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Its been a long time since Ive been on here.
I think the last time was when the board first restarted. Anyhow i used to post on the old board.
I raise standard chinchilla rabbits, and florida whites. I beleive in responsible breeding, and outletting. Not sure what the rules are here anymore. SO i hope thats not offending. I also do artwork.
Anyhow hi.
Hi dixonsrabbitry,
Nice to have you back. I just have two pet rabbits that I rescued myself about two years ago. I had them spayed and neutered and I don\'t know anything about breeding. What is outletting? I\'m just curious.
harplady Wrote:Hi dixonsrabbitry,
Nice to have you back. I just have two pet rabbits that I rescued myself about two years ago. I had them spayed and neutered and I don\'t know anything about breeding. What is outletting? I\'m just curious.
Well I wasn\'t sure if that was allowed to be discussed over here. Since i ran into some problems with posters on rabbits only that led to my banning over \'there.\' Responsible outletting is selling culls and non showable bunnies as a food source. Usually the ones i have a hard time selling as breeders, and can\'t keep for lack of space go there. And sometimes those that dont go as pets too.Kinda gross sounding, I know, but its one less animal I have to worry about ending up in an animal shelter, or being abused by someone.
This is the only site that I have found breeders on and I don\'t think you will have a problem here. As long as Austin hasn\'t been banned over his remarks about feeding the homeless, I don\'t think you have anything to worry about.
Austin, are you still around?
LOL! harplady. :) I think people on forums just tend to take the animals/food issue a little too seriously. Esp when that animal was originally bred for food in the first place. :)
I think people like to believe that there could be a perfect world where no rabbits would ever be killed. Dream on! Even PETA is under investigation in Virginia for killing pets and throwing them into dumpsters! It is amazing what people are capable of doing when the problem lands on their doorstep.
My daughter lived in an area of the country where every shelter is a no-kill shelter. Because of the long waiting lists to get pets into the shelters, people just dump them in the woods and the problem of feral cats is out of control.
I rescued the rabbits I have now, and ended up putting hundreds of dollars into their vet care. I have room for a couple more rabbits but was told by a shelter I can\'t adopt because I keep my buns outside and that is unexceptable. So two more rabbits will just have to be euthanized and I no longer think about what I should or shouldn\'t do to save any of them. Meanwhile, a lot of house rabbits will never get medical care and no one bothers to look at what is happening to them. It is the old, \"If you can\'t see it, the problem must not be there,\" attitude.
For a long time I was going to adopt a rescue grayhound. The adoption organization looks into what pets you have and if they receive regular vet check ups. That makes sense to me, but not this indoor, outdoor thing. I never adopted the dog because I ended up taking in four of my grandcats.
I think the trouble with a lot of the rescue organizations is that they are long on theory and short on common sense.
harplady Wrote:I think the trouble with a lot of the rescue organizations is that they are long on theory and short on common sense.
I think alot of them are just un-informed. Alot don\'t deal with rabbits too often. And some of the ones that do are really over bearing. bUt alot of them have the animals welfare in their best interest. And have a policy not to adopt out to people planning on keeping their pets outdoors. Its mostly because rabbits are a prey animal, and alot of pet owners never bother to make sure the yard is predator proofed. Or the bunny is protected from predators, or even the elements. So it would make sense to screen adopters and go for those keep their pets indoors to be on the safe side. Better to be safe then sorry and risk putting the animals life at danger. Not saying that all people that keep their outdoors are irresponsible where they don\'t take proper care of the animal. because most of mine are kept outdoors. But alot are. Alot will just throw the bunny in a cage in the back yard without any good fencing, or protection. It doesn\'t sound like the rescue was against you in any way. It just sounds more like they are particular on what kind of pet owner they adopt to, and want to make sure the rabbit is 100% safe.
If the shelters want to be sure that their rabbits are 100% safe, they should look at some of the stats on families, and they will find out that some of the worst preditors on earth are people living in families. With the divorce rate in the U.S. at about 45%, that adds up to a lot of stress in the home. My rabbits came from a home where there was domestic abuse going on, and they were stuck in a small cage with no exercise time.
Rabbits can be very destructive inside, and how easy it is to rabbit proof a home depends on what the home is like and what the personality of the rabbit is like. Animals are not valued the same as children, and I shutter to think about how some children are punished when they are destructive. I think that to put a destructive animal into a home, is putting that animal at risk for abuse. Dogs get beaten every day for soiling the carpet; a rabbit can easily end up in the trash and who will know?
I think for rabbits to have the best life possible, the owner needs to be educated and realistic about where they keep their rabbits and the needs of the rabbits, and it is difficult to get educated on outdoor rabbits if the information isn\'t out there. I think keeping rabbits as house pets is a wonderful idea that doesn\'t work for every rabbit owner. Too often small house pets end up in cages and never get out. In this area of the country, pet birds must be kept inside because of our climate, and some of the worst cases I have seen of animal neglect are pet birds that end up in dark basements. Owners often get rid of their birds because they become noisy, but rabbits are voiceless. Neglect of outdoor rabbits is often observed by neighbors, but not the neglect of indoor rabbits. Outdoors or indoors, the best solution depends on the situation of the owners. By banning outdoor rabbit owners from adoption, I think the shelters show a lot of ignorance. I can understand not wanting to adopt a house rabbit to an outdoor person, but there are plenty of outdoor rabbits that need to be adopted too. If the shelters can provide information for the care of house rabbits, they can provide information for the care of outdoor rabbits.
Most house pet rabbits that ive encountered that have been re-homed by area shelters around here are well cared for, have spacious cages, are litter trained, and are pampered. They don\'t just adopt to anyone. Particularly anyone thats known for being abusive. theres always the chance the animal will be abused or returned to the shelter. They try their darndest to make sure that doesn\'t happne. But they can\'t always be 100% correct on every single adoption they make. I know people that work in shelters and rescues around here. So I kinda know what makes them tick.
the shelters around here also take in tons of birds. Mainly small birds like budgies and teils. Most the owners either grow of them, or they get too noisey for them to handle. Theres a pet bird owner that lives across the road from me. And another that lives around the corner. Both keep their birds outside in tiny cages 24/7. i shudder to think of the day when some nieghbor hood kid will come around and knock the cages down to let them loose. Or some cat, dog, or squirrel, gets into the cages and kills the poor birds. I wish people would be more responsible with their pets of any kind. Alot aren\'t.
That said, my next pet bird will probably be a shelter bird. Huron valley humane society, and the surrounding michigan humane society shelters get in tons upon tons of unwanted pet birds. Might have to travel a bit. but i know peop0le working for them. And adoption fees are $5 per birdy. And sometimes it does come with a cage and toys. but i have three birds right now. And thats more then enough for me to handle.
Knowing the policies at to shelters around here, I could get a rabbit any time I want one. All I would have to do is tell them I am keeping my rabbits inside an nobody would know the difference. I just don\'t care to do that, and after getting four cats, I have enough pets. A spayed/neutered rabbit is only about $40, birds are $15 to $85 and dogs and cats are $85 to $250, as best as I can remember.
I just think the HRS is a select group of people for whom house rabbits work very well, but they are not the norm. Abusers aren\'t the norm either. I think most people fall somewhere in between. Some people get rabbits for house pets and when it doesn\'t work out for whatever reason, that rabbit sometimes end up outside. That is why I think it would be in the best interest of rabbits to be realistic and provide information on how to keep rabbits outside. People aren\'t going to stop putting rabbits outside because an organization tells them to.