These are the following myths about rabbits. I often hear them when people call to adopt or when they call unhappy and wanting to rehome their rabbit....
1) Rabbits are cuddly. I want a rabbit who will cuddle with the kids. Not really. Rabbits are not usually "cuddly", even though they look that way, they are individual animals who do not like being carried around the house by the toddler or handled roughly by over eager hands. They are best not given as pets for children under 10.
Buy a stuffed toy if your kid wants something soft to carry around and snuggle with. Many rabbits like being petted, but most don't like being carried, or being forced to sit still for a long time.
2) Rabbits don't bite. The only rabbits who bite or scratch are "mean" rabbits.
Nope again. Rabbits can and do bite HARD if provoked, feeling territorial, feeling hormonal, being teased, etc. They can and will scratch, leaving deep flesh wounds if picked up incorrectly by an inexperienced person. People faced with a scratching rabbit are less likely to handle the rabbit. The rabbit quickly becomes more unsocialized and more unwanted.
Rabbits are too often dumped at my rescue because of improper socialization or someone wanting "another rabbit who wants to be carried" or "a different friendlier rabbit".
3) Baby rabbits are best to bring home because they learn to like people.
Baby rabbits are often thought to be the "best" to get. This isn't true. Baby rabbits turn into teenagers with hormones and their own personalities. Many, many baby rabbits, even with love and affection show different personalities as they hit puberty.
Baby rabbits also are harder to potty train, more likely to chew your furniture, and are too easy for children to pick up and hurt. The sweet baby suddenly hates being picked up or touched. The shy baby never warms up like you hoped. (some do, but not always)
An older spayed or neutered rabbit around 12-18 months old is getting past the teenage stage. Even a rabbit around 7 months old who has been spayed or neutered is a better choice. An older rabbit is going to be a much better pet because he or she will be calmer and the personality is most likely not going to change so what you see is what you get. (Either a nice calm rabbit or a rabbit who tends to be more shy. While you can sometimes bring a rabbit out of a shy attitude, if you must have a friendly rabbit, you might be better off with a friendly rabbit from the start. Some shy rabbits always stay shy.)
4) The way to potty train a rabbit is to just let it loose in my house.
Yikes! Talk about asking for trouble! The right way to potty train a rabbit is to spay or neuter at the appropriate age and then do "cage training". This means that the rabbit is not allowed out except for 10-15 minutes at a time while you are watching. The rabbit is not allowed out when you are not watching every minute or you will pay the consequences of soiled carpets, chewed furniture, dug up carpet. You would not let a puppy loose in your house with no potty training, you should not allow a rabbit out either. For more information on litter training and bunny proofing your house, visit www.rabbitadoption.org
5) This leads us to, "I only have 1 rabbit and never will get another so I don't need to spay/neuter"
You are right, you don't need to...but only if you don't mind the fact that up to 65% of all female rabbits die from uterine cancer by age 5 and most unneutered males and some unspayed females spray. (Try getting hit in the face or chest with a stream of urine! Or having your shoes, carpets, walls, family cats, etc... coated in this smelly stuff!)
Spayed and neutered rabbits rarely spray and the females also don't go through false pregnancies either!
Mammary tumors happen frequently in females, spaying at 6-9 months old helps to prevent these as well. A spayed or neutered rabbit is also easier to litter train and won't try to hump the family cats/dogs/blankets/stuffed animals either. (remember, rabbits are designed to have a litter every 30 days, so they think about sex pretty constantly if not fixed)
Unfixed rabbits can have hormone induced tempers and urges that can cause the rabbit to bite, defend territory against humans and pets, dig up the carpet in an attempt to make burrows, urinate on the couch, etc...All reasons for a rabbit to be spayed or neutered. Often, people calling to give up their rabbits want to give them up for reasons that spaying or neutering can help with.
6) Neutering and spaying is DANGEROUS...
This is not true. When done by an experienced rabbit vet using proper anesthesia and running pre-surgical blood work if your rabbit is over 3 years old, this is not dangerous. There is more of a risk of your female dying from uterine cancer than of dying from spaying and more risk of your male deciding to spray the house than having a complication from neutering if you use an experienced vet.
7) Rabbits make great pets.
This is only true if you are the right sort of person for a rabbit. Rabbits are not a "low maintenance pet". They are just as much work as a dog. They require attention, cage cleaning, grooming, toys, yearly vet visits, proper housing, etc. (Proper housing is indoors, not outdoors in a hutch!)
If you don't have enough time for a dog, don't consider a rabbit. It takes time and effort to own a rabbit and they can live up to 15 years (average 8) so if you are not prepared to move with a rabbit if needed, spend the next 8+ years caring for the rabbit, can't afford to buy proper food, vet care if needed, etc, a rabbit is not for you.
8) Rabbits are boring...if you think this, rabbits are not for you.
However, let me explain why most rabbits are "boring". They are bored. When an animal lacks stimulation, they become bored and listless. How exciting can an animal be when they are locked in a cage with a food dish, a water bottle and nothing else? Maybe they get to watch people walking by or animals walking by, maybe the person stops to pet them for 5 minutes a day.
If you locked a person in a room under the same circumstances, how long would it take for the person to become bored, angry at everyone around them possibly or just plain catatonic?
A rabbit who is inside the house, interacting with humans regularly and possibly other spayed/neutered rabbits, is happy and people are often remarking on "what a personality the rabbit has". These rabbits are not boring because they are not bored.
9) A rabbit will make a great pet for the kids.
Wrong...a rabbit will make a great pet for YOU. The kids are going to get bored, go to summer camp, decide they hate cleaning the cage, go to college, etc, so be sure you personally want to care for a rabbit for the next 8-13+ years of it's life before you bring one home.
Too often, I hear, "The kids don't take care of Thumper anymore so Thumper has to move." I am tired of hearing this excuse from parents! It's why I don't adopt to kids, I adopt to parents who understand that while the kids will enjoy the rabbit, the parents are the caretakers.
Decide before you bring any new pet into your house that this new pet is a FAMILY pet, and the adults in the family are going to be ultimately responsible for all aspects of care.
10) Rabbits are perfect Easter presents and when I get tired of my rabbit, I can dump him in the woods.
Nope, nope, nope. Rabbits purchased around Easter time are often impulse buys, bought because they are cute and cuddly. Many of these rabbits are under the age they should be weaned at and are soon sick due to the stress, improper feeding, too much handling, etc.
The ones who survive the trials of Easter morning... grow up, outgrow kids and cages and welcomes. Many are dumped on the streets by people who figure rabbits can survive in the "wild". They can't and they don't. These rabbits die. Rabbits are domestic, not wild. If put out on the streets or in the woods, they rarely survive more than a few weeks. It's also highly illegal to just abandon an animal.
Before you purchase that "Easter" rabbit, look ahead 8 years or even 6 months. What is going to happen if you go on vacation, if the kids stop caring for a rabbit, if the rabbit gets sick, etc. If you can't honestly say that you are going to care for this new pet for it's ENTIRE lifetime, do the rabbit a favor, don't purchase him or her. A stuffed rabbit is a better choice and isn't a living, breathing creature who will CARE if he changes homes 3 times.
11) The best place to get a new rabbit is a pet store.
No, the best place is from a rabbit rescue, or an animal shelter. A rabbit rescuer is going to work with you to ensure that you take home the right breed and personality to fit your household. These rabbits are usually already spayed or neutered.To find a rabbit adoption group, please visit www.rabbitadoption.org.
Pet stores are very stressful to young rabbits. They are too often housed in cages that are too small, with the wrong kind of food, even caged with animals of other species. Anyone with sick rabbits could have touched the babies. Even without that, so many people touching the rabbits, odd noises and smells, all means the babies are stressed and more susceptible to illness. They could be too young or be ill when you take them home. Worse, if you take two rabbits home, the pet store staff could have sexed them wrong, causing unwanted litters of babies!
If you go to a rescue agency, please don't be insulted if they tell you the pros and the cons or if they talk you out of a rabbit. Be glad, it's going to save you heartache later. Many people come to me wanting to give up their rabbits and they often ask why no one explained to them what rabbits were really like. I would rather discourage someone from owning a rabbit than have them and the rabbit be unhappy when reality sets in.
In closing, a rabbit is a living breathing animal who has feelings and is going to live for up to and over a decade.
During that decade, the rabbit is going to need possible medical care, at least twice weekly cage cleaning, daily attention, nail trims every month or so, a new cage at least twice to replace the older one, a supply of toys, good quality food and veggies plus hay that someone in the family might be allergic to, brushing on a weekly basis (more often if a long furred breed).
You also need to consider that rabbits are social animals and do better in pairs, so you will need to care for two rabbits, not just one. (Two are suggested if you don't work at home)
A rabbit is going to need to be moved with, cared for after the novelty wears off for you and the kids, cared for when you go on vacation, cared for when you are sick or depressed, taken to the vet when ill and the funds are low, loved even after he chews on the woodwork, cared for even after he gets grumpy and bites or scratches when carried, etc.
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