Animal Care

• Companionship - to be with other rabbits or humans. The widespread practice of keeping rabbits and guinea pigs together is not recommended.
• A mixed diet of grass, rabbit pellets, apples, carrots, dandelions and a good quantity of hay.
• A constant supply of fresh, clean drinking water in a drip feed bottle with metal spout.
• A large weatherproof home off the ground, out of direct sunlight and strong winds. Move to an indoor area or porch in cold weather. Many homes sold in pet shops are too small.
• A separate covered sleeping area for each animal.
• A clean layer of wood shavings and plenty of hay or shredded paper for bedding.
• Daily exercise in a large, safe grassy area.
• Rabbits burrow, so ensure the enclosure is sunk into the ground, escape-proof and safe from predators.
• Their home to be cleaned every day and bedding changed weekly.
• A gnawing block to wear down long teeth.
• To be brushed every day if they have a long coat.
• To be neutered at an early age. Ask your vet.
• Injections to prevent serious diseases.
• To be taken to a vet if they are ill or injured.
• To be looked after when you are on holiday.

Rabbit Runs Hutches:
Rabbits do not enjoy being cooped up all day in very small hutches, so it's nice to treat them to the largest hutch possible. If the weather is dry, rabbits can be allowed outdoors to exercise. Wire runs protect small breeds from Foxes, cats or dogs and can be used in the garden when it's not too wet or excessively sunny. Runs can be partially roofed if you are not going to be at home to look out for weather changes. They should be moved to different parts of the lawn to provide fresh grazing and prevent diseases such as coccidiosis, but do make sure that the lawn has not been recently treated with weed killer or fertilizers.

Food:
In the wild, rabbits live on a mixture of grass, herbs and weeds - and vegetables if they can get into gardens and fields. Pet rabbits love fresh grass and dandelions but these must not be treated with chemicals. They can also graze on lawns and will happily chew on the bark and leaves of twigs such as ash, sycamore, apple and hawthorn. Apart from grazing, pet rabbits get all the nourishment they need from good quality rabbit foods, fresh hay and water. The quality of the food is important and it is a mistake to use rabbit food with a high cereal or grain content. Bowel conditions, such as enteritis, are common in pet rabbits and are almost always due to the feeding of poor food.

Behaviour
Rabbits still retain much of their natural behaviour, which makes them unsuited to life in captivity. In the wild, rabbits live in large social groups, and it is unkind to keep just one. Male and female rabbits can be kept together as long as they have been neutered. A female rabbit can have several litters a year, with as many as eight babies in each litter so you can end up with a lot of rabbits if you don't get them neutered.
Unfortunately, rabbits may not always friendly towards one another. Females (does) are less aggressive and are easier to keep than bucks. Females from the same litter can also be kept together, but will have fewer medical problems if they are neutered. Bucks tend to fight when they become mature and can bully and beat up smaller, weaker individuals. Bucks are best kept on their own, and really need to be neutered if they are housed with others.
Some rabbits are kept with a guinea pig companion but there is not much sense to this idea as they are from totally different animal families and don't communicate with one another. This unequal arrangement frequently ends up with a frustrated rabbit and a terrorised guinea pig.

Handling
Approach the rabbit from the front. Gently hold the scruff of its neck with one hand but take the weight in your other arm, which should be around the hindquarters. Lift the rabbit towards you and rest it against your body with its head towards your shoulder. Never pick up a rabbit by its ears or the scruff of its neck. Put a rabbit down slowly, hind legs first, on a non-slip surface.

Breeding
The Dublin SPCA strongly advises that you do not breed from rabbits. Keep the sexes apart, although rabbits can be neutered to stop them producing unwanted young. Neutering is a straightforward operation that can be arranged with a vet. Neutering is also know to help prevent cancer of the womb, which is a common condition in older animals.  A female rabbit can have several litters a year, with as many as eight babies in each litterf, the sibblings can then mate so you end up with 2,000 rabbits in a year.

Health
Young rabbits should be vaccinated and given regular boosters. Your vet can advise.

Rabbits like to dig in the ground and this helps to shorten their nails the natural way. Overgrown nails are one of the common problems of pet rabbits. They simply do not do enough digging. If the nails do not get worn down naturally, they have to be clipped from time to time to prevent discomfort. Pet owners can do this themselves if they like but it is always wise to get a vet to do it the first time. The vet can then show the owner how to recognise the small blood vessel in the rabbit's quick and will usually be able to provide an inexpensive nail clipper for home use. Quicks have to be avoided. If they are chopped accidentally the rabbit will experience pain and they will bleed heavily.

Young rabbits may be affected by a highly infectious disease called coccidiosis. Symptoms include a yellow look, diarrhoea, dullness and loss of appetite. Keep the rabbit isolated and seek veterinary advice straight away.

All rabbits may suffer from the potentially fatal disease flystrike, caused by flies laying eggs in soiled fur. Make sure the rabbits' home is cleaned every day, the bedding changed regularly and the rabbit has a good quality high fibre diet. Groom them every day, checking their fur for dirt, especially under the tail.

Rabbits may suffer from parasites. Treatment is available from your vet.

If a rabbit is sneezing and has a discharge from its nose, it may have snuffles. This is highly infectious and could lead to pneumonia. Keep the rabbit isolated and seek veterinary advice straight away.

Rabbit food should be stored in a sealed plastic container to prevent mould and deter mice. Affected rabbits can have diarrhoea or may simply stop eating. Unfortunately, these tummy troubles can be fatal. The complicated rabbit's digestive system is much more delicate than the simple arrangement in dogs and cats. A rabbit's diet is difficult to digest and needs the help of countless help ful bacteria stored in the large bowel. Once these are disturbed, harmful germs take over and it can be difficult to get the rabbit to recover. Take your pet to the vet straight away if you see any signs of bowel disorder or weight loss.

The prominent front teeth in rabbits give them their typical "Bugs Bunny" appearance. These incisor teeth are used for gnawing twigs, vegetables and tough vegetation into small pieces. The food is then taken further into the mouth and chewed to tiny fragments by the large molars at the back of the cheeks. The front incisors can grow at about one cm per month and normally wear down when the rabbit is eating. Some teeth do not wear properly and can get very long and curl into, or out of, the mouth. The rabbit eventually can't eat and vets have to cut the teeth back to their correct size. Giving rabbits plenty of twigs and branches to chew may help. However, abnormal shape and growth pattern of the teeth is sometimes genetic in origin. These teeth never seem to wear properly - even when the diet seems to be correct. The teeth can be extracted under anaesthetic but this is not easy as the soft growing roots may be very difficult to remove.

The other rabbit disease you can prevent is myxomatosis. Myxomatosis is common in wild rabbits and can be spread to pets by biting flies and fleas. A vaccine is now available to protect against this killer disease.

Breed Info:
The albino bunny with its red eyes is no longer as popular as it used to be. Did you know that its eyes are red because it has no other pigment in its eyes? This allows us to see right to the blood vessels at the back and, as these are filled with red blood, the eyes appear red.
Small coloured rabbits are now more popular.
The pedigree dwarf types are small and easy to house and handle, but they are quite expensive. Most of the dwarfs sold as pets are actually half-bred animals and usually end up being larger than true dwarf rabbits.

Remember - a pet needs your time and interest for the rest of its life.