• Spacious, plastic-bottomed cage. (Must be at least 3 or 4 times the rabbit’s stretched out adult length and must be tall enough for the rabbit to stand up comfortably when he/she is an adult.)

• Water bottle (Water bowls are not recommended, because they can easily become dirty/contaminated.  Also, a female will often get her dewlap (the mound of fur and fat located below her chin) wet while drinking from a bowl, causing skin irritation and infection.)

• Corner litter box for cage

• Several litter pans for use outside of the cage.

• Toys (both chew toys and toss toys)

• Bedding/Litter (No pine or cedar shavings.  Only Yesterday’s News pellets, or Carefresh should be used.)

• Pellets (Alfalfa-based pellets for rabbits under the age of 6 months, Timothy-based pellets for rabbits over the age of 6 months.)

• Timothy Hay

• Alfalfa Hay (Only for rabbits under the age of 6 months)

• Carrier (preferably a top-loading one that is not much bigger than the rabbit) for vet visits and necessary travel
  

The best way to bond with your new rabbit is by not being pushy and forceful.  Get on your rabbit’s level by sitting or laying down on the floor and ignoring the rabbit.  Let the rabbit come over to you when he/she feels like it.  After a while, you can slowly bring your hand over to your rabbit.  Let the rabbit sniff your hand.  You can then slowly bring your hand up to pet your rabbit’s head.  Rabbits love being rubbed on their nose, under their chin and cheeks, and on the back of their neck.  If you’re lucky, your rabbit may go into what is known as the presentation smile, in which they tuck their front feet under their body and put their chin flat on the floor.  Keep in mind that rabbits hate having their feet and tummy touched.  Also, don’t be surprised if your rabbit hops away after you pat or touch their rear end.  To a rabbit, a tap on the butt means, “move over, please.”

I had a great relationship with my rabbit when he/she was a baby, but now he/she seems to have gone bad and does not like me.  What happened?

Yes.  Toys are very important to the mental health of your rabbit.  Rabbits who have toys to play with are less likely to destroy furniture. (Kind of like how kids who are involved in good activities are less likely to get into trouble.)  Wood toys are especially important for a rabbit’s teeth (Please note that rabbits under the age of 4 months cannot play with wood toys.  They can, however, play with soft grass mats).  Please do not give any random sticks you may find to your rabbit (the wood could be poisonous, sprayed with pesticides/chemicals, or infested with unwanted critters). 

• Chewing on rugs or fabric can cause fatal intestinal impactions.

• Chewing on wires can shock or electrocute and kill a rabbit.

• Rabbit could accidentally ingest toxic paints, stains, waxes, and polish when chewing on furniture.

• Rabbit could ingest something harmful (like a pin, chocolate, or a candy wrapper) when searching the floor.

• Rabbit could fall off of high places and break their fragile backs and legs.

• Rabbit could be hurt by a small child or stupid person (dropping rabbit, pulling on the rabbit’s ears, etc.)

• Rabbit could eat poisonous house plants.
  

• Rabbit could knock something over and get injured by a falling object.

• Rabbit could accidentally eat holiday ornaments, such as tinsel.

• Rabbit could drown in a sink, tub, toilet, or bucket.

• Rabbit could be burned by a fireplace. 

Rabbits are a lot like 2-year-old children, so you should bunny-proof your home almost in the same way that you would baby-proof or child-proof it.

• Give rabbits safe toys to play with, so they won’t feel the need to “play” with your furniture.

• Keep anything that is important, valuable, poisonous, breakable, electrical, or easy to knock over out of bunny’s reach.

• Keep bunny away from flames and hot objects.

• Keep bunny away from sinks, tubs, buckets, and toilets and keep the lid on the toilet closed.

• Before letting your bunny out, check the floor for any things that the bunny might accidentally eat that could hurt him/her.

• Put plastic tablecloths covered by sheets over floors and furniture to prevent chewing, urine stains, and holes on couches and rugs.  This also keeps rabbit fur from getting all over the place.

• Cover wires with PVC pipes or special covers.  You can also block access to wires with plexi-glass or a strategically-placed piece of furniture.

• Do not leave your rabbit unsupervised.

• Do not leave small children, friends, strangers, or family members who do not live with you alone with your rabbit.

Rabbits do not need baths.  A bath can send a rabbit into shock or the rabbit may become so scared that he/she has a heart attack and dies.  If your rabbit gets dirty, you can spot-clean the dirty area with warm water and a little bit of Bunny Bath rabbit shampoo (sold at pet stores) and then rinse thoroughly.  If your entire rabbit gets really dirty, you can carefully give you rabbit a bath.  Do not put your rabbit into water and do not get your rabbit’s head and ears wet unless absolutely necessary.  Pour warm water over your rabbit and then wash the rabbit with a small amount of Bunny Bath.  Rinse thoroughly by pouring warm water over the rabbit.  Towel-dry your rabbit as much as possible, then allow rabbit to air-dry.  You may use a blow dryer on a very low setting if necessary.  Do not allow the rabbit’s tail and feet to remain wet for a long time.  Excess moisture on the feet can damage exposed skin and leave it susceptible to infection.  A wet tail will attract flies, which are a health hazard to your rabbit.

No.  You should never breed your rabbit.  Breeding and giving birth are extremely stressful to a female rabbit and shorten her lifespan.  Also, by breeding your rabbit you are contributing to the growing number of homeless house rabbits.  The people you sold or gave your rabbits to could have adopted one of the thousands of rabbits currently in shelters instead.  So for the good of your own rabbit and for the good of rabbits around the world, please do not breed your bunnies.  The only breeding that is okay is breeding for show (in which 2 purebred pedigreed rabbits of the same breed are bred together to produce purebred pedigreed babies for rabbit shows, which are similar to dog and cat shows.)

• Your rabbit will be unable to breed, and will therefore be unable to contribute tothe problem of homeless rabbits.

• All risk of your rabbit getting a reproductive cancer is eliminated (Neutered males cannot get testicular cancer.  Spayed females cannot get mammary cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.)  Statistics show that most rabbits, especially females, will get or die from a reproductive cancer before they reach the age of 5 (normal lifespan of a spayed/neutered well-cared-for house rabbit is 8-12 years)).

• Your rabbit will be more calm and less aggressive.

• Your rabbit will live longer.

• Your rabbit will be easier to litter-train and litter box habits will improveYour rabbit will stop spraying things with urine (Male rabbits are generally the only rabbits who spray, but a small number of females also spray.)

• Risk of hormonally-induced infections is eliminated

• Diarrhea with listlessness

• Sudden loss of appetite

• Sudden loss of appetite with bloat and abdominal gurgling

• Loss of appetite with labored breathing

• Loss of appetite with runny nose

• Difficulty breathing

• Difficulty moving

• Head tilt

• Incontinence (urine-soaked rear legs)

• Abscesses, lumps, or swellings anywhere

• Any sudden change in behavior

• Sitting hunched while loudly grinding teeth (this is a sign of pain)