10 reasons not to buy a rabbit this Easter

Every spring, breeders and rabbit factories raise cute little bunnies for parents to put in Easter baskets for their children. Then, over the following weeks, animal shelters are flooded with these same rabbits after they’ve grown tired in their new homes. In fact, rabbits are the third most donated animal shelter (just behind dogs and cats). When animals chew on electrical wires, books, baseboards, doorframes, or Easter lilies, the reality is that caring for a rabbit can be time consuming. Do you think you can buy a rabbit? There is a good chance that you have no idea what awaits you.

Here are 10 good reasons no to buy a rabbit this Easter (or ever):

1. Rabbits are not “beginner pets” – they require long-term care and need long-term care.

While healthy adult rabbits usually use the litter box for their business, they do. many businesses – and you have to keep their box clean changing it at least on any other day… This is not an exaggeration. On top of that, caring for a rabbit means vacuuming almost every single day.

Rabbits require a daily supply of timothy hay to maintain their teeth (which never stop growing). Providing a constant flow of bedding, hay, fresh produce, and pellets can be costly. Are you ready to hand over your living room to your beloved rabbit? (Lagomorphs are a group of mammals, including rabbits, hares, and pikas.) Rabbits love to interact with their human families, and they become depressed if kept in a cage or isolated in, say, a laundry room.

Rabbits require a lot of mental stimulation and exercise – they need as much attention as a cat or dog. They crave love and games.

2. If you keep them outside, they will die much sooner.

Happy indoor rabbits that are well cared for can live 12 years or more. Left outside in cages, they can suffer from extreme heat or cold, rain or snow. Bunnies that are kept out of sight are often overlooked and neglected. They can become infected with parasites such as ticks, fleas, and intestinal worms. The waste they accumulate attracts flies, which can result in flies being hit (i.e., being eaten alive by the larvae). They may even die of fright if they spot a hungry hawk overhead or if a neighbor’s dog climbs into the yard. Without clean water, regular healthy eating, and socializing with humans or other animals, your rabbit’s life will be miserable.

3. Rabbits will try to destroy your home.

Bunny Sentinels can testify that these wild animals will chew paint off your walls, eat cell phone chargers, bite holes in your slippers, wreck PlayStation controllers, and gnaw on your vacuum cord. Sometimes they are shocked. Breeders and pet stores often don’t mention that rabbits are constantly chewing (their teeth never stop growing), so they need constant supervision and rabbit-safe chewy treats and toys.

four. Rabbits are molting all over the place.

Imagine you invite your friends to dinner, and one of them is allergic to rabbits and can’t stop sneezing. Or you put on pretty clothes to travel to town, only to realize that your clothes are covered in rabbit hair. This is the reality of living with a rabbit. In addition, you must constantly brush your rabbit because, unlike cats, rabbits cannot cough up hairballs, which can be fatal for them.

five. Touching a rabbit may leave you with bloody scars.

Rabbits can look irresistibly cute (especially when they clean their ears), but they prefer to have both feet on the ground, and if you lift them, they may try to escape by jumping out of your hands, but not without scratching you first. … Falling as a result can be a serious challenge for small animals, whose bones can be dislocated or broken by impact. Your rabbit’s nails need to be trimmed regularly, which can be painful if done incorrectly or too rarely. You can ask your veterinarian to do this, but there is a fee for this service.

6.RAbbits can easily get sick.

Rabbits are very sensitive, so even small changes or the wrong food can make them sick or even kill them. Signs of a sick rabbit include a runny nose, tilting the head to the side, lethargy, diarrhea, sneezing, lack of appetite, teeth grinding, drooling, and constipation. If rabbits have sores or scabs on their bodies, this could mean they have fleas or ticks. Rabbits can die very quickly if they get sick, so they should be shown to the veterinarian right away. It can be difficult to find one that treats rabbits, and treatment can be costly beyond neutering and neutering (to prevent disease), which increases the rabbit’s (fluffy) profits.

7. Pet shop suppliers abuse rabbits and keep them in appalling conditions.

Perhaps one of the most important reasons to never buy a rabbit is that it fuels an egregiously violent pet trade. A PETA investigator entered a facility called Holmes Farm, which supplied Petco and PetSmart, and never saw the animals receive veterinary care, despite the manager’s repeated warnings about sick and injured animals. Workers dumped dozens of animals, including rats, gerbils, guinea pigs, and a rabbit, into a feces-stained refrigerator and brutally gassed them with carbon dioxide. Their screams could be heard across the room.

The workers did not check the animals for signs of life before throwing their bodies into the trash bin or sealing them in plastic bags for sale as “feeders.” Some sick or emaciated animals languished for several days without care, including rabbits, which eventually died in their cages. Some of them had a “living” area of ​​less than a square foot.

When Petco, PetSmart and other stores returned sick, injured, or unwanted animals to Holmes, they were often left wit
ho
ut water for days.

A PETA witness managed to rescue a rabbit named Leela, who had been suffering from an apparent upper respiratory infection for 10 days without treatment and whose left eye was obstructed by secretions. After visiting the veterinarian and receiving antibiotics, she defeated the infection and was placed in a normal home.

Never buy a rabbit (or any other animal) from a pet store or anywhere else. If you have what it takes to properly care for your rabbit, take it to a reputable shelter.

8. Rabbits get lonely. Are you ready to take care of two of them?

Rabbits are much happier and healthier by living with compatible bunnies that they can play with and cuddle with. But pet stores and breeders don’t hesitate to sell bunnies alone, which makes them very lonely little rabbits.

Although rabbits are inherently social animals, they can also be territorial, and their affection can be a long process – and even lead to fights and injury if the guardian is not careful. Rabbits should always be spayed or neutered before being introduced to each other during short supervised binding sessions. These classes should take place in neutral territory and gradually increase. The rabbits will need to be housed separately (ideally within sight of each other) until it is clear that a peaceful friendship has developed between them. Rabbits usually demonstrate this by relaxing side by side and grooming each other. At this point, they can move together.

9. Many people who buy rabbits eventually regret it, but ultimately the animals suffer.

Once the novelty wears off, rabbits are often thrown into an animal shelter, sent to a cage outside, or simply released, even if they have no chance against harsh weather, injury, disease, parasitic infestations, or predators. … Rabbit shelters and rescue facilities are bursting at the seams with unwanted rabbits hastily acquired by people who did not realize that caring for a rabbit takes a lot of time, money and effort.

10. Breeders are exacerbating the stray animal crisis.

An animal purchased from a pet store or breeder will be replaced with another, perpetuating the cycle of abuse and taking home from rabbits already in shelters awaiting adoption. Responsible rabbit caretakers sterilize or neuter their rabbits to prevent reproductive diseases and keep them from breeding.

*****

Rabbits are people whose personalities and interests vary greatly. Some rabbits like to cuddle with their guardians, they will lick your face, beg for food while you eat, and are so excited to see you that they will shake. Other rabbits are more withdrawn or prefer the company of other animals.

If you feel ready to welcome two tied rabbits into your family and provide them with a fulfilling life in a calm and quiet family, visit your local shelter or rabbit rescue group. Never buy a rabbit.

You can also help rabbits by refusing to buy animal tested foods. Rabbits are used in laboratories to test cosmetics, household cleaners, and other products. This can include poisoning rabbits, applying harsh chemicals to their bare skin, or getting corrosive chemicals in their eyes. If you care for rabbits, only buy products that are not abused.