Caring for Your Pet Rabbit

Housing:

The all wire cage is one of the most efficient and widely distributed cage types available on the market. To determine the size of cage you need allow 1 square foot of space for each pound your rabbit weighs. For example an average six-pound rabbit will need a cage 2 feet deep by 3 feet wide by 18 inches tall. You can build your own cage or purchase a pre-cut folded down cage for about $5 per square foot. If you place his cage outdoors make sure it is in the shade and has protection from the wind.

Feeding and Watering:

There is a variety of ways you can water and feed your rabbit but the most common ways are by either using ceramic crocks or j-feeders and bottle waterers. The ceramic crock can be used for either feed or water, but their downside is that they can be fairly expensive. The j-feeder is a self-feeding metal feeder that attaches on the outside of the cage, and when the feed is poured in the top it falls into the hopper which extends into the cage allowing the rabbit access to the feed. The bottle waterer is a plastic bottle with a nipple attached on one end forming a vacuum seal which extends into the cage, so when the rabbit licks or bites the nipple water flows out.

Always make sure your rabbit has plenty of fresh clean water all day.

Pelleted feed is one of the simplest ways to provide ample nutrition for your rabbit. Also provide plenty of fresh vegetables for your rabbit, but remember never feed a young rabbit green vegetables it will give him diarrhea and make him very sick. A young growing six week old rabbit will eat approx. ¾ cups of pellets per day. Here is a simple feeding guideline:

• 0-4 pounds – ¼ cup per day
• 5-7 pounds - ½ cup per day
• 8-10 pounds – ¾ cup per day
• 11-15 pounds – 1 cup per day

Housing Your Rabbit:

The best way to pick up your rabbit is to firmly but gently pick him up by the loose skin on his neck with your right hand and then place your left hand underneath his hindquarters. If you are going to carry him to another location tuck his head under your left armpit and support his weight with your left forearm. Never pick up your rabbit by its ears, and remember to always keep his head above the rest of his body. If you are just going to pet him you may rotate his body to any other desired position but make sure your rabbit is always given ample support on his hindquarters.

Common Ailments:

Diarrhea - Diarrhea is not a disease in of itself; rather it is a symptom of a disease. If you have a young rabbit with diarrhea the cause can possibly be because it ate a green vegetable. However if you are sure your rabbit has not eaten any green vegetables in the recent past, the reason he is having diarrhea is because it is a symptom of another disease.

Hairball or Wool Block - This happens when your rabbit ingests too many loose hairs while grooming itself. The loose hairs then clump together to form a ball inside the rabbits stomach. Your rabbit is then unable to digest food and as a result stops eating and starts drinking more water. The only way to dissolve this hairball inside the rabbit’s stomach is to put papaya or pineapple juice in their water. Some feed brands dehydrate these fruits and put them in the feed to prevent hairball from happening.

Heatstroke - Symptoms for heatstroke are seizures, heavy breathing and elevated body temperature. The cause for this is because your rabbit becomes overheated resulting in him having a heart attack and if quick action isn’t taken possibly dying! Ways to prevent this from happening is to keep your rabbit in the shade and by placing blocks of ice in the cage with him.

Malocclusion - Malocclusion is a misalignment of the teeth in which the top teeth do not properly match the bottom teeth. Because rabbit’s teeth grow at a rate of 4 inches a year, malocclusion can lead to quite bizarre twists and turns as your rabbits teeth grow.