Bunnies 101- episode 2 -Rabbit proofing your home

Bunny 101- episode 2: Bunny Proofing your Home

The ‘Bunny 101’ blogs are intended to be an educational resource for people who have adopted a rabbit as a companion animal. Rabbits are very sociable animals, yet fragile. With the ‘Bunny 101’ blogs, we will take you through the basics of do’s and dont’s of bunny feeding, care and bonding along with other important aspects of living with a house rabbit.

So you???ve decided to adopt a bunny ??? now what?!

Congratulations! you have decided to adopt a bunny ??? what joy!

At EVER we recommend you keep your new companion indoors and treat him or her as a house rabbit. There are so many benefits to housing your rabbit inside. This includes safety from predators and mosquitos carrying myxoma or calici viruses which kill rabbits. It means that your rabbit has the advantage of human companionship all the time. Rabbits are very fragile and can get several illnesses, which if not detected early, will cause suffering and death.

Once you???ve made the decision to adopt a bunny companion, there are a few basic yet highly important rules to be mindful of:

Firstly, make sure you take your bun to the vet for a health check-up, this includes teeth, ears ??? mite check, fleas, and even to confirm what sex your bunny is ??? this may sound silly, but it is worthwhile. We have known people that have adopted two does, and now have a family of 9 kits ??? a miracle? Or misinformation?

Bunny Proofing your home is one of the essential first steps to undertake. This means:

1. Preventing electrical cords from being chewed by the bunnies. This is the main hazard, and can cause severe burns or death as a consequence of biting into a cord.

This can be done by adding a partition, such as a pet cage; inserting the cords in hard cased plastic tubing available at hardware shops; wire concealers that stick on top of wires and follow the shape of the wall; spiral cable wrap, although beware that this is usually thin wrapping and can be easily accessible after a few chews.

2. Preventing the destruction of your furniture.

The easiest way to do this is to provide your bunny with lots of toys and entertainment, such as cat runs and cardboard boxes. We found that plastic protective sleeves around antique tables help as well

3. Keeping your new companion safe. This means removing poisonous plants.

For a list, check out the list of poisonous plants for rabbits

Now that your house is danger free (note that you will always be learning and improving), and ready to welcome your companion, you have one more thing to do: prepare the litter! YES! you heard me, bunnies can use the litter tray just as cats do. In the next blog, I will show you how to do that as well as construct a hay feeder ??? stay tuned or register to our newsletter and see a new “bunny 101 episode” each month