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- This topic has 22sd replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 2 months ago by
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Hi all. 1st time bunny owner! 1st post.
Just bought a bunny and named her Honey
Is it worth getting her Neutered?
Also. We originally ha the whole cage layered with wood shavings however after browsing these forums we decided to just restrict them to the toilet tray in the corner – But still have hay around the cage. As well as in the feeder attatched to the side. Is this ok?
She seems to be getting the toilet idea. After a day she was weeing in the toilet only and now on day 3 she is pooing in there. with only the odd poo or little pile appearing elsewhere…. huge improvement still though!!
The bottle we got free with the cage does not seem to work. we weren’t sure at first then decided to give her a bowl and she annihilated it… Obviously was very thirsty, So we have just stuck with a bowl for water, bowl for pellets and the off bit of veg, and the hay feeder (+hay on the floor).
If anyone of you seasoned bunny veterans can give us any tips or any advice it would be greatly appreciated
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Hi Dan!
Welcome to the forum, she’s lovely. The name really suits her!First of all, how old is she?
For diet, Babies need unlimited pellets and hay and water, and you can begin introducing veg slowly at 3-4 months.
Adults should have 1/4 to 1/2 cup pellets per 6 lb of weight, unlimited hay, and water, and 2 cups of variety of chopped leafy greens per 6 lbs.How big is her cage? I notice that it’s a traditional store bought cage which isn’t ideal really. How much time does she get out of the cage? There are lots of great ideas in the habitat section for houses and toys for buns.
It’s a good idea to just have bedding in the litter tray, it can confuse them otherwise. What kind of bedding are you using? cedar and pine shavings are harmful, look for aspen, wood pellets, untreated shavings, or yesterday’s news cat litter. It’s really important to find and register at a rabbit savvy vet near you. The House Rabbit society has lists of good vets. It’s a good idea (if you haven’t already) to take her to a vet to get her a check up, check she’s a girl (often people are wrong!), get any vaccinations she may need (depends on where you live), and get her nails trimmed or whatever.
If you have a good vet who is experienced with rabbits, then you should have no worries getting her spayed. It is very important that you do get her spayed, it will improve her demeanor, litter box habits, and mean she could be bonded to another bun one day, but most importantly, unspayed females have an 80% chance of developing uterine cancer! So yes, definitely get her spayed. This can be expensive, so shop around for a good price, but make sure they are experienced with rabbits!
Welcome again, hope we can be helpful to you!
Enjoy your new bun – it’s an adventure! -
She is 11 weeks according to the guy at Pets At Home UK store – We are from England.
There is unlimited pellets and hay and water bowl is changed every day, So it’s all good on that front..
The cage is 93cm wide, 56cm deep and 43 cm high. We have bunny proofed the front room (Temporarily with random objects) And the cage is open whenever we are here. We both work random times so she does get a good run out.. BUT… I’m having a little project and have ordered a dog cage about the same width and depth, But twice as high to make her a house extension (triple the height) and there is a builders merchants across the road for wood sheets (any suggestion on type of wood?) so I can make new floors for it, cut out some bars at the top for stairwell access. I’m uber excited!! haha.
The wood shavings are Pets at Home own brand..Does not specify a type of wood, but does say it is rabbit safe, with Rabbit Safe pink dye, dust removed etc. etc. So I am inclined to trust as it is a reputable nationwide store. I will look into it though! I mean All of us in England thought we were buying beef from the big leading supermarkets and it turned out to be horse meat (google horse meat scandal!)!!! LOL.
We will be looking into going to a vet and getting her spayed in the future. Not just for any health reasons but if it makes her friendlier then happy days!
She is starting to get really social all ready.. tends to come and say hi and want to be lifted onto the sofa where she can’t quite get to yet!
I might put the bottle back in but worried that will confuzzle her? although I could watch and see what she prefers to use!
Thanks again for replies
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Always love seeing other UK members on here!
Whereabouts are you? I’m in London. Okay, so if she’s 11 weeks then she’s still a baby, but when you find a vet they’ll tell you what age and sex they think she is. Also good to check her health as they don’t take great care of their pets at Pets at Home.
You’re giving her the right diet as she’s a baby too, so all good there. I think making a three layered cage is a great idea!
And yeah, I think if they say they’re safe then it’s probably fine.It’s difficult to find rabbit savvy vets in the UK, we don’t really have the House Rabbit Society here. But we have the RWAF (Rabbit Welfare Association Fund) which is basically the same thing.
They have an extensive list of good rabbit vets, but you have to be a member to access it. I think it’s like £12 a year and they do a magazine with lots of helpful rabbit info every season which I enjoy, so it’s well worth the money. If I were you I’d join there and they can give you the bunny vets in your area. I don’t see why a water bottle would be confusing, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
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Welcome! Beautiful bunny! I’m pretty sure she’s a dutch (a tricolor dutch at that!) -they are very smart, she will get the hang of litter training!
Definitely you want to spay her, there is just a huge cancer risk in unspayed females, and the behaviour of a spayed female is much better! When she gets to about -oh 4-5 months you’ll see easily why you want her spayed! They turn into monsters as teenagers, but spaying fixes that
(pun intended!) As for habitats, check out the toy and habitat section on this forum for lots of great ideas on what will work for your home. And don’t worry, the cage isn’t a waste! You can use it for traveling, or as a ‘home base’ when she’s running free in your home.
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We will get her spayed I reckon.
As for the cage we have. that is going to be her ground floor
the dog cage will triple the height of it, and is the same Width and depth. So I’m going to cut a hole in the top, Sand down the edges, cut hole in bottom of cage tray, affix it on top, cut sheets of wood to make floors and stairs in between. Will definately post pictures of the work in progress on the habitat section, and as always would welcome ideas! -
I would really recommend getting her spayed she will be better with other buns (if you decide to get another) she wont be as territorial my bun she is not spayed but will be in a month but when new people come in she will chase them and jump on them. Then i think a bowl is better then the one that hang on the wall. how old is she because you don’t want too give her a lot of veggies she could get sick. if she is too young i give mine maybe about a little less than half a cup but when they get older you will have to give her probably a cup a day. I have a litter pan she goes both in their usually but she gets lazy and poos outside of it but i am working on that
I hope that helped Good Luck and by the way I your bun is very cute -
Hmm. Honey seems to be pooping outside of the toilet now
Do you think the fact there is hay all over the floor is a factor? Do you think limiting hay to the feeder is a better idea? leaving bare floors.Also. in the little covered bit there is a lot of hay to keep her warm, but she rarely poos there. Would hate to have the whole thing bare apart from ‘poop corner’. lol
What do people think?
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Hia! I’m from the UK too, and one of my buns was adopted from a Pets at Home branch as she couldnt be sold due to having 3 legs
Dont worry about their wood shavings etc, perfectly safe and I have used them since I got my first bunny nearly 10 years ago! Leave the floors bare just until she gets used to her wee and poo corner, because she’s so tinsy she fits perfectly in her litter tray and looks like she likes to nap in there! I had the same problem with one of mine, so I provided another nice comfy bed and got a small litter tray that she couldnt lie down in, and transferred all wee and poo into there. She got the idea!
Also in terms of getting her spayed – At 6 months of age I took my disabled bun Belle to be spayed (very high risk of uterine cancer if they’re left unspayed) and it turned out that her uterus was infact ALREADY pre cancerous at only 6 months! Vet said she’d have been dead within a few months if I hadn’t had her spayed, so please do!
She is gorgeous, congrats! xxx -
Thanks! my profile pic is actually my old baby Biscuit, who I had to have put to sleep 2 years ago at the ripe old age of 8 and a half!
These are my current 2 babies, both rescues, the harlequin lop is the 3 legged one
If you leave her hay in her hidey place and maybe in a hay rack if you have one, that’ll be more than enough
Once she’s litter trained (which shouldn’t take too long, and will be even easier once she’s spayed if you have trouble) you can put something soft down for her to snooze on as well as in her little hidey house with hay My two love having loads of hay in their dog bed, they like snoozing and munching at the same time, greedy pigs So I’m sure she’ll be very happy with that! I tried to put a towel down for Belle as I was worried about her post surgery paws getting sore from hard floor, but she just wee’d on it!! So left her with bare floor and she got the hang of it eventually
Good luck!! xx
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Thanks, he did very well!
In the last few months of his life I got up an hour early for 6th form every morning to make him porridge and spoon feed it to him … LOL. Now THAT is love
Thanks!
Yeah definitely, I got this stuff called ‘vet bed’ from a pet shop in Essex where I live – it’s made for dog and cat beds and is suuuuper fluffy and soft, but the base of it is made of this special material that, if there WERE to be an accident, it sucks the moisture through so the bunnies/cats/dogs dont get soaked
Can put it in the washing machine too, it’s brilliant!!
Haha I bet, I love getting creative but I have all the ideas and none of the skill lol!
Make sure you upload pics of the new habitat once you’re done, we love to see!! xx -
I have no idea! When I rescued Barney he’d been living under a tarpaulin in a TINY wooden hutch with no base on concrete bricks in someone’s garden … needless to say I was NOT pleased!!
Ahh I still have a hamster, I had one when I was little too, and then when I moved to uni I lasted 1 day with no pets (pre both my bunnies, but after biscuit died) and got my little hamster. He’s cute!
I’m sure she’ll be very spoilt and happy as the new member of your family!!!
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