The Buckeye House Rabbit
SocietyThe Buckeye House Rabbit
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Correne Kopaczynski
Hi, my name is Correne Kopaczynski. I live in Budd Lake, New Jersey. We were recently blessed with a new family member, Lucky. Lucky is a male Lop. We named him Lucky because we found him. We live in an apartment complex and one day I noticed this white bunny hopping around our complex. I assumed he belonged to someone so I paid no attention. A week later he plopped himself in front of our door. We managed to pick him up and brought him inside for food and water. The next day we brought him to the vet. The vet had not received any phone calls regarding a lost bunny. They declared him healthy and gave us some basics tips on caring for him. We checked around our complex but there were no lost bunny posters.
Today, Lucky is still with us. We don't know how old he is but
are
assuming he is fully grown. He is very happy and loved. It
breaks my
heart to think that someone wouldn't want the burden of this adorable
bunny and would just set him free. He is completely house
trained; we
really didn't have to do much but just love him. Here are
some
photos of my baby around the house. It's great to have so many
websites
like yours for me to read because I never had a rabbit before
and I get great informaiton on making his life happy.
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Cynthia, Scott, and Muffin Hatfield
December 1993 - July 1998 |
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| Sable was our first 'house rabbit' and my husband's and my first pet together. Sable picked me out by jumping on my arm and running up to my neck when I reached in to pet the bunnies at the pet store. Sable had his favorite places to lie in our apartment where he could keep his eye on us from any direction. He would beg for treats, snort to say thank you, jump on the dining room chairs to sit with us, and lick and nudge our feet for attention. |
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| His last year with us, he bonded with a neglected bunny we saved -- Muffin. They had so much fun running around in circles, cuddling together, and grooming each other. | |
| Sable, thank you for the gifts you gave us. We will miss your presence and love. | |
-- with love, Cynthia, Scott, and Muffin Hatfield
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Marie Moyes
For a long time I have been writing you guys, asking for advice, (always getting it of course), and the past few months I have been visiting your site, I have learned how to be a better bunny owner. So here's my story, I release to you to use as you see fit to teach others about becoming better owners.
Long story, short version: When I was fourteen, I was given a rabbit by my alcoholic dad, I had it for a few months before selling it in the Thrifty Nickel for ten bucks, though I asked for twenty. Luckily I sold it to people involved in the 4H club, who said they would take good care of him/her, and I was okay with that. It was a New Jersey Wooley, and I know now it was not well taken care of. I had a lot of guilt on this for a long time, and refused to have a pet until many years later. I am 25 now, and have had my stubborn bunny (God's way of paying me back for not taking care of the first one) for four years.
In that time, I have gone from the pet's store well meaning yet ill advised advice on taking care of rabbits to your page. From you, I've learned a LOT more than I can ever explain on rabbit behavior, and directly because of your influence, my rabbit is MUCH happier.
This time around, he has a nicer cage than my first one, he has toys, but he never seemed very happy. I didn't know he was lonely, and now, by a strange twist of fate, I am soon to be fixing that, by, (big breath here) adopting a little lady bunny someone was cruel enough to either let loose, or had discarded out of boredom.
That can also be directly attributed to you all too!
See...my rabbit has fleas (which I am still trying to get rid of), and I had consulted you all, in addition to that, I called every single pet care chemical company out there(honestly), and located VetChem, who sells a spray that is safe for the treatment of carpet in the homes rabbits and cats and dogs. The lady I spoke with by phone, offered to send me documentation on the testing and side effects, been tested extensively, she even gave me thorough step by step instructions on the removal of my bunny, how to treat, how to clean up, precautions, everything. I had also spoken with your expert on rabbits, whose advice was wonderful, by the way, but while I was looking for more info on the spray that had been recommended to me, I called around to some local vets, and found that Jefferson Animal Hospital carried it. Well, I called the hospital, and in the course of asking about the spray, I was told if I knew anyone who had room in their home who would provide good care for an extra rabbit, would I let them know?
ON impulse, I volunteered. And here's the story on the new rabbit, which I am picking up tonight! Someone came in and said they found her in the woods, they weren't sure how long she'd been out there, but her back foot was fractured. The vet says she's rust colored, weighs about five pounds, is VERY friendly, loves to be held, and outside of her foot, is in exceptional health. They will give her to me free, completely fixed, on the condition I bring her back to them for checkups.(Personally, I write books, and something says this rabbit belonged to those people who brought her in, whether out of guilt of messing up her foot, or maybe they just couldn't handle her anymore) Anyway, I really feel like this is God's way of saying, ok, you screwed up on the first bunny, the second (Silver fox, simply put, beautiful!) bunny you've taken great care of, (in spite of his stubborn, non touchable nature), so here's your perfect loving bunny. I'll admit to you, it is not easy to have spent four years taking care of an animal that really doesn't like people ( I am quite serious and he has never been mistreated, I've had him since he was eight weeks old). IN the same respect, I bought my second rabbit (Midge), knowing I would never have a companion animal, because I bought him to save his life. I overheard the PassPets manager, Wendy, saying he was not a people pet and they would have to send him back to the dealer to be used for breeding or meat. I did something unusual on that one, I whipped out the plastic and bought the entire set up.
Even though he's never been friendly, I've never been unhappy. There are a million worse places he could have been in. (Weirdly enough, the few times he has needed vet care, he has developed this way of telling me, he climbs into my lap and stares nose to nose until I get the point something's wrong)
Recently, because I read rabbits needed space, I bought him a three level ferret cage, reworked it into two big levels, covered the top layer in carpet. Then I went out and bought a bird feed coop cup to attach to the outside of his cage, so he can eat out of it without tossing his food around( used to I'd have to put it on the floor, because he'd throw it), took an old shoe box, cut the side off, and filled it with timothy hay, this was put in the corner of his new cage on the bottom level. (He started eating it immediately!)I bought a piece of wood, untreated, cut it into three pieces and made a step for him to hop onto, so that he doesn't have to use the wire ramp. We found out he hated the ramp, so I fixed that problem, I covered it in carpet so he would be more comfortable going up it. And then I read that great article on toys, now, I have to make you realize, I had read a lot of this stuff before, but some reason none of it made sense to me. When i read the articles you guys put out, it all clicked. So what did I do? I went out and bought lots and lots of bunny toys, rattles, rolly balls with rattles inside (his favorite), carpet patches for him to destroy. I even took an old moveable shelf basket, shredded paper and put it in there for him to destroy the paper, I took a thick blanket and covered the top half of his cage with it, making a sunroof for him to stretch out on. Before all this, I only had a large wire cage, no shelves, one cat house, and outside of his water bottle and food bowl, a rug, one toy, and one larger outside the cage watering dish. We always made cardboard toys for him, but he never took an interest in them, paper bags maybe held the most interest, but he never seemed happy. And I wondered why he was so destructive! Now that he has recently had all these new additions, we found it almost perfect timing, that someone needs a home for a loving bunny. And I just now have the extra room too!
So now that I have taken up a good deal of your time, I hope it helps to know you really have helped me learn. I think, especially now, that I am better informed, that I can give this poor new bunny the home she should have had. Oh yeah, did I mention, that the vet at the hospital is an expert in bunnies? She's offered to fix the new one for free, but I am trying to talk her into waiting until the back foot is perfectly healed. I had Midge fixed a long time ago, so there is no worry of baby bunnies, but for her female health I do want it done. I heard somewhere that female rabbits get some sort of ovarian cancer? Anyway, please sign me the world's most happy bunny owner, I really feel as though I've made a difference in one bun's life. And he really has been more friendly since I got him more toys and room (although he gets routinely four hours of running space daily)! And I am super happy he was patient enough with me, to let me learn and show him what a good owner/slave I am to him! Thanks again for always being there, at the end of four weeks from now, I intend on having a monetary gift to send you all!
Thanks!
Marie Moyes and Midge
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| Hello, my name is Miriam and I am the proud owner of 5 house rabbits, 2 jersey woolies, 2 dwarfs and 1 mini lop. My "boys" are all neutered, bonded and living happily together in a small room of their own. I am always looking for information on Rabbits and other people in the Cleveland area who love them as much as I do. |
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I love cuddling with my "boys" and have taken all of them to work at 1 point or another and I now have many other people thinking about the possibilty of owning a rabbit. |
-- Miriam Palevsky |
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