Hi, I’m new, my nick is Nelli

[Nelli]

I have been reading this forum for a long time now, and it seemed a nice place to join. I’m a proud owner of two rabbits, Nelli and Malla. They are sisters, from a litter of 5 females. I got them from a pet shop, which is the usual way we do it here in Finland where I live. They don’t have official papers, and they are mix breed, with lionhead and holland lop. My avatar is a picture of Nelli when she was just 3 months old. Now they are one year old. We haven’t spayed them (yet, not sure if we are going to do that or not), I know it’s recommended, but I’ve heard so many female bunnies dying from the operation or complications (a couple of them were said by the doctor to have died from fear), that I’m afraid to do it.

My rabbits, or our rabbits really (I have two daughters, ages 11 and 9), are very different from their personalities. Nelli is calm and likes to sleep or just lie down on soft surfaces. Malla on the other hand is active and loves to eat, although I guess because of all the hopping she is more slender than Nelli.They don’t like to be held. Nelli lets me to pick her up, Malla hates it so much she tries to run away. Anyway we try not to pick them up, only if it’s necessary for cutting nails etc. Because of the lionhead genes they have long fur now, actually their heads look like they have regular human hair! Both bunnies are really cute and if they feel like it, they allow us to pet them. They are not really afraid of us, I mean if we sit on the floor they come and jump on our legs, climb on our backs, etc. What they seem to love is when we do something in the room that requires moving stuff around. Then we actually have to be very careful not to step on them, because they hop around our feet and try to explore and jump on everything we put on the floor. The messier the better

My husband made them a wooden hideyhouse, and they also have cardboard houses, one with two levels. (Home made, since we can get lots of boxes for free.) They are litter trained, actually they were like it was natural for them to use the litter box. (In the pet shop they didn’t have a litter box, so I was really surprised they adopted the habit so quickly.) We do have a factory made cage for them, but it’s kept open all the time, and basically it’s used for the litter boxes and hay. I have made them their own area with fleece on the bottom and surrounded by a fence, where they have their hideyhouses, toys and the water dish and the food dish. I can close the fence if needed, but usually they are free in the room (which is quite big, so they have lots of space to run).

Before we got our bunnies I read a lot about them, especially the small kinds that we were planning to buy. My kids had been begging for a pet for a very long time, and of course I knew the pet was actually be my responsibility. What I didn’t know was how much I would grow to love the bunnies! We chose bunnies because my husband is quite allergic to cats and dogs. Our kids would have been satisfied with a hamster, but I’ve had a hamster myself before, and their short life span was really depressing. Also, I wanted to have a pet that we could let run around the house. And, needless to say, I’m so thrilled we got these two beautiful creatures. Just watching them living their lives is so rewarding. And it melts my heart when they run to me when they know they are getting their fresh veggies or their pellets. I think when (hopefully not in many years!) these two pass away, I will get new bunnies, but maybe that time I’ll try to find a shelter to buy them from, give a home to some abandoned bunny (or two).

Oh well, that text turned out to be a book… but if you have any questions, please ask! It’s great to be here

[sleepy538]

welcome!

it is sadly very common for unspayed females to die prematurely of uterine cancer. spaying by an experienced rabbit vet is the recommendation.

[Nelli]

Thanks!
Yes, I know about the cancer. Anyway, here they don’t really want to operate on a bunny under one year old, so I should think about it seriously now. Finding a vet that is specialized in rabbits and not only neutering but spaying, is kind of tough (did my research, yes). I have to think about it some more,

[tanlover14]

Welcome! I can’t wait to see pictures of your little girls. I think it’s so cute that they are sisters! Three of my four bunnies all came from the same litter also — two boys and a girl. I love the fact that they have been able to grow up together. I, like you, never realized I would ever love the bunnies we got like I do now. They are such joyful and amazing little creatures. My boyfriend and I fell into bunnies in a similar situation. We can’t have dogs and my boyfriend is allergic to cats. And we didn’t really want a guinea pig or hamster BUT then someone mentioned a rabbit. And that began it all! Now our home is full of four rabbits, ha!

I would also definitely look hard into getting your girls spayed. But if the death rate is high with some of the vets you have been looking into, I would rather not risk it either. But continue to search HARD for a good rabbit-savvy vet. Do you have rescues around you that you could ask? Sometimes rescues will be able to give you the name of their vet who does their neuters/spays. This could help you find one that has had experience with rabbits if he does all the rabbits at the rescue or shelter.

[Nelli]

Thank you! I have to get my pics from the camera uploaded on my computer, so I can post some more. But definitely, coming up I also love seeing everyone’s pics, of the bunnies and their living arrangements.

[Author]

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