Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter boxes

Litter training rabbits can really take a toll on whether families will allow a rabbit into their home. I, personally, feel that litter boxes aren’t discussed enough, especially with pet store companies selling tiny litter boxes that aren’t even large enough for a dwarf rabbit, but advertise it for a small to medium bunny.

Why Are Litter Boxes So Important?

If a rabbit wasn’t litter box trained, or didn’t have a litter box in general, it would be like a dog just constantly using the house flooring for a toilet because it couldn’t go in the backyard, or it doesn’t have a backyard.

Litter box trained rabbits are noted to live a happier, healthier, and longer life than rabbits without a litter box, and aren’t trained. This is because when a rabbit doesn’t have a “toilet” to use, they just go anywhere, which means they have the chance of stepping, laying, whatever, in it. This also means that the feces and urine are building up over time, which could attract bugs and cause many bug invasions, along with diseases that could potentially be carried by that bug. Don’t forget that the building up feces and urine could also build up on the rabbit’s fur, which would definitely cause many predicaments, including indoor flystrike.

I’d also like to stress the importance of keeping a rabbit’s area tidy. I just mentioned how urine and stools can attract different insects, but when you have these bugs trapped in the shelter containing the rabbit, the flies, mites, fleas, whatever, are also trapped, which means your rabbit is stuck with all of these insects that could cause plenty of unnecessary harm, all because you didn’t supply a litter box.

Litter boxes are very easily accessible, and there really isn’t an excuse to avoid giving an opportunity for a much more pleasant life by litter training a rabbit. Rabbits are excellent at learning new skills, and take it quite seriously, plus you’re adding years to your rabbit. These years that I’m expressing and stressing about are the years that you could add on to your rabbit’s life through preventing serious diseases from insects, preventing stress from the illnesses, helping the rabbit’s respiratory that is struggling from the smell, last but not least, the hygiene that is required for every rabbit to live an astounding life.

Think of rabbit care in a human’s perspective, humans need the hygiene, care, and products to live a healthy and beneficial life, so do rabbits. This is why they need litter boxes, it’s a rabbit product necessity for a great life, it encourages amazing hygiene, and allows the rabbit great care through keeping them more hygienic than what it would be without a good quality litter box, or a litter box in the first place.

Are Small Litter Boxes Bad?

Yes, small litter boxes are terrible for rabbits. Not only do they restrict movement and comfort, but the odds of your rabbit actually making the feces in the litter box is highly unlikely, especially if it’s crammed and undersized.

The biggest problem with small litter boxes, is the size itself, if it’s small, it’s too small! Small litter boxes will limit the rabbit’s movement in the box, make the rabbit uncomfortable, and most likely stick the feces to the rabbit’s back end, or the side of the box, definitely nothing you want.

What is the Problem With Pet Store Litter boxes That Are Made For Small Animals?

Rabbits aren’t really all that small of animals, especially when you consider their size compared to the “small animal” litter boxes, specifically advertised for rabbits and guinea pigs, even though they’re barely a decent size for the average guinea pig.

Small animal advertised litter boxes are NOT in any way large enough for a rabbit of any size, not to forget that the sides aren’t even sides, and the box itself will need daily cleaning. These litter boxes aren’t appropriately sized, and no rabbit owner should ever feel tricked when it comes to buying an advertised, “appropriately” sized litter box.

What Do I Recommend For Rabbit Litter Boxes?

Personally, as a rabbit owner and a person who enjoys researching rabbit care, now for three years, I feel that the best litter box for a mini & small to large sized rabbit would be any large sized cat litter box, with high sides, and a great width to allow a full 360 degree turn for your rabbit, with plenty of space and comfort.

The reasoning behind this is quite simple. A rabbit that is anywhere from a mini sized breed, to a large sized breed, that is able to spin a full 360 degrees in the litter box, with comfort and ease, will be willing to use the box. This should show the owner that the rabbit is comfortable with the size, and it fits well for the breed and size. For a small breed of rabbit, I would look for lower sides if they are very short, if they can jump just fine, and don’t struggle with hock issues, or arthritis, then you’re all set.

For any giant breed rabbit, I would recommend purchasing a large plastic tub that is commonly used for storage purposes, to be used as their litter box. Storage boxes will usually have very high sides, and an amazing area the work with. This allows a giant breed rabbit to be able to move appropriately, still in a comfortable manner.

If you find that the box is still too small, I would recommend looking into a full sized, covered, cat litter box base, just focusing on the base, this will ensure that the litter box itself is large enough for your not so little rabbit. If you would like to invest in a covered cat litter box for your rabbit, go right ahead.

Covered Litter Boxes?

Covered litter boxes are amazing for rabbits, especially for those who find joy in kicking the litter and hay everywhere. The cover will prohibit the rabbit’s access to shooting feces, litter, and hay across the enclosure, from one, simple, foot-flick. Covered litter boxes are also amazing for anyone who hosts plenty of gatherings, because the roof and sides of the box is enough to enclose and hide the rabbit’s feces.

Posting Dates and Times:

Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter Boxes: 9/3/2019: 5:25 P.M. Central Time (USA)
How to Form a Bond With a Newly Adopted Rabbit: 9/5/2019: 5:45 P.M. CT. (USA)
The Florida White Rabbit Breed: 9/7/2019: 4:00 P.M. Central Time, AKA CT., (USA)
Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter: 9/9/2019: 5:45 P.M. Central Time, (USA)
Is a Pair of Bunnies Right For You? For Everyone? 9/11/2019: 6:00 P.M. CT., (USA)

The Flemish Giant Rabbit Breed

The Flemish Giant rabbit breed is one of the most popular rabbit breeds by far, but from my experience, not many people out there really know the details behind this large breed. Despite the rabbit’s popularity, not many choose to own this rabbit, but why? If you’d like to look into adopting a Flemish Giant for yourself, or for a friend of yours, follow along to learn the basics of the Flemish Giant rabbit breed.

The History Behind the Flemish Giant Rabbit Breed:

The true history behind the origin of this rabbit breed still remains a mystery. Some researchers have come to believe that Flemish Giants originated from the Patagonian, or Stone rabbits, some may say both. Along with this confusion, other researchers have come to a conclusion that these giants originated from the Argentinian Patagonian rabbit.

As for the facts that are proven and reliable, we do have proof that these rabbits originated in the countries of Belgium and England. These rabbits were then transported to America in the 1890’s, to then be recognized frequently in livestock shows around the early 1900’s. The National Federation of Flemish Giant Rabbit Breeders, or the NFFGRB, came along in the year of 1915, the ARBA came into existence in 1924, for reference.

Because the National Federation of Flemish Giant Rabbit Breeders helped out the ARBA, they were taken in, to then become part of the American Rabbit Breeders Association. The Flemish Giant rabbit breed was then established as a true and recognizable breed in 1929, by the acceptance of the ARBA.

The Common Characteristics of Flemish Giants:

As for the overall appearance of this rabbit, Flemish Giants are known to have large and muscular bodies, along with a long, slender build. These rabbits definitely won’t look slender, but when you really think about it, they are very slender looking compared to their weight.

Flemish Giants’ ears are meant to be erect and quite long, the average length being about 5 inches from the base of the ear, to the tip. The rabbit’s head is just big enough to be fitting for the rabbit’s size. By the way, when I mention the Flemish Giants size and weight later in the post, please realize that when I say that they are particularly light for their length, it’s because the longest Flemish was 4 feet and 4 inches long, but only 49 pounds, which may seem heavy, but for that length, not really.

The coat of this rabbit breed tends to be short, dense, and slick. These rabbits’ coats aren’t all that hard to maintain, then main factor is the amount that needs to be maintained. The certified colors for the Flemish Giant rabbit breed are: sandy, fawn, light grey, steel grey, black, and blue (which is more of a grayish color with a tint of blue).

The American Rabbit Breeders Associations doesn’t certify “broken” colored Flemish Giants, also recognized as Flemish Giants with more than one color incorporated in their coat. In other words, to be a certified Flemish by ARBA standards, you must be one solid color, which has to be one of the six certified colors.

Common Personalities Found in Flemish Giants:

Flemish Giants, like many larger rabbits, are very well known to be energetic in a manageable way, and excruciatingly sweet, it’s insane. These rabbits are also very docile, which helps maintain the rabbit’s energy level, along with everything the rabbit has to lug around, its entire body.

These rabbits are amazing for anybody. Most giant breeds are only necessarily meant to be owned by very experienced rabbit owners, but these rabbits are so incredibly docile and sweet, that they work for any lifestyle.

*Despite how amazing these rabbits really are, if you don’t know that you have the money to spend on a rabbit, don’t try adopting a rabbit. The moment someone adopts a rabbit and can’t take care of it, they feed the rabbit improperly, and will usually re-home the rabbit with improper care, or just place them back in the adoption center, if not, on the side of a road. Even though rabbits carry many natural instincts and behaviors, that doesn’t mean they can survive in the wild. If wild rabbits struggle with living and thriving, how will a rabbit with no experience living out in the wild manage a life, surrounded by predators?

Sizing and Weight:

The overall sizing for this rabbit breed is no surprise. Flemish Giants, are indeed, giant sized rabbits. Flemish Giants are known to be extremely long, despite how much smaller they look when they just stand in place. Since giant is the largest sizing for a rabbit, this also means that they can be quite heavy, which I will go over next.

The weight for a healthy Flemish Giant averages anywhere from 9 to 14 pounds. Despite the lengths these rabbits can easily reach, Flemish Giants really aren’t all that heavy. By no means is this a light, small rabbit, but they are particularly light for their length.

*Please do realize that mixed breeds can vary the average weight of this rabbit breed. A pure bred Flemish Giant could weigh up to 22 pounds, and still have a healthy life, it really just has to do with the rabbit’s build. Also keep in mind that the longest rabbit in the world is a Flemish Giant named Darius, that weighs 49 pounds, just for reference. So please, consult with a vet if you are concerned for your rabbit’s health.

Common Medical Problems Found in This Breed:

There aren’t any true illnesses that are very widespread throughout Flemish Giants, but the main problem that I would look out for with such a large rabbit would be sore hocks. With the extra weight that this rabbit breed has to carry, more and more weight is being compressed onto the rabbit’s hind legs, which can easily resort to sore hocks.

Extra Care:

All I have to mention for extra care is the extra work needed during grooming sessions, and the space to be cleaned up after. Because these rabbits are so incredibly large, they need and incredibly large enclosure, whether this is an entire room to free range in, or the entire house, either way, cooping this rabbit breed up, or any rabbit breed up, is a horrible idea.

Please remember that finding rabbit products that work for this breed will most likely be a struggle. If I were to look for rabbit products for a Flemish Giant, I would go straight to the dog section, honestly, they weigh as much, if not more, than most dogs, and are longer than practically any dog laying completely flat.

Works Cited:

“Flemish Giant Rabbit Breed Information and Pictures.” Petguide, 20 Feb. 2019, https://www.petguide.com/breeds/rabbit/flemish-giant-rabbit/

Crone, Jack, “Darius the World’s Biggest Rabbit is Facing Competition From His Son” Daily Mail Online, 06 April, 2015, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3026731/The- beaster-bunnies-Darius-world-s-biggest-rabbit-weighs-four-stone-faces- competition-giant-rival-son-Jeff.html

Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this picture)

The rabbit in the thumbnail image is Darius, the longest rabbit rabbit.

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Posting Dates and Times:

The Flemish Giant Rabbit Breed: 9/1/2019: 4:15 P.M. Central Time (USA)
Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter Boxes: 9/3/2019: 5:25 P.M. Central Time (USA)
How to Form a Bond With a Newly Adopted Rabbit: 9/5/2019: 5:45 P.M. CT. (USA)
The Florida White Rabbit Breed: 9/7/2019: 4:00 P.M. Central Time, AKA CT., (USA)
Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter: 9/9/2019: 5:45 P.M. Central Time, (USA)

Materials Needed to Bond With a Rabbit

Since preparation is key for really anything related to rabbits, knowing what should be prepared for a bonding session with your rabbit is very important. Because of this, I will be going over what materials I feel you will need on hand to bond with your rabbit, along with recommendations and my favorite materials and products for rabbits for bonding sessions, not to forget the tips behind these products.

The Materials I Recommend and Where to Find Them:

The Materials I would recommend would be: Treats of some sort, preferably all natural, clothing that won’t attract rabbit fur, some agility course pieces, a clicker, or really any activity pieces.

Natural Treats: Natural treats are extremely easy to find, despite what you may or may not look for. For many rabbit owners, their first reaction would be to look for a packaged rabbit treat, but instead, I encourage any rabbit owner to use fruit for treats. This way, it’s so much easier to know what really is in the inside, not forget that it is so much cheaper, plus you can share!
Clothing That Won’t Attract Fur: The process of finding some sort of clothing that won’t attract, or show fur, is pretty hard. I find that grey athletic leggings, jeans, cotton shirts, and athletic sweatshirts aren’t all that bad. Check out my last bonding post from six days ago for more details. These clothing pieces should be found in any clothing store, if not, at sporting goods stores.
Agility Courses: Agility courses are very simple items that rabbits can really enjoy, but to buy them, they don’t seem all that enjoyable for the price. Because of this, finding different ways to make DIY agility courses would be best. You’re saving money, having fun in the process, and your rabbit is almost sure to love it.
A Clicker: This, as well, was mentioned in my last post. Finding a clicker for clicker training that isn’t overpriced can be tedious. The best way to save money with this is to use a pen and click it on and off.
Activity Pieces: Any other activity pieces can be new chew toys, new hideouts, fun accessories, different play stations, and more! I find that just rewarding a rabbit with these is great, and best of all, they’re extremely easy to DIY.

My Favorite Materials to Use When Bonding With a Rabbit:

Fruit: Very easy access, healthy, shareable, and cheap.
Clothing that won’t attract fur: Easy to find and access, can be cheap, minimizes fur across the entire house.
New toys: Very easy to make, easy to access in stores, can be cheap, great enrichment for any rabbit, can get a rabbit moving.
Food: Very easy access, should already be in the bunnies area, very motivating, etc.

Why I Recommend These Products:

These products are the most simplistic pieces that can do amazing wonders for your bond with your rabbit. I like to keep everything as simple as possible for you, and I feel that these are the easiest and most beneficial products for the entire process.

Fruit and food are so incredibly easy to find, especially since most, if not all families, will already have it in their house. Fruit is a great treat for rabbits, but the food I’m talking about is really just your rabbit’s food. Hand feeding rabbits their own food allows them to take in your scent and recognize you as a reliable person.

As for the clothing, it’s so easy to look in your closet, bins, dresser, whatever, and find clothing that won’t show, or attract, rabbit fur. The thing about rabbit fur is how fine it can become, along with how easily it sticks to all clothing, some more that the others. Personally, I feel that this is one of the most important steps, especially for anyone who lives with their family, who may or may not be bothered by a clump of fur stuck to your entire body.

Last but not least, new toys. Even though this may sound like one of the most tedious products/materials to get, it’s actually one of the easiest. Making homemade toys can be relaxing, enjoyable, and rewarding. I find that my rabbits are huge into chewing wood and cardboard, so I base my toy ideas off of that, it’s really what your rabbit prefers.

Why Is It Important to Prepare For a Bonding Session?

The preparation for anything with any animal is key, rabbits especially. With rabbits, they can be pretty unpredictable if you recently adopted them. This can cause some predicaments in a new rabbit and its owner.

Bonding sessions are no exception. Bonding with a new, or longer owned rabbit can be a struggle for anyone, that’s why I personally think that preparing for any situation is best. With all honesty, rabbits are amazing animals that get into a lot of trouble, but to avoid that, all you need to do is think ahead and prepare.

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From now on, I will be putting in little reminders at the end of my posts, instead of inputting an “outro.” The setup will be simply to remind my viewers when certain posts will be up, times, and more. If you find this helpful, please let me know, but until next time, continue to spread proper rabbit care!

Upcoming Posts and Their Posting Times:

Materials Needed to Bond With a Rabbit: 8/30/2019: 4:45 P.M. Central Time (USA)
The Flemish Giant Rabbit Breed: 9/1/2019: 4:15 P.M. Central Time (USA)
Rabbit Care Necessities: Litter Boxes: 9/3/2019: 5:25 P.M. Central Time (USA)
How to Form a Bond With a Newly Adopted Rabbit: 9/5/2019: 5:45 P.M. CT. (USA)
The Florida White Rabbit Breed: 9/7/2019: 4:00 P.M. Central Time, CT., (USA)

Rabbit Care Necessities: The Rabbit Care Haul

As a rabbit owner, the ginormous rabbit haul before you get your rabbit is probably the second most exciting thing, besides getting your rabbit. I, personally, enjoy shopping, especially when it’s for my pets. This time, I’ll be going over the different materials you’ll want to get, how to make the trip even more fun than it is, and how to select and detect the acceptable, and unacceptable products. (And more)

Stores and Shops to Go to:

For the different stores I’ll be listing and giving advice for, I’ll be going over actual stores, and online stores. Personally, I’d recommend going to an actual store, just because there are usually more options, cheaper prices, and of course, more fun. If you don’t find what you want in a store, then of course, you could resort to online stores, but I would go to an actual store first, then resort to online.

In Person:

Like I just mentioned, I would recommend to going to a store in person for rabbit materials, or really any materials. In store, there are usually more options, cheaper prices, and I find it more fun. This is the first resort if you were to take my recommendations.

Petco: Be cautious of what you choose. They care more for the sale, not exactly the facts.
Petsmart: Same as Petco, be aware.
Dr. Foster and Smith: They know their facts, feel free to ask questions.
Joann’s: You’re just there for bedding so, there isn’t much to ask.
Hardware Stores: Not much to ask besides where the different litter options are.
Any other pet stores: Just be aware of what is and isn’t safe for a rabbit.

Online:

Online would be my second resort of choice. This is only because I find that getting out of the house, getting a bit of exercise, and shopping with other animal lovers around is just so much better. If you can’t find what you would like in store, then online would be the way to go, just make sure to give your eyes a break when you’re on electronics ;).

Pet store websites: Yet again, be cautious of the products
Binky Bunny: They know what they’re doing, you can trust them
Dr. Foster and Smith: Again, they know their facts
Small Pet Select: They REALLY know their facts
Bunny Supply Co.: A great site with great products, just know your facts, just in case. (They do seem very trustworthy though)
Rabbit Youtubers’ Online Stores (101Rabbits, StormyRabbits, Etc.): Extremely trustworthy

Materials to Put on the Shopping List:

The following items that I will be listing will be in categories, the categories being: Food, Bedding, Litter/Litter boxes, Habitat, and Miscellaneous.

Food:

Timothy Hay (Adult Rabbits)
Veggies
Rabbit Safe Pellets That Contain Healthy Ingredients (Optional)

Treats:

All Natural Treats
One Ingredient
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Bedding:

Fleece
Towels (Old towels)
Foam Mats
Rugs

Litter and Litter boxes

Litter of Choice: Wood stove Pellets, Horse stall Pellets (My favorite), Yesterday’s News, Feline Pine, Etc.
Large Cat Litter box WITHOUT any sort of mesh, wire, etc.
- High sides work best
- Low sides for seniors
  - Can be cut down if necessary

Habitat:

Water Bowl
- Large enough for at least three quarters of a glass of water
- Changed 1-3 times a day
Exercise pen
- At least three feet tall
Hidey House
- Can be made out of a cardboard box
Hay Rack
- Very easy to DIY

Miscellaneous:

Cat Nail Clippers
Rabbit Grooming Brush
- Can be a DIY
  - All you need is a dog flea comb with large widths between the metal bristles that allow a cut rubber band to pass through.
Carrier
At Home Emergency Kit
- Gauze
- Baby Food
- Critical Care
- Syringe
- Blood Clotting
- Antiseptic
- Pedialite
- The Container itself

Making the Trip Even More Fun:

As a big shopper, the trip itself is already exhilarating and enjoyable, but for those out there that aren’t big into shopping, this section will help you out so that you aren’t complaining about how bored and annoyed you are, the average shopper, I know.

Look at other items, despite the fact that you have things that you need for your rabbit, it’s still amazingly enjoyable to look through and buy the unnecessary items too.
Look through the other animal items, because if you’re like me, you’ll find a way to make other animals’ items work for a rabbit.
Look through all of the fun accessory items and the toys, really, please do, all of the exciting and adorable additives will be worth it when you get your rabbit.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Products: What to Look For…

This section is quite easy to interpret, but I would still like to incorporate how important it is to look at ingredients and the smallest little hints to interpret whether the product should be safe for a rabbit or not.

What to Look For:

What I prefer to do when I’m looking at a rabbit product, most likely food, is too look for what shouldn’t be in it. This way, the moment I find something that I wouldn’t want my rabbit in access of, I can immediately avoid that product, this way, you’ll save more time, more money, and prevent the stress of realizing how bad of a product you bought.

This is the same with toys. When looking for safe rabbit toys, avoid cloth toys to prohibit GI problems. Otherwise, what I will usually look to avoid in a rabbit toy would be corn of any sort, husk, artificial flavors, artificial colors, etc. These are the different additives that can potentially be very dangerous to rabbits, despite the fact that they like these materials most of the time, but please, avoid them.

These products will usually will have some sort of hidden description on the packaging. The hidden part is to prohibit lack sales, which shouldn’t be the case, but all that producers care about are the sales, not the thought or healthiness, at least this is the case for the usual chain pet stores, not exactly for other stores.

Acceptable:

Honestly, anything that isn’t unacceptable, should be okay for your rabbit. Please keep an open mind and use your brain and common sense. If rabbits can’t have corn husks, why would they be able to have corn? Plus, I have made a post on that subject.

Look for timothy hay, natural flavors, natural ingredients, one ingredient, etc. These are the main eye-catchers for a great quality rabbit product. Really any food with a small list of ingredients is a real eye-catcher.

Unacceptable:

Like I mentioned above, the different materials to avoid can be extremely hazardous, but so are the ingredients in some rabbit food too:

Food:

Food-wise, the additives and ingredients to avoid would be:

Corn
Added Sugars
Molasses
Wheat
Oils
Artificial Colors and Flavors
Any food that isn’t considered “safe” for a rabbit

Toys:

Like I mentioned before, the materials to avoid in rabbit toys would be:

Cloth and fabric chews
Treated wood
Artificially flavored chews
Corn or corn husk (anything corn)
Artificial colors

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Thank you so much for coming again to this post. If you found this post informational, please give this post a star and share this post with your family and friends. I post every other day, so if you would be willing to come back again then, that would be great. Until next time, continue to spread proper rabbit care, and I’ll talk to you soon.

The English Spot Rabbit Breed

Despite the fact that this is one of the oldest breeds of rabbits, I feel like this breed isn’t really mentioned all that much. I personally, never knew that this was a breed, but now that I think about it, I’ve seen multiple rabbits like this. To catch you up on what you may, or may not have known about this breed, I will be going over the basics of this breed, including the history, size, personality, and more!

The History Behind the English Spot Rabbit Breed:

Like I have mentioned, this happens to be one of the oldest rabbit breeds, dating back to the mid 19th century, or the mid 1800’s. The reasoning behind this breed was simple, this breed was meant to be bred for show purposes, like many other rabbits. The main thing was that rabbit shows weren’t really known or important at this time, the rabbit meat industry was though.

There are thoughts that the English Spot had originated from the Giant Papillon, but others could argue that the English Spot came from the English Butterfly, also known as the Checkered Giant.

During the year of 1910, the English Spot was transported to North America, but 14 years, later, the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association recognized this rabbit to be a true breed. It was the year of 1924, not 1922, that the English Spot rabbit breed was accepted, I checked on the ARBA’s website because the site, Petguide, that I use said 12 years later, when it was saying a range from 1910 to 1924, it was a typo.

Because the ARBA, the American Rabbit Breeders’ Association, accepted the English Spot as a rabbit breed, the American English Spot Rabbit Club was established, the same year that the ARBA accepted the breed.

The Common Characteristics of English Spots:

The English Spot rabbit is pretty straight forward. The ears are very pointed and vertical, and the back is very arched, but in a smooth and rounded manner. The legs of this rabbit are very short by looks, but in reality, their legs are long, just like how all rabbit’s legs are longer than they look.

The English Spot’s name is quite revealing. The body of the rabbit is covered in spots, how surprising, I know. The English Spot’s fur with be pretty dense, short, and smooth. When this rabbit sheds, there really won’t be too much to look for. Even though this rabbit doesn’t shed all that much fur, they still need regular grooming during this time. With this being said, shedding isn’t bad for this breed. You will still see fur everywhere, but not giant clumps sticking to every inch of furniture and clothing like you would with a different rabbit breed, instead, you may notice: Clumps of fur in corners, Thin fur on your clothing, etc., but nothing to the extent of other rabbit breeds.

There are multiple different colors that are official and accepted by the ARBA, like most, if not all rabbit breeds. The colors for the English Spot breed include: Black, blue, chocolate, gold, and tortoise for the the accepted colors of English Spots. The markings of this breed are pretty distinctive as well. These markings include: Nose Markings: Butterfly, Eyes: Circles, Cheeks: Spots, Ears: Colored, Back: “Herringbone”, and the Body: Chains of Spots.

Common Personalities Found in English Spots:

English Spot rabbits are very energetic, but in a controllable manner. They are great with affection and do amazing with practically anyone, even with young children. These rabbits are know to have a different, almost special personality. These aren’t your typical rabbits, yet they still are. They have this little spark in them that you won’t find in any other rabbit, in my opinion, all rabbits have their little spark, but for this breed, it’s prominent. Despite their unique personality, that could vary from rabbit to rabbit, and breed to breed. These rabbits are amazing for almost anybody in any situation, as long as the rabbit’s owner is able to manage the expenses, and they know the proper care.

Sizing and Weight:

The sizing of this rabbit isn’t all that special, which kind of makes this rabbit breed special. English Spot rabbits are considered medium sized rabbits, which are great sizes for families that enjoy owning rabbits, the rabbit isn’t too large, or too small. I personally feel that if you are going to have a rabbit and you have a family with small children, a medium sized rabbit breed should be considered first and foremost.

The average weight of a healthy English Spot should be anywhere from 5 to 8 pounds. This, like many other medium sized rabbits, is a very sustainable and easy weight to deal with, making this rabbit great for families. I’ve mentioned this before, but I believe that a medium sized rabbit with a medium weight is just the best for families, and really anyone.

This may be biased because both rabbits I own are considered medium sized rabbits, and weigh less, or in the weight range of this rabbit breed (English Spot). They are amazing bunnies and they did amazing with my two and seven year old step-nieces. If you ever want extra advice on finding the right rabbit for you, leave a comment below, or dm me on Instagram, which will be listed below.

Common Medical Problems Found in This Breed:

There aren’t any common medical problems that are very well known for this breed. Even though there many be some illnesses found throughout almost all rabbits contained in this breed, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the same for another breed. This being said again, medium sized rabbits aren’t known to struggle with common medical problems from my research, knowledge, and experience with them.

Extra Care:

This breed doesn’t contain any extra care, but that doesn’t mean that they are “low maintenance” animals like Petguide says. Just because a rabbit breed doesn’t need extra care, doesn’t mean that they are “low maintenance.” If you want a low maintenance animal, get a betta fish, not a rabbit.

Works Cited:

“English Spot Rabbit Breed Information and Pictures.” PetGuide, 21 Oct. 2017, www.petguide.com/breeds/rabbit/english-spot-rabbit/.

“National Specialty Clubs.” ARBA, 1 Aug. 2019, arba.net/national-specialty-clubs/.

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Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this picture)

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Thank you for coming to this post. I would appreciate it if you would share this post with your family and friends, and give this post a like (a star) if you enjoyed it. I’m sorry for all of the ranting about the medium sized rabbits and the “low maintenance” subjects, but when I want a point to get across, I rant, a lot, but it works.

Please come back every other day anywhere from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. Central Time for a new post. Feel free to come later if you need to, it’s just that my posts come out anywhere from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. Central Time, (USA).

If you would like to contact me, feel free to leave a comment or dm me on Instagram @hannah_blockhead. (There is a meaning behind the blockhead part of my Instagram username, and it isn’t in a negative way for anyone who may be unaware) I plan to make an Instagram account just for Ollie and Luna, so stick around for that information, it’ll be coming soon, most likely today.

Preparing For a Bonding Session: You and Your Rabbit

Having an amazingly strong bond with a rabbit can come very smooth, or extremely rough. I’m here to help you bond with your rabbit, and to make the process a breeze. Today, I’ll be going over the preparation steps to bonding with your rabbit. If you don’t have a rabbit yet, or you already do, and you would like to know more about finding the right space for your rabbit, click this link: Rabbit Care Necessities: The Room

Step 1: Materials

The first, and probably most important step, would be the materials you feel, may, or do need. The materials needed for each person and rabbit will vary. For some rabbit owners, the treats they use could vary from mine, or they might use a different bonding method, either way, these rabbit owners have the materials they do, or don’t need.

To get ready to go and gather these materials, make a shopping list of different bonding necessities, along with the additives and fun items that you feel that not only you, but your rabbit may enjoy. The process of making shopping lists for some people is annoying and stressful, even though some rabbit owners, like me, find it extremely relaxing and enjoyable. If you happen to hate shopping, and also hate making the lists for the trip, here are some tips to make the process so much more enjoyable.

Remember that this is for you, and your rabbit. Think of all of the amazing things that will come out of doing this shopping trip, you’ll have a happy bunny, an affectionate bunny, last but not least, a happy owner.
Remind yourself that this is for the good of not only you, but also your rabbit. When you do bonding sessions, you’re obviously creating a stronger bond, but you’re spending time with a sweet little animal that you have the privilege to have. Not many rabbit lovers are actually able to own a rabbit, let alone see and pet a rabbit for fun. Honestly, you should be so incredibly grateful for this amazing gift of owning a rabbit, so make the most of the time that you have with your bunny. Honestly, spoil this little bunny like you haven’t spoiled them before, but still make sure that you are keeping them healthy and safe in the process :). Having a positive mindset, even though the sessions can be hard, but once you get going, and you start to feel the bond coming on, you won’t ever want to let go of your little fluffy-tailed bunny.
Be confident in what you’re doing. Wherever you end up going for rabbit supplies, I can almost guarantee that there is either another rabbit owner there at that point of time, or there has, or will be sometime. There are so many more rabbit owners than you could ever imagine. One of the times when I went to a hardware store for litter, the woman, who was the cashier, asked us is we owned rabbits. We were confused of how she knew, until I realized that after we had answered that it wasn’t for farm use, she could tell that it was for a house pet of some sort. It turns out, that woman, who was our cashier, owns her own rabbit(s) and uses the same litter. You never know who you will run into, but trust me, I’m sure that someday, you’ll happen to run into a rabbit owner, I can almost guarantee it.

Some different materials that I would personally look into buying or having right away would be:

Fruit: Whether you just want to have some good old fruit to share with your bunny, or you want to make them into treats, fruit is an amazing option for treats. Fruit is very high in natural sugars, which is great for humans, but not always for small animals or rabbits. Natural sugar, for rabbits, is the equivalent to added sugars for us, it isn’t that great for us.
A Clicker of some sort: If you would like to start with clicker training right away, I would recommend having a clicker of some sort ready. It’s a great idea to get your rabbit ready and used to the clicker as soon as possible if you would like to do a lot of clicker training with your rabbit. This way, you’re allowing your rabbit to get used to you, and you are giving them treats, which gives them a good vibe that is shared when the rabbit is around the owner.
Agility obstacle course: This is an amazing way to not only get your rabbit moving, but to bond at the same time. Rabbits love the activity and enrichment of moving around, learning new tricks, and of course, earning treats.
Clothing that won’t attract rabbit fur: This is essential for anytime that you pay a visit with your rabbit, if you plan to go out and about later, if not, I really wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t recommend wearing fleece, flannel, black clothing, or very fuzzy clothing near your bunnies. All of the clothing, besides the fuzzy clothing, will seriously attract rabbit fur, the fuzzy clothing will attract hay. (Messed That one up in my thumbnail image)

Step 2: Plan

The next step to the process would be your plan of what you will be doing with your rabbit. Whether you plan to just lay on the ground and let them interact with you, or if you plan to spoil them with treats and allow them to get used to you, here are some different options that I would recommend for a newly adopted rabbit’s first bonding session:

Laying on the Ground: This is the most simplistic way to bonding with a rabbit. You pretty much just lay on the ground, let the rabbit come to you, sniff you, and you can give an occasional treat.
Giving Treats: Giving occasional treats to your rabbit as you spend time by them is a great way for them to get used to your scent, and your overall personality, and actions.
Clicker Training: Clicker training is a much longer process that I would recommend for more experienced rabbit owners. It is a very simple process, but making sure that your rabbit trusts you enough before hand is the key to it all.
Agility: Agility is great for any rabbit owner, even though clicker training can be contributed, but you don’t have to include it if you don’t want to. Agility is an amazing way to enrich your rabbit’s natural lifestyle, along with having a good time. Clicker training and agility sessions should be kept short for the sake of your rabbit. Rabbit’s have very short attention spans, and shouldn’t be forced to do something that is meant to be fun, but instead, is being turned into work.
Petting & Handling your rabbit: While handling your rabbit, you’ll have to be extremely careful, but also decently experienced with doing so. Doing plenty of research before handling your rabbit would be best, whether you’re experienced or not, a time of refreshment could really help. As for petting your rabbit, being gentle and soft is the best way to pet your rabbit, especially if they aren’t used to you.

Step 3: Setup

To then become a little more prepared for the overall process of bonding with your rabbit, setting up the entire area and format is key. The process to this is:

Having your materials ready and prepared. If you would like to do DIY treats for your rabbits, I would already have those done, and I would recommend introducing them to your rabbit, just to make they actually like them, because some rabbits can be extremely picky.
Have your clicker device ready, along with the treats, if you plan to start clicker training. If you don’t feel like buying a designated clicker, you can simply just use a pen and use the click from the pen itself to be the clicker.
If you would like to do agility, I would recommend having all of the obstacles and trick ideas ready to go, along with a clicker, assuming that you will be using clicker training as a reward, along with the treat of your rabbit’s choice.
If you just want to lay on the ground, all I would recommend would be wearing an outfit that won’t attract rabbit fur, along with the rabbit treats of choice.
Last but not least, if you plan to handle your rabbit, make sure to have treats on hand to give good reinforcement during the process of handling your rabbit. Getting your rabbit used to handling as soon as possible is key to having a smooth process in case of an emergency.

Step 4: Look For Tips

Looking for tips from other sources is a great idea. Even though many sources only want you to look at their facts, I don’t believe that should be the way that learning should be. When you look at multiple sources, you’re able to back up different facts, due to the fact that there are multiple reliable sources saying the same thing. If you happen to find a source that goes against a fact, keep looking.

As for bonding tips, some greats YouTubers would be LennontheBunny, StormyRabbits, and 101Rabbits. These are the three Youtubers that I feel are best with bonding with their rabbits, along with the content and facts, which always seem to be one point.

As for articles, the American Rabbit Association should have bonding and handling information, otherwise other rabbit bloggers could help. BinkyBunny.com and The House Rabbit Society are other amazing article options.

Step 5: Prepare

The preparation is pretty much completely done if you did all of these steps. Any other things to consider would be extra research, looking ahead into other steps (so keep an eye out for my bonding advice posts which are every six days), and to get advice, tips, research topics, and overall facts from multiple sources. Whether you like watching videos, or you want to read an article, it’s good to have facts to back up each other.

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Thank you so much for all of the love and support. If you happened to enjoy this post, leave a like, I would really appreciate the feedback. Please come back every other day for a new post, but until next time, continue to spread proper rabbit care (and spoil your little fluffy bunny 🐇 ), hope to talk to you again!

Rabbit Care Necessities: The Room

To start off the chapter of Rabbit Care Necessities, the room of which the rabbit will go in, at least for me, was the first thing I had to figure out before anything else. Because it can be so incredibly annoying to figure out where your rabbit can go in your house, and where it can’t, and what should, and doesn’t need to be bunny-proofed, I would like to go over the basics.

Step 1: Discuss With Your Family

The 1st, and most important step is to discuss your thoughts with your family. By now, I would assume that you have already told your family that you want a rabbit, that you have done your research, and that you’re ready for the responsibilities, if not, do it as soon as possible, and make sure you take those three steps before continuing. If you don’t take those three steps before you go on with the rest of the process, you’ll find yourself stuck and lost in what you thought was going to be an easy process, it isn’t.

The best way that I found to talk to your family about owning a rabbit is when you’re in the car with one, or both, of your parents. This is a nice, private time to talk about you have been thinking about. This is what I’ve found easiest since your parent(s) are focused on the road, but are still listening in, this way, you don’t feel all that pressured if you happen to be nervous of their reaction. That being said, you really shouldn’t feel nervous about talking to your family. They provide your materials, and your life, to the point that I would expect that you would have good enough of a bond with one of your parents to at least talk to them.

Once you actually get on to talking to your parent/guardian, I would recommend the following:

Considering the positives and negatives of all of the different options
Coming up with multiple options
And accepting your family’s concerns

This all ties in to come to the conclusion of how important it is to consider everything. If you think of a negative side of a location that you really want your rabbit in, don’t avoid it, because it will come back to you later, and trust me, your family will not be pleased the moment that they realize they missed a needed discussion, and that you had tricked them into letting your rabbit stay in that area.

Another important consideration is enforcing the positives. Even though you should still mention the negatives to avoid as many future conflicts, if your parents don’t want a rabbit, you will need to enforce as many positives as possible, including the great housing options that work for you, and your family.

With this being done, I would like to recommend writing down the different options and rate them based off of the amounts of positives and negatives. This way, you will know what your family thinks is best, and what you may want.

As for speaking to siblings about getting a rabbit, I feel that siblings are much more supportive of getting the rabbit than the parents, but they kind of adjust to it so quickly that it doesn’t really phase them. All in all, just make sure to keep them updated and aware of everything, and keep them on the positive side! In my situation, my sister was always on my side during this process, mainly because she was the one who got me into wanting a rabbit.

If you happen to live by yourself, this step will be very simple for you, you can either chose to skip it, or you could talk to yourself, which means you still get to skip this step, but you’ll still want to do the ratings for the different options to make the next step is as easy and thoughtful as possible.

Step 2: Make the Decision

The next step forward would be to make a firm decision, with your family, of where the rabbit will be staying, whether it’s in a designated room, if the rabbit will be in your room, or if the rabbit will be free-roaming. These would be the options that I would give. There shouldn’t be anything with caging up your rabbit, they naturally shouldn’t be caged, whether your family wants the rabbit caged or not, they should have access to a play area at all times.

In my case, and many other cases as well, I have found that parents and family members only want to go by the way that rabbits USED to be taken care of. The way that rabbits were kept, caged, and neglected, should never be the way that rabbits should be kept, especially with the facts we now know today.

Based off of the results from the different “scores” that each room or area that was given an option, this is where, I, personally, would make the decision based off of. From here, I would get into contact with my parents/guardians, and family, preferably face-to-face, to talk about the future location of which your rabbit will be staying. Once the decision is made, and all of your family members have agreed, you’re able to move on to the next step.

This step could be done solo if you live in your own house, or in an apartment, etc. In other words, if you live by yourself, all you would have to do is find what would work best with you, and based off of the results, you should be able to find the best option.

Step 3: Plan Out the Area

Now that your family has agreed on the area that you would like to keep your rabbit, the next step, if you haven’t already at this point, is to start planning out your rabbit’s area, along with the setup.

The fist step to this would be drawing the borders to the rabbit’s area on a piece of paper, this way, you can add in the different wall and areas, along with furniture that may or may not get in the way of the setup, this way, you can make arrangement ideas before you make the arrangements. Without this, the luck of making an arrangement that is sure to work, but doesn’t, would be in my manner. Because of this, you would end up having to redo everything, yeah, that would be my case without this planning, at least for me.

From here, I would show your plan to your family, to then figure out adjustments and options that will work for everyone, so that you don’t mess up as much with what you thought everyone was okay with, but wasn’t, and on, and on.

This is where a lot of the action comes in. At this point, you should have made up a plan of where the rabbit will stay, and the area, along with any furniture changes that will be taking place.

The changes to record would be:

New items being put in
Where the new items will go
Whether any past furniture will be moved
What will an won’t stay in the same place
Past furniture’s new position

Step 4: Clean Up the Entire Area

The most activity-based part of this process, is cleaning up the entire area of where your rabbit will be staying. Whether you plan to get your rabbit in a week, a month, or 6 months, do it as soon as possible, because the more you procrastinate, the worse the future cleaning will be. The following steps I took to clean my bunnies’ area were:

Sweep and dust everything in sight. Whether your rabbit is getting a room to itself, or not, please do not ignore this step. Even if your rabbit is going to be free roamed, this gives your family an amazing opportunity to deep clean the entire house. The best time to do this is when you’re in the process of relocating furniture.
Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. Vacuum like you’ve never vacuumed before because trust me, more dust will pop out of nowhere after sweeping and dusting. The more that can be disposed of, the better.
Disinfect with a natural disinfectant. The disinfectant that I would recommend would be a 50/50 water and vinegar spray. Not only is this spray an extremely easy access disinfectant, this is also a room deodorizer, which can prohibit territory problems with a newly brought home rabbit, that just wants to feel comfortable in its new environment.
Replace the newly cleaned furniture in its new spot. After a deep clean, you will want to place the furniture in its new position if it is being moved around. This way, you can get the furniture moved, and in its spot, as soon as possible, with less stress.

Extra steps to cleaning your rabbit’s area could include washing the floors thoroughly, painting the walls a different color, and/or washing the walls. This just gives the area a nicer touch, with great timing, and in a great manner.

Please keep in mind that this cleaning is what was needed for my rabbits’ area, and for my rabbits’ needs. This may not be the right order, cleaning method, or overall task for you, but this was just to give an idea of what I would recommend.

Step 5: Plan Out Playtime Areas

Using the same steps to figure out the room/area your rabbit will be living in, I would recommend looking into where you would like to bring your rabbit for playtime. This way, if your were to run into a predicament and you have to move your rabbit out of its area, you will know where the best place is to bring your rabbit.

With this, if you have found an area that would work for your rabbit’s playtime, please bring them to that area if you haven’t already. This way, your rabbit will become more and more used to the transit and process, along with the overall area when you need to bring your rabbit there. This will make moving your rabbit into that area so much smoother for any emergency, or task, needed in your rabbit’s area.

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Thank you so much for coming back again for this post. If the information was helpful, please leave a like and share this post with your friends and family who are in the process of preparing for owning a rabbit. I appreciate all of the support. Please come back every other day for a new post, but until then, continue to spread proper rabbit care!

Schedule: This post: today, in two days: a rabbit bonding post, and in four days: a breed post

The English Lop Rabbit Breed

The English Lop rabbit breed is a commonly known rabbit from its defined characteristics, but what about its personality? Suiting a rabbit to a human’s needs can be difficult, but today, I’ll be describing and explaining the English Lop’s personality, history, and more!

The History Behind the English Lop:

Though some believe that the English Lop originated in Africa, the first English Lops recorded were found in England. The variety of these rabbit came around in the mid 1800’s, to then be shipped to America.

Back around this time, rabbit breeders used to harm these rabbits through waxing and stretching these rabbit’s ears, just to make them look longer. Now, this could be considered animal abuse, and improper care and treatment.

Luckily for these rabbits, breeders and owners wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing. We care way too much for our rabbits to put them through any harm for any reason. These rabbits, and any other rabbits, don’t deserve this torture that they were put through for their looks, that’s like beating up a human to try to make them look better, don’t try it, you should already know that it won’t work.

The Common Characteristics of English Lops:

This rabbit breed is very distinctive from its extremely long ears. These Lops can have ears that are long enough to touch the ground, some are long enough that the rabbit can actually step on them. English Lops are like the rabbit version of Basset Hounds, just without the droopy eyes, and of course, they have the rest of these characteristics:

English lops have very large, rounded heads, along with the very large and long ears, which should be rounded at the end. English Lops have this look of always standing up straight, which should be more defined as they grow to be an adult.

As for this rabbit breed’s fur, it should be soft, decently short, and well maintained. The colors for this rabbit breed are: black and orange coloration, also known as fawn, agouti, or opal, chinchilla, red-eyed-whites, along with black and blue torts.

Common Personalities Found in English Lops:

To blend well with this rabbit’s soft and forgiving looks, this rabbit breed is extremely sweet and docile. Because of this, this rabbit breed is amazing for rabbit owners with children of any age, for beginners, but really, for anyone who has the knowledge and facts to take care of this rabbit.

These rabbits, like many other rabbits, are very energetic, and of course, love to play. It’s no doubt that these rabbits are just the best for practically anyone. They are amazing animals, and for anyone looking for an emotional support animal, this could definitely be the one for you.

Sizing and Weight:

This rabbit breed is considered a medium sized rabbit, which makes plenty of sense. These rabbits are muscular, but not quite stocky. Overall, I find that medium sized rabbits are the best for first time owners, and for owners with children. If you are a first time owner, I would recommend finding a medium sized rabbit, but you really don’t have to.

As for the average weight of a healthy English Lop, the weight should range anywhere from 9 to 10.5 pounds. This is definitely a heavier rabbit to be a medium sized bunny, but it’s really just because they have very strong muscles, no that they really show all that much.

Common Medical Problems Found in This Breed:

Because these rabbit’s ears do tend to drag around on the ground, doing these three things are extremely important:

Keep the nails of the English Lop as short as possible. This way, if the rabbit were to step on its ear, the rabbit shouldn’t feel any pain from its nails digging in. If the rabbit happened to be running with long nails, it could easily tear its ear, which would more than likely become infected, and cause a potential sickness, in much more extreme cases.
Check the section of where the ear drags on the rabbit. If there seems to be a red bruising from the ground, I would look for an alternative to give softer cushioning in your rabbit’s pen to keep this from happening.
Clean and check your rabbit’s ears consistently. Lop rabbits, of any kind, already tend to struggle with hearing, due to their lopped ears, but it wouldn’t help anything if the rabbit’s ears were full of wax. Cleaning the rabbit’s ears will not only help the rabbit’s hearing, it could very easily prevent ear mites.

Extra Care:

What I have said above would be what I would consider extra care. All rabbits’ nails should always be clipped short, and they should always have clean ears, but I feel that this should be stressed with this particular breed. This rabbit breed is very susceptible to many predicaments, due to their over-sized ears. Because of this, keeping an extremely close eye on their health, like any rabbit owner should, is important.

Works Cited:

“English Lop Rabbit Breed Information and Pictures.” PetGuide, 21 Oct. 2017, www.petguide.com/breeds/rabbit/english-lop/.

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Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this picture)

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As always, I would like to thank you for coming and reading through this post. Please come back every other day for a new reading. From here on, I will be adding in another post subject. One day there will be a breed post, two days later there will be a post about rabbit necessities, and another two days later, the other subject will be on bonding.

With this being said, I can now help out multiple rabbit lovers in their different situations. Anyone looking for a rabbit can be assisted through the usage of my breed posts. If someone has found the rabbit they want, the posts on necessities could help them out. Last but not least, for the current rabbit owners, the bonding posts could really help.

Now that I will have different subjects to cover those in different steps of owning rabbits, I would like to mention that in no way is looking at a rabbit breed post while owning a rabbit a problem, or that or that you look at the necessities and bonding posts even though you don’t even have a rabbit picked out, I just thought that it would work best.

To wrap this all up, please leave a like if you think the change in post subjects will help as many rabbit lovers, and rabbit owners, as possible. Until next post, continue to spread proper rabbit care, and I’ll talk to you soon!

Wild vs. Domestic Rabbits: Where’s the Difference?

If I’m not alone in this, many other people out there in the world can agree that when you want a rabbit, you admire the wild rabbits as well, even though you know you can’t own a wild rabbit. What really is the reasoning to this all? Stick around and I can explain why domestic and wild rabbits are separated as two categories, one is meant and allowed to be a pet, the other isn’t meant to be a pet, and isn’t allowed to be either.

Similarities and Differences:

There are obviously the physical differences between wild and domestic rabbits. Wild rabbits have more ratty, course, and rough fur, when domestic rabbits have nice, silky, and well kept fur.

Differences:

Domestic Rabbits: Wild Rabbits:

Meant to be house pets – Aren’t supposed to be a pet
Are tame and are legal pets – Can be tamed, but aren’t legal
Sustainable/Excellent diet – Poor to Mildly Sustainable diet

Similarities:

Domestic or not, these rabbits are all rabbits. There are many reasons why wild rabbits shouldn’t be kept, and why domestic rabbits are safe to keep as pets.

Why Can’t Wild Rabbits Be Pets?

The main factor to why you don’t see people keeping wild rabbits is simply because it isn’t legal in many states, provinces, and countries. Whether your state, province or country is allowed to own a wild rabbit, do NOT do it. Even though there may not be a law specifying that wild rabbits can’t be pets, I can almost assure you that there isn’t one saying that you can or should.

There are many other factors that lead into these predicaments that may be ran into when someone would decide to own a wild rabbit. The different scenarios are explained below:

The Dangers of Keeping Wild Rabbits:

Not only are you putting your entire household in danger of breaking laws, diseases, and parasites, you’re putting that rabbit and it’s “household” in danger.

Broken Laws: I have never experienced any time in jail, or any sort of time with a judge or officer, but from what I know, the process wouldn’t be fun. First of all, the person’s household would be relocated from the rabbit, the household would be without the criminal, but only if the judge doesn’t decide that the other contributors of the household took part in the crime.

So in other words, please don’t try to keep a wild rabbit. By keeping a wild rabbit, you put your household, yourself, and anything on your property at risk of loosing their house, their land, the rabbit, but most of all, family members that may have contributed to the crime.

Diseases & Parasites: One of the most well known factors that contribute to caution with handling, or even being near wild animals would be any disease, parasites, or sicknesses that they may carry that could easily harm you, or your household and anyone within it.

The most difficult section to explain would be about trying to prohibit these sicknesses. The first thing that many domestic rabbit owners would think of would be where to bring their rabbit to give the rabbit a bug and parasite rundown and prevention. With domestic rabbits, it’s a very easy process of bringing the rabbit in, getting the checkup and medications, and paying the bill. This is a very different story with wild rabbits.

With wild rabbits, they aren’t certified as an animal to be checked over and treated like other animals. With the regulations that veterinarians have to follow, a rabbit needs to have its medical record, certificates, and adoption certifications along. Even without these different specifications, the rabbit needs to be domestic to be treated. If you were to bring a wild rabbit in, odds are, the vets won’t allow any service because it isn’t technically a certified patient.

The Rabbit’s Life and Family: As for the overall health and safety of the rabbit itself, when you come into contact of a wild rabbit, the household of the wild rabbit will no longer accept that rabbit, especially if the wild rabbit that is being worked with is a baby.

Not only this, but wild rabbits will be spooked so much easier because they think of you as a predator, because for them, you are a predator. To even get a wild rabbit, you would have to trap the rabbit, which would probably kill it from a heart attack, not to forget that these rabbits don’t deserve this torture.

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Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this picture)

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I would just like to say thank you for sticking around during this time. If you enjoyed the information from this post, please leave a like and share this post with your family and friends. I post about rabbit care every other day, so please make sure to come back then for those posts. Until next post, continue to spread proper rabbit care!

The English Angora Rabbit Breed

The English Angora is very well known for its fluffy coat and its grumpy looking face, but what is the true personality and love behind the cover of this rabbit. This rabbit can be amazing for some owners, but what about the others? Find out in this overall description of the English Angora rabbit breed.

The History Behind the English Angora Rabbit Breed:

The Angora rabbit, one of the oldest rabbit breeds, originated from a city named Ankara, located in the country of Turkey. At this time in history, the city that is known today as Ankara, was actually called Angora at this time of discovery. This is where the name Angora, for this rabbit breed, came from.

Before 1939, this breed of rabbit made its way over to American land. This rabbit, being one of the woolly rabbits, was called the “Angora Wooler”, do to its heavy and thick coat of fur, that is instead called wool. From here, this rabbit breed was split to be classified in two groups, the English Angora, and the French Angora. It was the year of 1944 that the ARBA, American Rabbit Breeders’ Association, took these two groups of Angoras, to then make them their own breeds. This is what we know today to be the English Angora, and the French Angora.

Common Characteristics of the English Angora Rabbit Breed:

The English Angora is quite popular for its characteristics. The most commonly known feature to these rabbits would be the amount of wool that sticks off of their ears. These rabbits have a very small body, believe it or not, they just have so much wool. The body of this rabbit breed isn’t very muscular because this rabbit was known for its fur, or wool, not its meat.

The overall coat of this rabbit, along with the placement of the fur, is very interesting. Despite any other Angora breed of rabbit, the English Angora has an abundant amount of fur on its face, most Angoras don’t really have fur on their faces. The amount of fur on this rabbit is amazing. Their coat is soft, can be sleek, but most of all, extremely long. This rabbit’s coat needs a lot of maintenance to keep the rabbit healthy, so please do keep that in mind.

As for the accepted colors of this rabbit’s coat, the acceptable colors for this specific rabbit breed includes the Agouti, Self, Shaded, and Pointed groups of colored Angoras. The colors of each category are:

Agouti: Lynx, Chestnut, Chocolate
Self: Black, Blue, Chocolate, Lilac
Shaded: Black Tort, Blue Tort, Chocolate Tort , Lilac Tort
Pointed: Black Pointed White, Chocolate Pointed White, Blue Pointed White

Common Personalities Found in This Breed:

Despite this rabbit breeds looks, which may portray a grumpy rabbit, these rabbits are extremely friendly and docile. The English Angora is very well known to be curious and willing to try new things, from loving the time to play and run around, but not to forget the love and sweetness of having some time with their owner.

Sizing and Weight:

Despite the weight of this rabbit, which will be gone over in a bit, this rabbit breed is considered a small/mini sized rabbit. The overall body size has been just too small to be considered a medium sized rabbit. This rabbit isn’t very muscular, which could have easily made a difference in the way that the ARBA looked upon this rabbit breed.

Despite this rabbit breed’s sizing, this rabbit is able to weight as much as a medium sized rabbit. This rabbit breed’s average weight, for a healthy purebred, is anywhere from 5 to 6 pounds of body weight. This happens to be a heavier rabbit of the small/mini rabbit breeds, but that won’t stop them!

Common Medical Problems:

The most common medical problem found throughout this breed is a predicament called “Woodblock.” What woodblock is, is a lack of the owner grooming their rabbit, of which the rabbit has to groom itself to stay neat. This then leads to the rabbit ingesting too much fur to the point that the rabbit’s GI track is plugged up. With the length and thickness of this rabbit’s fur, looking out for this rabbit’s coat is so incredibly important.

Since woodblock clogs the GI track, this blockage would then lead to GI Stasis, in which consulting a vet would be necessary within a day.

Extra Care:

This is quite obvious, but the extra grooming for this rabbit, whether they are shedding or not, is so incredibly important. This rabbit has very thick and fluffy fur clumps, and without proper grooming, this rabbit could have matted fur, not to forget woodblock, to then lead to GI Stasis.

Even though this rabbit breed is so amazingly tame and docile, this rabbit breed should only be taken care of by experienced rabbit owners that have the money to take this rabbit to a professional groomer for trimmings. This rabbit owner will also have to know the proper grooming for this rabbit, not to forget the proper diet that is necessary for any rabbit, but especially for the rabbits with matted fur near their hindquarters. This could lead to indoor flystrike, which could easily take a rabbit’s life. It may make me seem as though I’m looking at all of the negatives, but without the negatives, there aren’t the positives to compare.

Works Cited:

“English Angora Rabbit Breed Information and Pictures.” PetGuide, 21 Oct. 2017, www.petguide.com/breeds/rabbit/english-angora-rabbit/.

Sources:

Link to Thumbnail Image (All credit goes to the photographer and owner of this photo)

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