Worrying

I am reading some of these posts and I am getting really worried that I can't possibly care for my rabbits well. I was just reading something about urine scald....holy cow! What IS that? I had no idea about this stuff. Is there a beginner book or something that would be recommended for the ins and outs of owning a pet bunny/bunnies? Also, I notice many butcher their rabbits. Could that be ANY rabbit or just meat rabbits? I know those are very large, as I knew someone a long time ago that did that. But my regular ole bunnies could be eaten?

I hope I'm not being annoying with all these questions.

All domestic rabbits are the same species and hence, they are all edible.

Some breeds are raised more for meat than others, but most breeds are culled one way or another.
The truth is, culling rabbits goes a long way towards maintaining health and good genetics.

Rabbits do not suffer from nearly as many genetic disorders as dogs do, and it has a lot to do with breeders mimicking natural selection and eliminating animals with dangerous genes or recessive carriers. (split penis, cataracts, nestbox eye, dental malocclusion)

Selling a rabbit as a pet is almost the same thing as giving someone the go-ahead to breed it, so many of us would rather have an outlet to cull those genes VS allowing a rabbit to suffer with them, or spread them throughout the gene pool and potentially cause a lot more suffering.

There are also some incurable and highly contagious diseases that rabbits can carry. Many feel that it is better to remove the carriers then risk infecting more rabbits.


So yeah, your regular ole bunnies are made out of one of the healthiest meats known to man.
If doesn't mean anyone will see them as food instead of friends though, or make them any less lovable.

:yeahthat:

I don't know of a specific book on pet rabbits but there are many resources free online that are helpful. one of my favorites is The Domestic Rabbit by Dr. T E Reed (google it) It's a large PDF so I wouldn't suggest printing it. He covers a lot and I found it very useful.

Here on RabbitTalk if you look at the top of the screen there's a button - DOWNLOADS - there you can use your 35 bunny bucks and download a number of older documents on the care of rabbits. Some are really old! but there is knowledge there that is still good today.

with any animal there's a learning curve - IF you are willing to educate yourself and understand what a rabbit needs most anyone can provide a pet bunny a good environment

Keep the cage clean and the food and water fresh and you won't see many health issues. That's pretty much all a rabbit needs. You can provide more entertainment and in wire bottom cages a resting board. Some breeds don't have good feet for wire and can get sores without a resting board. Pet rabbits are more commonly kept on solid bottom cages where keeping the bedding dry and clean is important.

The rest of it comes down to genetics. You can't do anything to prevent genetic problems. You just have to handle them as they come along. If your rabbit is not from a good breeder that culls rabbits with health problems you may see them despite proper care. You should keep an eye on eating habits and condition of the teeth. Bad teeth is a common issue. Hay and wood to chew on can help lessen the risk of tooth problems. They may also be sensitive to respiratory infection. Sometimes those can't be cured and breeders usually put them down to not infect other rabbits as well as having to give antibiotics regularly to the rabbit carrying the illness. Respiratory infections are the most dangerous thing for rabbits and there's not much you can do. Avoiding exposure to other rabbits helps but isn't a guarantee they won't fall ill if they get stressed.

I was just reading something about urine scald....holy cow! What IS that?

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when a rabbit sits in its urine due to poor bathroom habits or an overly dirty or moist floor or litter box and the alkaline urine literally burns the skin off their feet and belly - clean their litter boxes and/or cages frequently and keep your rabbits dry as mildew and fungus can cause a similar problem.

deleur2":10jxs4oi said:

I am reading some of these posts and I am getting really worried that I can't possibly care for my rabbits well.

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Of course you can! Rabbits are usually pretty trouble free- it just seems like there are all sorts of problems because people post about that for advice. When things are going smoothly you don't hear about it.

deleur2":10jxs4oi said:

I notice many butcher their rabbits. Could that be ANY rabbit or just meat rabbits? I know those are very large, as I knew someone a long time ago that did that.

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As Zass said, all domestic rabbits are made of the same meat. But butchering a rabbit takes about the same amount of time whether it is 2lbs. or 5lbs. (although mature rabbits, especially bucks, take more time and effort) so the larger breeds are more commonly used for the purpose.

deleur2":10jxs4oi said:

Is there a beginner book or something that would be recommended for the ins and outs of owning a pet bunny/bunnies?

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I did research by reading books and online for months before getting my first rabbits... but I have learned the most here at RabbitTalk. There is nothing quite like the first hand experience of rabbit owners/raisers.

deleur2":10jxs4oi said:

I hope I'm not being annoying with all these questions.

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Of course not! Our members are always willing to help.

Most of us suffer from a condition known as "Raging Rabbitosis" and our primary goal in life is to infect as many other people as possible. :twisted:

Hey deleur2 - Don't worry. Be happy!

:mbounce:

Seriously, this is one of the few sites where you're welcome to ask about or discuss ALL aspects of breeding and caring for rabbits. It's a great resource and the folks here are really very open and kind with their suggestions and advice. In my experience, the folks that regularly visit this site are respectful of others and sincerely want to help.

In the same way Clydesdales were bred to be work horses, some breed of rabbits are considered to be "meat" breeds. Another way to say that is just about any horse can pull a cart and any rabbit can be processed and used as food. Some horses are better cart pullers and some rabbits produce more/better meat.

As for books for beginners - here are my favorites:

Raising Rabbits
Ann Kanable
ISBN: 0-87857-314-3

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits
Bob Bennett
ISBN: 978-1-60342-456-1

Raising Small Livestock
Jerome D. Belanger
ISBN: 0-486-44038-9

How to start a Commercial Rabbitry
Paul Mannell
Available from Bass Equipment Company

Hope that helps. Good luck to you!!

I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said already!

We have all kinds of rabbit people here. People who have a single pet rabbit, people who have a few angoras for wool, competition jumpers, show rabbits, meat rabbits... everything. Even among meat raisers, we have members who have a buck and two or three does to raise meat just for their family, all the way up to commercial rabbitries producing dozens of rabbits a week for processing and sale.

But all of us come together here to help each other with health issues, and to talk about rabbits.

As someone else mentioned, rabbits have their own learning curve... it can be a little steeper than that for a cat or dog. Rabbits are a prey animal... EVERYTHING eats rabbits... so they tend not to show that they are sick until it's an emergency. Also, cats are less inclined to eat live electrical wires, baseboards, chair legs, etc. :roll:

There's also all those youtube videos on how take care of your rabbit. If you just watch a few every night you can learn heaps.

I like these howcast videos, they are geared toward pet rabbit and house rabbits, but I find they have some good tips and info on just about everything --- this one is about poo and pee, it shows what urine is normal vs bladder sludge and which poo is normal.

http://www.howcast.com/videos/514704-Is ... et-Rabbits

Sometimes reading post it does seem like there are a lot of problems. For me I post a lot when I need help, so it seems everything is always going wrong. Well, I've had 19 litters, almost 200 or so kits last count in June, so out of that many, it less than 10% loss or problems. But when I have problems...
So much is learn as you go.