Found bunny – escapee? Wild?

[Madrhy]

We found a baby bunny in our yard this morning. He’s quite tame and came over to us so my husband scooped him up, we popped him in a cage and took him around the neighbours to try to find his owner but no luck (but at this time of year not many people home either). How can we tell if it really is an escapee from someone’s hutch and not a wild rabbit? We have a house bunny so we don’t want to bring him in, in case he is carrying something and makes our little guy sick but I also don’t want to let someone’s pet free again with all the dogs, cats, foxes and mozzies about… Help?

[mocha200]

Seems like a wild rabbit wouldn’t be that friendly. The way I know of to determine if it is wild or not is the way it looks! What does it look like?

[Madrhy]

It’s a pale caramel sort of colour with a white tail and patch on its back leg. It doesn’t look like a wild but is it possible a stray pet bred with a wild rabbit? Some across in the park don’t look like wild rabbits either. We’re going to quarantine him for a few days and try to find the owner, if we can’t I don’t know what we’ll do, my husband is adamant that he doesn’t want another rabbit, guess we’ll have to find him a new home, hopefully an indoor one!

[Madrhy]

Oops sorry, double post.

[Snowytoshi]

You should contact your local shelter, they’ll help with placement, and be able to determine if he’s wild or not.

[jerseygirl]

It doesn’t look like a wild but is it possible a stray pet bred with a wild rabbit?

Yes, in Australia & the UK that is possible. Though it sounds like you have a feral population of domestic across the road. Possible he comes from there but i would expect those to be more skittish. Also possible someone has “set free” their unwanted Christmas present.

[Madrhy]

Okay we put him in a spare hutch and gave him some food, water and a little box with some litter in it and he jumped straight in to the box to pee, that’s no wild rabbit! We’re keeping him away from our Beefa to be sure he doesn’t have anything contagious to pass on, any idea how long he needs to be quarantined? It looks perfectly healthy

[Madrhy]

Free double posts today!

[Madrhy]

I don’t think we have a local shelter… 

We’ve dropped flyers in letter boxes in the hopes that someone has just lost the poor little guy. I’ve posted on Facebook and a friend said she’d take him so we should be able to find a loving home for him if no-one claims him. 

[Snowytoshi]

If you can afford it, I’d suggest taking him to a vet. He may have parasites or something else that may not show right away.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hmmm….I would quarantine until you can get a vet exam and find out if he/she is fixed and healthy.

[Madrhy]

We were going to but then spoke to another vet that suggested quarantine for a few days while we find the owner. That’s exactly what they said, they can look and give them a clean bill of health but they could still have something that won’t show right away. We’ll have to just keep him in the garage so he’s not around our little guy but the light doesn’t even work out there so I guess we’ll put him in the outdoor hutch in the daytime, best we can do for him right now. Hopefully the owner shows up soon.

[Madrhy]

Apparently his name is Jaffa, his owner just picked him up. Apparently he’s been making his presence known around the house and marking but they know the outdoor enclosure isn’t working too well for him now so hopefully he’ll stay inside. We told her ours hasn’t marked once since he was desexed too so fingers crossed he’ll be do e when old enough and start behaving. Thanks for all the advice 

[jerseygirl]

Fingers crossed too. Well done finding them.

[jerseygirl]

Haha double post also.

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