Thinking of buying a rabbit?  Got a rabbit but not sure how to care for it? READ ON......

Right now, everyone wants a 'house rabbit'. That is, one that has the free range of your appartment or home, rather than being kept in a cage.  What a wonderful concept! I recently saw one for sale in a local pet shop for £200.  That's not a lot of money compared with what a house rabbit is going to cost you in chewed furniture, electical wires and skirting boards.  A house rabbit can be trained to do it's business in litter tray, much like a cat would, but it is natural for a rabbit to wear down it's continually growing teeth on whatever is convenient.  It may be this season's 'must have' pet..but you have been warned. Instead, you could spend a tenner and get a perfectly adequate cross breed that will be a great companion for years.

If you want to own a rabbit, I think they are the best small pet you could wish for...clean...usually non aggressive,...furry, resilient, and easy to keep.  At the risk of causing offence to owners of other small rodents, other furrries just don't compete, in my experience.  Guinea pigs are noisy, prone to illness, hamsters bite and are nocturnal, rats urinate everywhere and mice smell....but rabbits are quiet, laid back and easy going.  They will tolerate being pulled about by kiddies, love being stroked and demand very little.

So what do you need to set up?

Basically you need a LARGE hutch.  Most of the hutches on sale are so small it's cruel, so buy, or make, the biggest you can.  Access to your lawn is a posititve asset. The sleeping quarters should be divided, warm and dry.

Rabbits are sociable animals. Two neuters are fine together. Any other combination, expect problems.  An entire male can service a couple of does  a year, but it would be cruel not to give him any female company, ever.  Get him 'done'! It will be money well spent.

As well as a proper hutch, you will need a constant supply of food, fresh hay, water, newpaper bedding, innoculations and TLC.  These are not the sort of pets you can leave for weeks on end while you holiday in Marbella.  They need regular attention and their quarters cleaning out.  I recommend every day or every other day attention.  Fresh greens, carrots etc are a must every day to maintain a healthy pet.  Fresh hay is good bedding, sheets of newspaper to line out the cage to enable easy clean-ups.  Hay is a valuable food source, so get plenty of that. Forget straw...it's a waste of money, and the sharp bits could cause an eye injury.  Pellet food is the best.  If you give the muelsli style diet your rabbit will just pick out the bits it likes and leave the rest. Honest to god. They are not stupid!

There are suppliments, licks and treats you can buy,  but mine are 6 years old and have survived nicely without, thank you very much.  I'd rather give them extra hay!

Rabbits love green-stuffs.  I always chuck a couple of bags of spring greens into the supermarket trolly for the rabbits, maybe some carrots too.   But in the spring/summer you can just gather some meadow plants for them...grass, nettles, cows parsley etc.  Get it from an unpolluted source. 

**** It's important you can tell cows parsley from hemlock  Cows parsley (the goody) has a  delicate creamy white umbrella flower, a corrugated stem and doesn't grow too tall. However hemlock (looks simialr) is bigger, taller, and has a SMOOTH stem and will KILL your rabbits stone dead if you feed it to them.****

If in doubt stick to carrots, grass, spring greens and nettles!

Myxi is a disease rabbits catch from wild rabbits etc. Innoculate every year against it.  If your animal develops large black scales / sores, this is a form of myxi.  It may will recover with good nursing but it's horrible....best to get your rabbit jabbed every year, just in case.  Costs just a few quid.

Just 'cos your bunny is outside in it's run in the evenings, it doesn't mean you can't give it lots of cuddles while you are watching telly.  Try stetching out on the sofa with your rabbit on your chest.  Stroking this compliant animal is sheer ecstacy!  He relaxes...after a while, falls alseep, motionless...stroking his soft fur relaxes you...you doze off...ah! it's bliss!......... Stress busting, ancient-style! Cat's usually want to get down or start licking their rear ends or something, but a rabbits just submit to your loving stokes...the perfect pet...without the purr!

I hope you have found this useful. Please give me a YES vote below to boost my rating.  I have other guides you might like so take a look and vote for them too please!