Anyone have an indoor rabbit?

[BubblPopElectrc]

Originally Posted by Tytainea

I have also thought about getting a bunny. I am more worried about whether or not a bunny and a puppy can get along. Does anyone know if they play well together or do they need to be kept separate?

I never really thought about that being a problem, honestly.

Not to sound stupid but, I wonder if a dog could just give a rabbit a heart attack or something.

[goldenlady]

My Sister has had a rabbit for a few years now and it never smells. She is rather large and fat. I'm sure with three kids and she being a single parent that the cage does not get cleaned as often as it should and it has never smelled when I have visited. She is a pretty cool rabbit. She rocks herself to sleep. She loves to leap onto her high perch in her cage.

[RoxyJosMom]

Angoras are pretty! Were they a lot of maintenance?

Seems like a lot of people have had sexing (of the bunnies. ) problems.


They were absolutely beautiful! We didn't groom them much after they went outdoors in the hutch. Nature took care of that. And the fur was so thick you couldn't get in to actual skin on their bodies. But it never matted and always looked nice. But they did shed like crazy. From what the vet told me on sexing, it is pretty easy to mess up because the male is so tiny so if you don't squeeze just right, nothing comes out and you think you have a girl. Good luck - I love bunnies. They are so soft and cuddly.

[jvwheeler]

I have had rabbits in the past. One in a dorm room. Cranston (his name) was adorable and litter box trained, and did not smell. Course, I wasn't supposed to have pets in the dorm and eventually was forced to rehome him. And then a few years ago, I had another. Pepper was only caged when I wasn't home, and ran the house the rest of the time. I had two cats, the rabbit and a golden retriever. They played with each other and chased around the house. Several times I would find Pepper sitting on the dog taking naps...

One word of caution, every rabbit I have known or seen around the house has had a penchant for chewing on electrical cords, so make sure if the need arises that you hide them well.

[daisy mae06]

Originally Posted by Nikki+2

My daughter's first pet was a rabbit. He was a great little guy. His cage was never smelly but he was a dwarf bunny so I don't know if that was the difference. I had read that females are very easy to litter train and males very hard. I asked for a female- (darned if I could tell the difference) but it turned out to be a male. I freaked when his testicals dropped thinking my "girl" had a tumor. Um, yeah, that was embarrassing! Anyway he wasn't so good with the litter box but his poo was very hard and had no odor so I just had to be ready to vaccuum whenever he had been out. Females are no problem from what I've heard. He was a really sweet little cuddle bug.

I did the same thing with my male I thought was a female.
she was a indoor bunny litter trained and very fun to watch play with my springer/husky mix.

[Willow]

We have four rabbits right now. They are all from the same litter. My mom gave them to us when they were old enough to leave their mother. I won't discuss my mom's breeding practices about her rabbits, but lets just say I didn't agree with it....anyway..we have 1 boy and 3 girls. They can mate at 6months of age and the unaltered females pretty much come into heat if you just stick them with a male.

Males are best if they are neutered. An unneutered male can develop testicular cancer and die. I unfortunately know this one from experience. I had never thought about spaying or neutering a rabbit before, until my little black and white dwarf rabbit named Ratfink developed the cancer. He wasn't with us long. If you get a rabbit, I would suggest getting it altered if you can.

OR check out Peter Rabbits. They sell theirs already neutered and they come with a one year health gaurantee.

[Willow]

I wanted to add, Ratfink was 3 years old when he died from his cancer. I have a friend in Maine who's male rabbit was 10 years old when he developed testicular cancer so it isn't an age factor. Young or old bucks (males) could develop the cancer. Just something to think about.

Also, mine are in a large outside hutch that my husband and I had built several years ago. Ratfink was a house bunny but he wouldn't potty trained. I had him in an indoor cage that had a pull out pan and I cleaned it every day. What made it easier was I lined it with a black garbage bag and then sprinkled litter on top of that. Ratfink was trained to walk on a harness and he had several hours a day to run around the house. He was very friendly and loved his chin to be rubbed.

Also, no matter what kind of small animal you have, rabbit, hamster, ferret, guinea pigs, etc...you should NEVER use pine or cedar beddings for them. The odor of these beddings can cause breathing problems and shorten the life of your pet.

[011011]

We used to raise Angoras and they are wonderful we kept ours in the barn but friends of mine have them in the house they are litter box trained and do not stink .Keep your litter box clean .
My aunt makes the hair into yarn it is cool to see done,we would have babies sell them and keep the best ones for pulling the hair.And it sells so fast around here.
The kids have gotten bigger and we do not have them anymore but they were a joy to raise and I love baby bunnies.
I seem to have people bring me litters of wild bunnies off and on. mom got hit in the field etc.You are not suppose to take them you are suppose to leave them (and let them die) or find a wildlife rehabilitator (I could never find one close enough but talked to a lady who was and told me how to take care of them). So who is going to say no to a pile of blind helpless squeaking bunnies.They are very tricky to raise though only fed 2 times a day !When old enough we release them into the state park. We do not touch them either I always wore gloves.

[nvnvgirl]

I had a dwarf Holland Lop and he was almost as cute as my little Yorkie! He was indoors all the time and he didn't smell, but I only let him out of his cage when I was there to supervise him (mainly b/c I had large parrots who weren't afraid of ANYTHING). I cleaned his cage daily and I had tried the litter box thing, but it didn't work very well, so I gave up on that. I did have him neutered, b/c he would run around my legs in circles and then, all of a sudden, "spray" me , and he also had a sort of annoying habit if I was lying on the floor playing with him or the cats or the birds, of getting on my head and "humping" my hair . My vet told me that neutering him would stop that and she was right.
I was a little concerned about the surgery, b/c he was so small, but he had absolutely no problem. What he did have a problem with, was when my cats got fleas, brought them into the house, where they got into the carpet and then everywhere, so I had to take the cats to the vet for a flea treatment, get all the rest of the animals out of the house so I could bomb it and it's very difficult to get rid of the fleas on a bunny, b/c they're so delicate and you can't dip them or anything. This was before Advantage or Frontline was around, so maybe you can use that on them now. I'd just be very cautious if you might have a flea outbreak; the loss of blood killed my little BR. They're wonderful pets though and I would love to have another one, but I didn't have a dog then, and I"m afraid Max would be a little too rambunctious for something so delicate. I think I'd be careful anyhow with a bunny and any dog; unless they've been together for a long time.

[WesleyandMaddie]

I've never personally had an indoor rabbit (although I'd like to one day), but I did babysit for a family that did. They kept a cage in the kitchen where the rabbit would eat its food and go to the bathroom. They left the cage door open and it could go in there whenever it wanted to. It basically went wherever it wanted to in the house. It didn't smell at all. Probably as long as you have a certain place for the rabbit to go, and you clean it often, smell won't be a problem.

The only 'problem' they had with their rabbit is they had to keep the children's bedroom doors closed so the rabbit didn't go in there because it would chew on the blankets on the beds.

[MyTrixie143]

I have a long haired mini lop rabbit named Cricket. I got her from a breeder a few years ago.
She is my first rabbit that I have really owned and I just love her!! She is so sweet and has such a unique personality. She is litter box trained, she picked that up right away!! The cage she stays in is actually a ferret cage, and she stays in it with two chinchillas. I keep the cage cleaned regularly but if I didn't I am sure it would smell.

She is not spayed, I have never really thought about it before but I am scared to get her spayed. A rabbit can die easily from too much stress. But her behavior or personality is as sweet as can be so I can't see how spaying her would change her personality.

As for getting along with the dogs, she is great!! None of the dogs or the cats bother her. In fact she loves chasing the cats around the house!! The cats hate her because she likes to nibble on their fluffy tails, lol. And she isn't scared of the dogs so they have never bothered her. She will often go up to them and sniff them or lick them.

The only thing I have to really watch when I let her roam is that all cords are out of the way. She will chew on cords.

I just love her death, she is such a sweet rabbit.

[BubblPopElectrc]

Glad to hear a lot of people have have good results!

If I happen to get one (which I am still debating!), I'll be sure to post!

[Sukoshi's Mom]

Sorry this post is so long, but I could talk about my bunnies forever! I used to have 2 indoor rabbits, although both have now died. My first rabbit was Holly. She was a black and white Holland lop, and the cutest thing you've ever seen (well...except maybe for Sukoshi ). She lived with me in my college dorm room (shhhh...don't tell the university staff), and then after college, she moved with me to the townhouse I bought. I thought she was lonely though (rabbits are VERY social creatures and really do better with a playmate), so I got another rabbit - Hershey. Hershey was a gray and white mini lop, and he was so much fun. I adopted both my babies from the House Rabbit Society - a wonderful organization rescuing rabbits from bad situations, found loose on the streets, those being sold in pet stores for snake food (sickening!), those at the pound that are ready to be euthanized, etc. When you adopt a rabbit from the Housing Rabbit Society, they come already litter box trained and spayed/neutered. You have to sign a contract that you will keep the rabbit INDOORS ONLY and that you will NEVER put it outside in a hutch. They are a great organization, and I would strongly recommend anyone who is interested in getting a bunny see if you have a House Rabbit Society chapter close to you http://www.rabbit.org/. Their website has everything you've ever wanted to know about rabbits on it. Also, a similar rescue organization is the Bunny Bunch http://www.bunnybunch.org/, although I think the Bunny Bunch is just a SoCal organization. Anyway, Holly came to the HRS from a family that got her for their kids at Easter time...a mistake soooooo many families make, and of course, after the newness wore off, the kids weren't interested anymore. She was 9 months old when I got her (past the terrible chewing stage they go through as babies), and she ultimately died of liver failure at 5 years old (Much too young! A long story which, had I still been in MO where I had a WONDERFUL exotic vet for her, I'm not sure she wouldn't still be with me today), although that's what led me to getting Sukoshi last December (Holly died in November, and I just couldn't stop crying), so something positive came out of it I guess. Hershey, unfortunately, suffered from pasteurella, and although I took him for almost weekly vet visits for the 1 year I had him (and we tried EVERYTHING out there to make him better), he ultimately couldn't fight it, and he died . He was such a wonderful bunny, with a spunkly personality, and I would've LOVED to have had him for so many more years. He was so adventurous, and when you'd get on the floor and call his name, he'd run to you, with his little ears flapping in the wind. Ohhh...I miss them both!

Anyway, my recommendation if you're thinking about getting a bunny would DEFINITELY have them spayed/neutered. The phrase "they do it like rabbits" didn't come about out of nowhere. The gestation period for a rabbit is only 31 days, so you can do the math and figure that you can wind up with A LOT of babies if you leave your pet unaltered! Also, please make sure you find a wonderful exotic vet for your bunny. It is my understanding they do not teach rabbit medicine at normal vet school, and that you have to go to additional training and classes to understand everything there is to know about exotics (i.e. rabbits, snakes, etc.). For instance, ORAL penicillins such as Amoxicillin and Clavamox can kill your bunny, and unfortunately, that is the first thing most cat and dog vets prescribe when they see a sick bunny. I made sure to always take mine to an exotic vet, but even then, exotic vets that know anything about bunnies seem to be hard to come by in my area, so I settled for just an ok exotic vet here in SoCal (a HUGE regret when Holly got sick), even though the vet I had for Holly in MO before I moved was amazing. Please find a good one! Other than that, just give your bunny LOTS of greens (I made a weekly trip to the grocery store to stock up on all the leafy greens in the produce section), LOTS of 2nd cut Timothy hay, and some healthy pellets (nothing from pet stores - I recommend American Pet Diner for hay, pellets, and treats - http://www.americanpetdiner.com/ (shipping is pricey, but it's worth it to have the good stuff)). Just remember that rabbits can't throw up, so they need the fiber from the hay to push everything through the digestive system and out the other end. Otherwise, all the hair they ingest while cleaning (rabbits shed their hair every 3 months) can be fatal. Gosh...you make me want to get another bunny! I wish you a happy, healthy bunny for many years to come! Good luck!

Oh, and no, as long as I kept their litter boxes clean, they did NOT smell.

The pics below are of Holly (first 2), Hershey (3rd one), and then the last pic (4th one) is of the play area they had in the basement of my townhouse on the rare occasions I couldn't let them have the run of the house for whatever reason. For the most part, they were always upstairs, hopping around the first or second level of the house.

[yougetthesmiles]

we had one, it was a show rabbit, we had bought it for my daughter. The day of Easter my Husky got in her room and knocked over the cage and killed the poor bunny

no more bunnies for us.

[Willow]

Originally Posted by yougetthesmiles

we had one, it was a show rabbit, we had bought it for my daughter. The day of Easter my Husky got in her room and knocked over the cage and killed the poor bunny

no more bunnies for us.

That is so sad! I am sorry!