Housing of indoor rabbit

LisaO

Hi. We have been offered a rabbit from friends whose rabbits have recently had kittens, so we have about 6-7 weeks to prepare.

The plan is that the rabbit will live inside but have daily time outside in a run. Have been looking at the indoor cages and just wondering if anyone could recommend a cage & maybe a supplier? Presume the bigger it is, the better. Don't know whether it would be better to have a cage on the floor or on a raised stand?

Also, advice on where to buy good quality food & hay.

Any help much appreciated.

Thank You.

Sigma Force

It can be difficult to sex young rabbits so keep in mind that they will have to be double checked to ensure they are the same sex, if it turns out there's one male and one female when they hit 4 months or so house them side by side until they are spayed/neutered and then once stitches are out they can be reintroduced which shouldn't be too difficult esp. if they are living side by side.

Check out zooplus.co.uk for rabbit housing a lot of shop bought housing is too small for rabbits, indoors they need a bunny proof room or a very large pen (argos sell smaller puppy pens which are handy when they need to be confined after spaying/neutering). Outdoors some of those small potting sheds are sometimes cheaper with a run attached than some of the fancier hutches in shops. If you know someone that's good at DIY that can be handy too.

On a raised stand is practical if you have small kids or a nosey dog but on the floor is easier for the rabbit to pop in and out of. Any cage must be large enough for the rabbit to stand up fully in on his back legs and be able to run about in. To be honest many indoor cages are way too small for rabbits.
Basically get the biggest one you can afford and then plenty of floor time as well.

Food wise Burgess rabbit food (green bag) is a good one, avoid the plastic bags in shops that are sold with no labels or sell by date etc. on them it's hard to know how long they've been sitting on the shelf etc.

Rabbits need veg and a wee bit of fruit. be careful which type to feed as some are toxic. If unsure don't feed. Safe veg/fruit/herbs includes broccoli, cauliflower, apple, carrot, oregano, thyme, apple mint, rosemary, Nasturtium flowers, grape, never feed lettuce esp. iceberg. Too many greens can give a bun the runs. So vary it a bit with cauliflower there's a lot of other veg you can feed as well googling will give you a list of safe ones.

They also like an apple branch or shop bought safe logs to chew on. Ensure any veg, branches are free from chemicals or pesticides by organic if possible.

Hay wise fresh, sweet smelling hay with low dust. Burgess forage I think it's called can be found on brendaspets.ie and zooplus has lots of hay/grassy type snacks, Plospan hay or there's another one I buy from the hardware (Homevalue) can't remember the name of it but it's low dust and smells much nicer than the meadowlands hay. Timothy hay is a great treat as well.

Grass is also fine but if out on the grass ensure there are no toxic plants growing on it or nearby that could be accidently fed by kids. Dandelion is safe. Ensure the lawn hasn't been treated by chemicals, lawn feed etc.

Rabbits require vaccinations, very important esp. at this time of year, they need one against Myxomatosis and one against VHD two weeks apart, never have both vax together it's too much for a rabbits system to cope with.

An experience rabbit vet is a must if there is no vet within a short drive from you that has experience with rabbits I would rethink getting any because the worst thing for any rabbit owner is when a rabbit becomes ill or needs spaying etc. they can't get to an experienced vet and it's just a disaster.

They do make great house pets but there's more to rabbits than people think. A pair of rabbits are great to watch sumersaulting and cuddling up together.

One of the most important things rabbits need is access to unlimited hay and water, they must never be allowed to fast even when going for an anesthetic.
Also space, one of the things a rabbit will appreciate the most is having space and toys and boxes to hide and play in etc.

There's also rabbit insurance available in Ireland now, this will save you a fortune over the years. They can live roughly to 10 years ish.
It might be worth mentioning to the person who has the rabbits to have their rabbit spayed once the kittens are weaned hopefully they have removed the male already.

Some links to keep you busy.

http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/
http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/education/publications.asp
http://www.freewebs.com/guineapigcottage/index.htm (check out the rabbit neutering section for info. on spaying/neutering before and after care).

LisaO

Thanks for the detailed reply.

Have looked at the indoor cages on zooplus but had read on some other sites that they had received bad reviews? The plan is that bunny will be in an outdoor ark run on grass during the day - weather permitting - & housed in an indoor cage at night. During the evening & when weather is not so good it will have supervised access to a large indoor room. My dilemma with the indoor cages is that the raised ones on a stand are probably easier from a maintenance & cleaning point of view & keep bunny out of any draughts and away from dust & dirt. However, a floor cage makes more sense when the rabbit is out indoors as it can return to the cage whenever it wants to. Would be interested to hear from any other owners of indoor bunnies as to what they find works best.

Food wise Burgess rabbit food (green bag) is a good one,

Have seen the Burgess food in the pet store & was of the conclusion that it was probably the best that is easily accessible. Have found many recommendations on-line for Oxbow but can't find it available to Ireland.

Hay - was hoping to source good quality meadow or timothy hay. Have purchased from both Brendas Pets & Zooplus before, so good to know they stock hay.

dmanning

You can get oxbow hay in the pet shop on the quays in dublin.
They do the timothy and alfa hay as well

Sigma Force

Timothy hay is great but can be expensive and hard to get sometimes I use it as a secondary hay. The hay I use I find is much better than that big bag of meadow hay (can't remember the proper name it says on bag packed in Athy or something) I found that one too dusty and musty.

Pets Own Choice meadow hay that's the one I use, I get it in Homevalue Hardware it's packed tight and is €4.99 and lasts as long as the one mentioned above (which is around €6.99 ish) It's lower in dust and smells much nicer.

Oxbow is great, can be pricey though. They love just regular grass (not treated with chemicals etc.) as well though.

Zooplus can be a bit terrible with their deliveries, so far I've had no problems some packages have been a bit battered and some people have given up on them because they have had bad experiences with deliveries being battered about. They are usually good to replace though although you can end up waiting ages. Since you have a few weeks I would say it's worth ordering from them if you have found something that suits so if there are any problems there will be time to sort it.

donedeal might have rabbit arks for sale on it.

When we had rabbits we ended up converting a shed, putting patio slabs down and putting a cill dara run (cilldara.ie) on it so they could run about (wired the top and cut off the leg bits for extra security) that way we could walk into the run and shed no bending down and the buns had lots of room.
I've seen the smaller half sized runs (or at least the equivilent) used on a pet farm for rabbits. We had built a number of timber with aviary wire runs but I found in wet weather (which is often and all year round) it was a nightmare trying to clean them out in the wind and rain. At least with the shed I could pop in and keep dry no matter what the weather you can sit in the shed and spend time with them.