agility courses, be litter-trained, etc.

- terry

.

 

[JudyN]

With sufficient attn from humans, a [neutered] M rabbit is quite happy, solo - they can also bond with a cat, a dog, a parrot, virtually any other pet; they don't "need" another bunny to be happy, any more than a cat must have another cat to be happy.

I'm going by what the RSPCA say - they should be reliable, no? And also a rabbit rescue organisation (OK, they might have a vested interest), the PDSA, Blue Cross... Though possibly they're all assuming that the rabbit will live in a hutch & run in the garden and not have continual company like it would in the wild. According to a site called BunnyHugga, they can be single if they are house rabbits with someone there most of the time but if living outside they need companionship.

 

[Josie]

What a cutie! Josie, you do realise that rabbits are much happier living in pairs or groups, don't you?

I’ve told them both this!! I’m working on getting him castrated and then getting him a girlfriend!

 

[JudyN]

I’m working on getting him castrated and then getting him a girlfriend!

I can just imagine what he thinks of that: 'What's the point of getting me an effing girlfriend if you've just got me castrated?'

 

[leashedForLife]

.

In N America, bunnies don't "live together" in the wild.
UK & Euro bunnies form colonies; N American wild rabbits & hares, of all species, are solitary other than to breed, & only the mother cares for neonates & young bunnies / hares. Snowshoe hares, cottontail rabbits of all subspecies, jack-rabbits out West, marsh rabbits, they're all solitary; Ms & Fs come together to mate, & then they go their separate ways. Now preg, Mom makes a nest or a scrape; Dad goes off to mate another F.

Rabbits & hares in N America also don't dig burrows - they shelter above ground, in simple hides in tall grass, called forms, or under fallen branches, in opportunistic cover such as rotted logs, & in brush. Marsh & swamp rabbits are quite aquatic, & will use hides & forms atop a rock surrounded by water, or on a sand-island in mid-stream. Each rabbit or hare will have not one, but several places to rest & sleep, that they may use use day or night, over a smallish territory.
Such territories are not exclusive; M rabbits' & hares' "turf" will usually overlap the territories of several Fs, & each M will mate with as many F-neighbors as possible, during their brief estrus [for cottontails, Spring & Fall are peak littering periods, plus stragglers bear all thru Summer; snowshoe hares can carry TWO litters simultaneously, of different ages, & can have up to 4 litters per year; jack-rabbits can have 4 to 6 litters in one year; swamp rabbits, up to 5 litters annually].

Eastern Cottontail Rabbit

Snowshoe hare - Wikipedia

The Life Cycle of Jack Rabbits

Marsh Rabbit - Sylvilagus palustris - Details - Encyclopedia of Life

Swamp Rabbit

Domestic rabbits can get preg year-round, which is a problem if intact Ms & Fs are housed together; newborns are delicate & chill easily, so "surprise litters" in mid-winter or during a cold spell in Spring or Fall can die within hours, esp'ly with a novice mother, who will not have prepared & lined a nest with hair plucked from her belly, ahead of the kindling [birth, in rabbits].
But rabbits don't pair-bond like wolves or prairie-voles -

Why Prairie Voles Fall in Love: A Chemical Romance - Knowing Neurons

... any M will mate with any available F, & if she's confined, she doesn't have a dam*ed thing to say about "choice" - he's gonna mate with her, whether or not she wants to mate - at all, or with him in specific. There's no such thing as "No".
I took a series of photos of a M cottontail pursuing a F who repeatedly boxed him off, ears laid back, charged him, bit at him, etc, & even free, in a suburban backyard, it was obvious he wasn't giving up, & she WAS going to be bred, like it or lump it. I spent 20-mins, taking photos; he'd been humping her briefly when i arrived, but she'd squirted out from under him & sped off, & he was determinedly set for a siege, whatever her resistance. Eventually, he would mate her again. She couldn't run away & fight him off forever.

Immune & Endocrine Aspects of Social & Territorial Behavior in Male Rabbits
Immune and Endocrine Aspects of Social and Territorial Behavior in Male Rabbits

QUOTE,
"In this study, we describe the effect of social and territorial behaviors on interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production by concanavalin A-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in pairs of socially-naive male rabbits, living in a semi-natural open-air environment.
We also assayed PBMC glucocorticoid receptors (GcRs) & plasma corticosterone (C).
Three groups of behaviors were identified: agonistic (Mount & Follow), affiliative (Groom), & territorial (Mark & Dig). Mount was correlated with Follow, while Mark was correlated with Dig. Groom was correlated with all the other behaviors.
Groom, Mark, Mount, & Follow were all positively correlated with PBMC GcRs.
Groom and PBMC GcRs were each negatively correlated with plasma C.

The two rabbits in each pair could be distinguished in terms of territorial behavior, since one animal always had a higher score.
The animals with the higher level of territorial behavior within the pairs exhibited a significant increase in IFN-γ production at the end of the experimental period. They also showed a positive correlation between the percentage variations of IFN-y production and PBMC GcRs.
It is suggested that social factors, especially territorial behavior, affect adrenocortical activity & IFN-γ production."
________________________________________
.

"Groom" above is specifically allogrooming: to groom another individual of the same species - but "Follow" is more properly termed CHASE. The turfier animal of the 2, chases & harasses his 'housemate'.

When i kept a rabbit as a pet, s/he lived in the house, & was caged when un-supervised, as they WILL gnaw anything they encounter that's able to be chewed; meat rabbits were kept in an outdoor shed, caged individually, as Fs in the same cage may fight each other, or kill one another's litters as neonates.
Meat rabbits are kept intact, as U don't eat the breeding stock, U eat the offspring; Ms are separated early & sold intact as breeding Ms, or raised to slaughter; Fs can live together a bit longer, but then each gets a cage of her own.

My house-rabbits paired with my cat, & one bunny came with an already-bonded cagemate - a F Norway Dwarf, & her M Guinea-pig buddy.

Neutered M rabbits often live nicely together with spayed Fs, but 2 Ms or 2 Fs may or may not get along, even when both are desexed. [Intact, 2 Ms in a shared cage will typically beat the H*** outta one another, & 2 intact Fs don't generally get along, either.]
Just like dogs, opp-sex is the most-likely pairing to get along, & having both neutered is best. Same-sex pairs, even after neutering, are less likely to hit it off & be buddies. // Personally, i wouldn't call a bunny who lived outdoors in a cage a "pet" rabbit - JMO, & IME; even if s/he was put out to graze in a pen, or was petted when fed each day, that's not much of a "pet".

Intact-M rabbits, generally speaking, don't make good pets.

- terry

.

 

[leashedForLife]

.

clicker training for rabbits -


. 2:58

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Mili, the clicker trained bunny
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Mili is a rescue rabbit (thank you Kosovir), she is 4 months old now, and eager to learn.

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Mili - the clicker trained helper rabbit
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Rabbits are very popular pets, often beaten into third place only by dogs and cats. Unfortunately, they are also one of the most ...
_______________________________________________________

Enjoy! -- lots of bunnies, doing fun stuff.


.

 

[Caro Perry]

I can just imagine what he thinks of that: 'What's the point of getting me an effing girlfriend if you've just got me castrated?'

<giggle>

 

[Josie]

So rabbit Dennis is going in to have his teeth removed they had already grown back after 3 weeks! He's also going in for his boy op so he can get a girlfriend!

My mums slightly worried because they've been advised that most of his diet must be hay but he doesn't like eating it. Has anyone got any advice on how to get him eating it?

 

[Violet Turner]

5 Ways to Get Your Rabbit to Eat More Hay

 

[Josie]

thank you @Violet Turner

 

[leashedForLife]

.

some bunnies who've been pellet-reared will eat alfalfa pellets, altho those might be higher protein & lower cellulose than whole-stem grass hay, or orchard-grass hay.

here's a comparison of various foodstuffs, including alfalfa pellets, brome grass, alfalfa-hay, etc.

Alfalfa Pellets - Frequently Asked Questions

HTH,
- terry

.

 

[Josie]

Thankyou @leashedForLife

 

[Josie]

* Rabbit Update *

Dennis has now been castrated and teeth removed. He is the most spoilt rabbit I have ever known! He even has his own rabbit toilet which my mum says he uses all of the time. Plus.... he now has a girlfriend called Jessica!! They are just starting the introductions so hopefully they will become a bonded pair soon.

 

[JudyN]

What lucky bunnies!

 

[Jack-Russell-Lover]

Awwwww that's amazing! He couldn't have found a better home, so glad he has a friend too

 

[Flobo]

How lovely! hope the bonding goes well