I went into my local Pet supplies Plus yesterday to look for a heavier ceramic water bowl for my Noms. But when I walked past the buns I saw an infant rabbit, standing in his footd dish trying to eat those huge pellets. My heart sunk. I asked a million questions to three different employees and their superiors, no one knew anything about the baby bun - age, gender, breed (they tried to say it was labeled as a "mini lop" and was 6 weeks old, but it looked like a dwarf hotot and about 4 weeks old or younger and who knows how long he's been there), no idea where it came from or anything.. 

So today I contacted a local rabbit rescue and sent them a photo of the baby bun. He had crusts in his eyes, they were somewhat bloodshot.. and he was very thin and frail. He had some mushy poos in his cage and from what I could see he had dried mucous encrusted with food pellet crumbs on his nose.

I KNOW  that buns weaned too young cannot develop a proper immune system from lack of their mothers milk, so I was sure this bun was sick andneeded antibiotics.

The rabbit rescue woman told me to get him and take care of him until tomorrow where she will pick him up. I offered to foster the bun and she was all for it but I'm afraid of getting attached.

I did, even though that's perpetuating the pet mills, I couldnt sit idly by and let this baby bunny die in there.

I have him all set up in a nice sized cage from one of my former buns. He is soooo tiny. He fell asleep in my arms and i thought he died! He's so frail!

But..anyway.. As I walked out I heard the one irresponsible employee say "Ok let's go get the rest of the rabbits from the back and put them out"

I went back in - they did. I think they have an entire infant litter - well, two very tiny ones and another that does seem older and properly weaned - being displayed and handled and ready to be sold to some irresponsible person. I didnt see any signs of infection in them (yet) but they were having a hard time eating... because of their size...probably this bunny's siblings.

I told the rabbit rescue and they said they probably didnt have enough money for them (they are $35 each).....

dunno what to do. beside myself. Wish I didn't find myself in sticky situations all the time!

Hi gang...

I don't know why this rescue group bought the bun. I offered to buy one of the two baby buns but instead she just went up to that store and bought one of the two, told me the other looked healthy enough, though too young. Out of the two left there after I bought the first one, she bought the brown and white one which seemed very frail. The one left there is bothering me. I don't know if she found out if they had others/more in the back, either. The one left there is in a cage with an older rabbit (which is better than it being alone like the one I have was...I guess) and is obviously my bunny's sibling (they look identical).  I feel bad for both, but obviously this sibling of my bun is toooooo young.

Every time I ask the rescue owner if I could get the remaining bun from there, she kind of doesn't give me an answer.

Should I contact somewhere else? APHIs? USDA? ASPCA? both? - I'm going to look into this now - your help would be awesome

The rabbit rescue said they are often flooding the store with complaints of abuse of all their animals and neglect.
I took photos on my phone of the two remaining babies (like I said the one was taken by the rabbit rescue...) I will post them tonight if I can figure out how - new phone. I really wish this rabbit rescue would get the remaining one... Even if I could help..and get the price down...or authorities involved.. but the rescue said they think he looks not as frail as the others. I just dont know because he is obviously my baby bun's sibling.

I did try to talk to the store about the health of the bun in terms of price negotiation and they were little children running the store. Like 15 years old at most. They referred me to the store manage who seems to be on the defense a lot. He said if it's sick they won't sell it to me at all! They would just put antibiotics in the water bottle... that ALL the bunnies drink out of!

Little Baby is doing good.. He sees our new family vet on Weds. I haven't decided on a permanent name yet. the vet "OK'd" crushing up the pellets but not milk yet. I had to go get alfalfa hay too (I usually use timothy). This vet, I researched real good - is an exotic pet vet that "specializes in and prefers" rabbits. It's called Town and Country Veterinary Hospital in Howland, Ohio (about 40 min from me - I live in sharpsville PA).

Let me know what you guys think....about the remaining little baby bun.

Good info Tipsy!  I found this link from the links you provided:

www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a1_petshoplaws_state.php

Those links should be VERY helpful. I'll read them in a min. 

This is how his nose looked *after* I cleaned it up

This is the smallest one, the rabbit rescue managed to tangle with the pet shop to get him... He is also a baby boy, and this is the only pic I have of him, cause she rescued him early this morning - she just uploaded it to her Facebook with her phone. He was very congested and is now on antibiotics. He fits inthe palm of her hand.

This is the third and final infant bun from the pet shop, who looks very much like my little boy. You can see why I feel they are siblings. I didn't get a chance to stay long enough at the shelter to find out what gender it was, but if I had to guess, probably a girl, considering these two were boys, but I of course could be wrong. Her eyes were especially ful of crud. Green crud. She is all cleaned up now. She is very timid. Again my fiance holding her.

These are her eye cruds... I tried to rub them off with a warm, wet Q-tip, but I didn't get it all. The rabbit rescue was able to though.

Oh trust me.... I'm working on this.

Like I said, *my job* now is to make sure this doesn't happen again. So, that means contacting animal welfare, and yes, going to the media. I already began contacting animal welfare

However I can't do anything until I have it confirmed by a veterinarian that these babies were in fact sold too young. Once I have that documentation ON PAPER things will move nicely, and I'm even going to shoot for getting my money back. When we paid for these bunnies we did it with intentions of getting that money back.....

The vet appointments are tomorrow in the evening. I'l let you know how it goes from there but most f all I need this on paper that the buns were too young.

Vet appointment went well! The vet is a crazy rabbit lady like me xD she "prefers" to see rabbits while the other vets have their own specialty. I LOVE this place! They have a dog specialist, cat, horse vet, rodent/aviaries vet and of course the rabbit vet!

She said that baby bun's (I think I might name him "Boon") approximate age as of right *now* is between 5 and 6 weeks, which would put him around 4 weeks when I got him, and 3 weeks or less when the pet store received him and his sibs from Florida.

I'm taking the copy of her documentation to the animal control tomorrow and they can take it from there with the pet store, plus I'm going to try to get my money back. She (the vet) said she can't comment on whether it's right or wrong on paper (but absolutely agrees with my standpoint on the matter...) only that she can document the age as of *right now*.

Phenom is a confirmed gIRL!!! So daddy is happy that she is stil his little girl :p and I am too.

When I told her about my incident with Beau she seemed really at odds but she said they do intubate rabbits and only use the gas....both things Beau's vet did not do RIP my Beau...

she said she wants to see the baby again in 6 weeks before we ever consider neutering him because he has a heart murmur... she said it's very mild and will likely go away as he gets older tho

She also told me to not clean Phenom's anal glands because it can cause further irritation? O.o

*binkies* I'm so glad I got validated...

*sigh* So today was a watse of time. I could not get ahold of the cruelty officer for the local humane society, and the rabbit rescue swears up and down that this officer won't do anything anyway (funny - in 2007 I was going to train for that same exact position in the humane society but instead fell ill with epilepsy)

My professors at my university do not know me on a very personal level - this is myfirst semester at this university. They will not comment.

I think my best bet is to call a lawyer, straight up, and ask him or one of his paralegals to research the laws regarding "unweaned" animals. Granted, the rabbit was technically "weaned" because he was (barely) chewing his food - but - the definition of unweaned, legally speaking is two very different things varying from state to State.

Here is what I will present to the lawyer that I confide in (they will only lend you so much of their time before they start charging you money for their advice) it is what Tipsy and others have recommended and I keep coming back 

to it in my research...

From
http://www.petstoreabuse.com/laws.html
(my state is PA)
"THE SALE OF UNWEANED ANIMALS
There are twenty-four states (AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, IL, IN, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, VA, WI) and D.C. which prohibit the sale of certain unweaned animals. Most apply to dogs and/or cats and require the animal to be at least 8 weeks old. (In Pennsylvania, dogs only have to be 7 weeks old to be imported into the state.)

Some states (CA, CO, IN, NH, NJ) and the District of Columbia also have laws regarding chickens, ducks, rabbits, goslings, and fowl - sometimes with an exception if they are sold in a group of twelve or more.

New Jersey prohibits anyone from selling rabbits, turtles, chicks, ducklings, other fowl, or chameleons under 2 months old if they fail to provide “proper” care for the animals. New Jersey has also prohibited the sale of ferrets under 8 weeks old and, in Colorado, it is illegal to sell guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits under four weeks old.

California is the first and only state to prohibit the sale of unweaned parrots. Weaning or 'hand raising' parrots is a very complicated and demanding process that should be left to experienced breeders. For more information, click here.

Many cities and counties also have regulations concerning the sale of unweaned animals. In Myrtle Beach, SC, "sales of unweaned, sick or diseased animals are prohibited". In Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska, it is "unlawful to sell an unweaned horse, dog, cat, ferret or bird"."


What do you guys think?

p.s. - The State the bunny was sold to me in is Pennsylvania (PA)

p.p.s - the brown and white bunny has a very congested upper respiratory infection but is on meds now (update from the rabbit rescue)

This will be in attempt to get my money back and they lose profit .. so will stay away from ordering or accepting baby bunnies in the future... :\