Rabbit Care

Safety

Always wash and dry hands before and after handling bunnies. Cover wires and disinfect floors (make sure its dry) before bunny goes on it. Remove air fresheners from the room and take care to use cleaning products safe for animals. Make sure bunny has a SAFE SPACE such as a pen or cage for bedtimes and when no one is home. Use water bottles and clean them regularly with a bottle brush. Water bowls get tipped over easily and contaminate very fast with things like dust and urine. Use wire mesh to secure the bottom of rabbit runs, they do dig burrows and they will escape! If bunny is too hot you can give them a small bowl of water to dip their feet into while supervised. Fans, tiles, frozen water bottles are all great ways to keep bunny cool. If bunny’s home gets below -2 I suggest an animal friendly heat pad, extra bedding, oil filled radiator next to cage or a small animal fabric bed. Remember… Bunnies don’t do well with heat but can cope with very low temperatures so don’t worry too much!

Toys

To stop bunny chewing things you don’t want them to, give them plenty to do. A bunny friend is ALWAYS the best option as it gives them a playmate of the same species (sorry humans you’re not the same as having a bunny friend)! You can give them wooden gnawing blocks (I recommend natural colouring and flavouring as dyed wood can cause urine infections). The best toy ever… a toilet roll middle stuffed with feeding hay that has a treat (such as a bit of kale/spring greens/parsley) in the middle. The cardboard helps wear the teeth down, and it’s a fun game to keep them busy for a while. Shelves, tunnels and platforms create jumps and runs like a playground for rabbits.

Feed

Most important thing- Timothy hay is 80% of your bunny’s diet! DON’T OVERFEED THE NUGGETS!!! If you overfeed with nugget they won’t eat as much feeding hay, leading to sticky poos. Feeding hay is high fibre and keeps your bunny’s gut healthy. Occasionally there may be a bunny that doesn’t eat the feeding hay (very rare) you can buy high fibre supplement pellets to replace the fibre missing from the hay. Never use muesli feeds it encourages selective feeding, meaning your bunny isn’t getting all the vitamins they need to keep healthy. Veg can cause more harm than good; rabbits don’t eat root veg in the wild! Some veg such as carrots are actually very bad for bunnies, they are high in sugars and water leading to runny bottoms. Runny stools can kill your bunny! Never feed iceberg lettuce it is TOXIC TO BUNNIES. My advice is stick to a small cup or kale or a big leaf of spring greens once a week. VEG SHOULD ONLY BE FED TO BUNNY AFTER 4 MONTHS OLD, when you start introducing veg start with a bit the size of your thumb and gradually increase (if stools go moist and sticky stop the veg). Rabbits have very sensitive digestive systems and veg often causes problems. Never give bunny grass cuttings it causes bloat and can kill bunny. Rabbits don’t need grass they need timothy hay for the fibre. I feed mine- ½ egg cup nugget per ½ kg in body weight and feeding hay mounted to the size of their body daily. Small cup of kale or a leaf of spring greens once a week after the age of 4 months. Take care with rabbit treats they are full of sugar!

Grooming

Rabbits often need grooming mostly during moulting season; however, lion bunny’s need their long fur combing 2-3 times a week. Rabbit’s feet fur may need trimming to keep it clean. Keep an eye on the length of rabbit’s teeth and nails as they continuously grow and may need clipping at the vets. I run my bunnies on hard flooring outside to wear nails down and use toilet roll middles and straw to wear teeth down. I recommend worming every 6 months unless needed before. I also recommend ear drops to kill ear mites after every clean out. Flea treatment only as and when needed. I also use an eye drop to cleanse the eyes once a month. Please do ask for details on drops I use.

This is a 6ft Chartwell single tier with hutch cover £50 cover £179.99 hutch at homeandroost.co.uk.