Make it Chocolate. . .

It's time for my annual post on the joys (and realities) of owning a rabbit. Easter sees a huge bump in rabbit-buying by well-meaning but ignorant parents. The weeks just after Easter see a huge bump in the number of rabbits abandoned at shelters. You do the math.

Rabbits are wonderful animals to have around the house: they are highly intelligent, relatively neat (yes, they can easily be litter-trained), and very quiet. They don't bark at strangers, yowl for food, or need to be walked. They can be sweet daily companions: they love pats from their human, lick the ones they adore, and anyone who's ever seen a rabbit do a binky knows what rabbit joy looks lie.

But, rabbits are advanced pet-ownership.

Some quick facts:

-Rabbits' teeth are always growing. Always. They must chew on things to keep them filed down, and they will not just chew toys you provide for them. Rabbits will chew anything with an interesting texture, including: wires, books, plastic bags, shoes, the legs of tables and chairs, cardboard boxes, mail left lying about, even clothing. If you leave it near the ground where a rabbit can get it, expect it to be chewed. Every wire in my house is taped to the wall, out of harm's way. A house with a rabbit must be bunny-proofed.

-Rabbits need fresh greens and timothy hay to keep their bodies happy and healthy. A steady diet of pellets is fattening and not good for them. Fresh greens can get expensive, but they are the best, healthiest way to feed them.

-Rabbits have complex and often delicate digestion systems, and when they begin to go wrong they go wrong very fast. If a rabbit stops pooping, even for a few hours, and seems listless or lies hunched up in a corner, get them to the vet immediately. A rabbit with GI stasis, a common rabbit ailment where the intestinal tract stops, can die within hours. Exotic vets are not cheap, and a rabbit owner can look forward to spending thousands of dollars on their rabbit during its lifetime.

-Rabbits do not live happily in hutches or cages. They are quick-thinking and inquisitive and need a lot of stimulation, and unhappy, bored bunnies are destructive and moody. The happiest rabbits have the run of the house, like a cat or dog.

-A rabbit will live eight to ten years. Some live even longer. That means that buying a rabbit for yourself or your children is making a commitment for a decade of care, feeding, and love. This is not something that will be amusing for a year or two, and then disposable.

Please, please, please: if you are looking at that cute little bunny in the pet-store window, on sale in time for Easter Sunday, and your child is begging you to buy it, think twice. A real living, breathing rabbit is a creature with complex needs and feelings. Not a toy. Not something to be discarded when the novelty wears off. More rabbits die in shelters every year around this time, and many are simply abandoned outdoors on the erroneous belief that they will be fine in the park or on the streets. You would never buy a dog on a whim, so don't think a rabbit is an impulse-buy. Unless you're ready for the committment, pass that pet-store window and take your child to get a stuffed rabbit, or a chocolate one instead.

If you are ready to be become a rabbit-parent, consider getting your new companion at a shelter:

House Rabbit Society has links to shelters all over the country, and a lot of very good information on raising a happy rabbit. For those in the Chicago-area, think about adopting your bunny from Red Door Shelter.

I will never regret my decision to become a rabbit-mom twelve years ago. Alfalfa, Sebastian, and Viola have so enriched my life, and I hope many of you can find that kind of joy. But, only if you know what you're getting into.

Make Mine Chocolate!

My Viola and Sebastian were adopted from Red Door Animal Shelter. Viola was found outside, and Sebastian was surrendered.

Every year, pet stores around the country are flooded with rabbits in the Spring, hoping to capitalize on the scores of parents who think it's a good idea to get their kids real bunnies for Easter. They hop and flop and look fuzzy and cute, and parents and kids oooh and ahhh through the cages at them, plunking down $30 to bring home a piece of the holiday.

But, rabbits are not toys, and these are not stuffed animals.

After Easter, shelters are flooded with these "gifts", surrendered by parents who thought they could stick the animals in a cage in the corner and forget about them. Many of these rabbits are traumatized and eventually euthanized, shelters overcrowded and rabbits usually not as popular and adoptable as puppies and kittens. And, those are the lucky ones; many are simply released into the wild, under the false assumnption that an animal raised in captivity can somehow "take care of itself". These rabbits die of exposure, are killed by predators, or are struck by cars when they run terrified onto busy streets.

 A rabbit is an 8-10 year commitment, and they are just as much work as a dog. They require special vets that can care for exotic animals and need constant maintenance of teeth and claws and digestive tract. If kept in a pen it needs to be cleaned regularly, and they crave interaction and stimulation with their human and animal companions. They are lively and boistrous, but can also be nervous and excitable and startle easily. They chew everything, including power cables, and must be kept on a good diet of Timothy Hay and fresh greens to stay healthy. They have personalities, likes and dislikes, quirks, and they can be the most intelligent and loving of pets. But, they are not disposable.

My Alfalfa was from a pet store. I got her at Easter, but she was one of the lucky ones. I kept her long after the holiday.

This year, before thinking of buying that cute ball of fluff in the pet store window, think about spending the next 8 years with him or her as your bunny companion, and then head over to your nearest shelter and adopt a bunny waiting for a home from there. Rabbit-parents will tell you: it is totally worth it. But, if all you want is something cute and furry for your kids to play with, get a stuffed animal to put in the basket.

Some rabbit rescue foundations and shelters:

Red Door Animal Shelter

Make Mine Chocolate

The House Rabbit Society

ASPCA

An Easter-time request . . .

As Easter gets closer, lots of people are going top go into pet shops and see the cutest little bundles of fluff they've ever seen. They will be laying in groups, running and jumping about, grooming each other and making pieces of hay and lettuce disappear between incredibly precious little mouths. Parents will feel their children tug on their arms, crying, "Mommy! Mommy, look! It's the Easter bunny!" "Mommy, it's just like my stuffed bunny at home, except for real!" The parents will relent when they see the low prices of these tiny creatures, many taken from breeding mills when far too young and barely weaned, sold for as low as $10 or $15 each. They will take them home, and expect to have a cute little toy whose nose twitches.

Imagine the shock when they suddenly realize:

a) This creature is not a doll

b) It chews everything it can reach in order to file its teeth and process information about the object, ie: taste, texture, smell, etc.

c) It can be very anxious and high strung, especially around loud noises, new stimulus, being picked up and handled roughly, etc.

d) It poops and pees a lot (as a healthy rabbit should), and will not always have the tidiest litter habits if not trained properly.

These bunnies, brought home on a whim by people expecting a sedate, cute bundle of fur or a toy for their children, face a dreadful fate each year after the Easter novelty has worn off: if lucky, they are abandoned at shelters in droves, and if unlucky, they are simply released into the wild to a terror-filled existence.

People, if you find yourself gazing adoringly at that cute little bunny in the pet shop window, please be smart and get informed before you consider actually adding a rabbit to your family:

Binky Bunny Info

The House Rabbit Society

Rabbits are wonderful, loving animals, but they are not as easy and low-maintenance as owning a cat. They are not stuffed animals, and I recommend you educate yourself before bringing one home to you, your children, or your other pets.

If you do decide you want a rabbit, I highly recommend you get a bunny who needs a home, from a shelter.

List of some shelters, by state

Red Door Animal Shelter in Chicago, where I got my Viola

Read Birdchick's blog on the subject

I will always be glad I made the decision to get a rabbit in 2000; Alfalfa was my little sweetheart, in spite of the fact that she chewed and pooped on my world;) She left a hole in my heart when she passed away last year, and I went to Red Door a few months later and found Viola. I cannot live without rabbits in my life now: they are Advanced Pet-Ownership, but they are worth it!

Viola, in one of her more sedate moments

Isn't this mine? Alfalfa, near the end of her life, still chewing on everything;)