How To Begin Caring For Rabbits

Hi. My name's Marie, and I'm from the small animal department at Wood Green Animal Shelters, and today I'm going to show you how to begin caring for your rabbits. When you're first considering owning rabbits, it's really important that you can consider that you can provide everything that they're going to need.

They are going to live for up to ten years, so it's really important that you can provide their accommodation, you can help keep them healthy, and you can provide the right diet for them. Rabbits should be kept as pairs. They really should be kept as a castrated male, and a neutered female, as you can see here.

Here we have a castrated male sitting on the hutch, and the female dwarf lop on the floor. Rabbits really need companionship, and actually in the wild, they would live in large groups. And they really depend on each other for companionship, but also for security reasons.

Because they're a prey animal, they depend on others to keep an eye out for them and alert them to danger. Another consideration is the accommodation. You need to be able to provide a spacious hutch and a run.

A hutch is not enough. They really must have access 24/7 to a large run. Ideally this should be around ten feet, and a hutch around five feet.

As you can see in here, the hutch door is open so they can choose to go in and out for them. You'll also need to be able to find the correct diet. Hay should make up around 80% of the rabbits' diet, so they should have it everywhere.

As you can see in here, they've got it in paper bags, they've got it in litter trays, in hanging baskets, and even in the little sleepy hidey holes. It should be everywhere, and really encourage them to feed on that. Straw is not suitable for them, and it doesn't provide you with enough nutrition, so it must be really good quality green hay.

The other part of their diet would be all sorts of different types of plants. So they should be out in the grass grazing every day, and they should have a selection of other plants mixed in there. So they can have bramble leaves, they can have all different types of herbs, and they can have all sorts of garden flowers as well.

The other part would also be the feed: the dry mix. It's really important that you do feed them a dry pellet feed, and only a small handful once a day. This really shouldn't be overfed, and just a small handful either scattered in a bowl, scattered around the hutch or in a bowl.

Usually mixes are not good for rabbits, and they're really bad for their dental issues, so please make sure that you do go for plain pellet feed, as it is located in the bowl. You'll also need a clean bottle, and it's a good idea to have a couple of bottles, in case of any damages to them, so you've always got one to replace regularly, and this can be located on the hutch. The most important thing you need to consider is how you're going to afford their health care.

Rabbits require two vaccinations twice a year. This is a Myxomatosis vaccination, which should be done every six months, and a VHD vaccination, which is once a year. They also require worming, and this should be done every three months, through your vet practice.

Along with this should be a weekly health check that you and your family can do together. This should include nail clipping, checking for any lumps and bumps, and checking that their coat and their skin is in a healthy condition. It's really important that you, as the owners, that you can spot any problems straight away, as you're the people who are going to be with them every day.

So you can hopefully find something straight away and take them straight to the vet's to ensure they're treated correctly. .