May 16, 2025 • 43 mins
Thinking about getting a rabbit? Stop right there! This week, we have Donna Rome from BunnAgain Rabbit Rescue and Education to tell you why adoption is the only way to go. We break down the realities of rabbit care – it's more than just carrots! – and Donna passionately explains the urgent need to adopt, not buy, to help the countless rabbits waiting for their forever homes. Learn about their specific needs, their amazing personalities, and how you can open your heart and home to a deserving bunny. It's time to hop to it and make a responsible choice!
#RabbitCare
#RabbitAdoption
#RescueRabbit
#AnimalRescue
#BunnyLove
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi, Donna.
How are you?
Donna (00:11):
I'm good.
Dixie (00:13):
tell me a little bit about yourself and what is the name of your rescue?
Donna (00:18):
My name is Donna Rome.
I have been a single mom fora long time, but my kids are
grown and out and I have been.
helping bunnies for, oh gosh, aboutalmost 20 years, but it only became
official in 2019 when I became BunnAgain Rabbit Rescue and Education.
(00:40):
That's a mouthful.
I have people who help me do the onlinestuff because I am not tech savvy.
I am trying to round up some more fosters.
We have about.
18 rabbits at my homeinside, and it's quite a job.
But there are just somany rabbits in need.
(01:02):
But I have had to slow down and.
Stopped taking in rabbits becauseI've been working with Jefferson,
SPCA, I'm in touch with Lola andFriends Rescue in Mississippi.
We communicate with Magic HappensRabbit Rescue in Baton Rouge.
(01:25):
We're all trying to do the same thing andwe're all in communication to see who can.
If anyone can accommodate, thenewest rabbit or, anything like that.
So we bounce ideas off of one anotherand get advice from one another and
and try to help one another, makethis job a little bit more bearable.
Dixie (01:49):
I think it's great that you work with all these other groups too.
'cause I've already had James onthe show with Lola and Friends.
I've spoken with Hannah, withthe Jefferson SPCA and they have
mentioned Bunn Again, both of them.
And I think it's great that all ofthe rabbit rescues work together.
'cause it's all about just gettingthem into homes and keeping 'em safe.
Donna (02:10):
And we're not competing against one another.
In fact, I welcome any and everyone toopen their own rabbit rescue because
there will be plenty of dumped.
Abandoned homeless rabbitsto last a lifetime.
Unfortunately, it justhappens all the time.
Even, yes, around Easter, afterEaster, but really year round because
(02:34):
people do not educate themselvesor they do not want to be educated.
Dixie (02:40):
I'm hoping that you can give us an education on it.
First I'd like to start, if you could tellme what is the difference between getting
a bunny from a rescue versus a pet store?
Donna (02:53):
The pet stores usually get tiny baby bunnies that have been
taken from their mother too early.
It suggested that.
Recommended that a baby bunnystay with its mother eight weeks.
Usually they're four weeks to wean, butthey need to be with mom another four
weeks for their gut flora to be mature.
(03:16):
So they're taken away from mom, sotheir gut is not mature and many times.
The stress of being at a petstore, they get coccidia.
In fact, most bunnies from the pet storewho are under six months old or six
weeks old actually have coccidia whenpeople buy them and they don't know it.
(03:40):
And.
Then if you don't take your newlittle baby bunny to the vet right
away, you could lose that baby bunny.
And for us we are always gettingcalls about pet store bunnies.
Oh, my bunny died, or My bunny's sick, or.
They told me I had two boys, but I havea boy and a girl, and now we have babies.
(04:03):
And 'cause little tiny rabbitsare really hard to sex.
You cannot sex a two tofour week baby accurately.
And that is a lot of the problem.
But, mainly they're, they shouldn'teven be sold at stores because
they're, they get sick, they getinjured, they're so stressed.
(04:24):
And the pet stores don'tgive any interviews.
They don't ask any questions.
Okay how are you planning totake care of this little rabbit?
They just say, oh, you got 40 bucks.
Here's your rabbit.
Oh, here's two of 'em.
It's a boy, it's two boys.
And then in a couple of months theyget mature and you find out whether
(04:47):
they're two boys or a boy and a girl.
Or whatever, but in rescue we neverwill adopt out a fertile rabbit.
That is just a big no-no for us.
The first thing we do is get the bunny vetchecked and spayed or neutered, depending
(05:13):
on if they're old enough, because theycan have babies young as three months
old, which is ridiculous, but it happens,and we try to get the rabbits fixed
as soon as we believe they are ready.
And the vet can usually tell whether,they're too young if they're female,
but usually the males, as soon astheir little family jewels drop,
(05:34):
then they are ready to be fixed.
But the thing is, people don't realize.
The little males can stay fertilefor up to five weeks after neuter.
Dixie (05:44):
Oh, wow.
Donna (05:44):
So if you have a yes, if you have a boy and a girl, you better
get that little girl fixed first.
Dixie (05:51):
Wow.
Donna (05:51):
Because that little boy is going.
Yeah.
That little boy is still gonnahave some live bullets and there
is no guarantee that you have.
solved your problem, and alot of people just don't know.
I found out by accident years ago.
Yeah.
It's really amazing.
They have earned their reputation.
(06:12):
Absolutely.
The girls, rabbits havetwo uterus, so guess what?
When they're mature.
Mature and there's a boy around,they'll ovulate and guess what?
They're pregnant.
And it could be from 28 to 30 days, buta couple weeks before they give birth,
it's possible to go ahead and have somemore eggs fertilized than the other
(06:37):
uterus so they can overlap litters andthose poor breeder bunnies are just.
Worn out because they don't geta chance for their body to heal
and rest, and it's just cruel.
But it is ridiculous how quicklythings can get out of hand if you
do not make sure that somebodyknowledgeable is checking to
(07:01):
see, do you really have two boys?
And if you don't take 'em to the vet.
They need to be the vet can tellyou if you've got a boy or girl
they know how to tell very early.
And they can also do a fecal test tocheck for parasites because if your
little baby bunny has parasites, then.
(07:22):
All the nutrition that they're takingin can be taken away by the parasites,
and then they get loose stools, theyget bloated belly, and they can really
starve to death without, lacking any food.
It's just a really sad situation.
The possibilities are when you buy arabbit from a pet store, you just really
(07:45):
don't know what you're getting literally.
And with rescue, you are getting a bunnythat cannot have babies, whether it's a
boy or a girl, and it's been fixed anyway,you pretty much know the personality
of the bunny because, we've had anidea of how they act and what they do.
And with rescue, we will be oncall basically to help answer
(08:12):
questions and, for my rescue.
I'm always willing tobe available by text.
It's if is this plant safe forthe bunny and how do I do this?
And oh, the nails, and there's a greatresource online called rabbit.org.
It's the House Rabbit Society.
(08:33):
And that's like a worldwide bunnycrazy people forum, which has a lot of
articles and videos and just really basicinformation, especially for new bunny
owners because you can go and you canfind out what their body language means.
(08:55):
You can find out.
How is the best way to handle them?
You can find out differentways to clip their nails.
You can find out, why does my bunnyseem angry and why does he attack me?
A lot of rabbits are, they're ina small little space and they take
ownership of that little space.
If you don't give them morespace they're gonna be bored,
(09:18):
they're gonna be aggressive.
If you can work with them and youcan help them to feel safe, to
trust you and to be happy and.
Do their cute little binky bounces up inthe air and just be really entertaining.
You just gotta give them space.
(09:38):
And so it's just so much of a betteridea to get a bunny from a rescue.
But if people have alreadygotten Easter bunnies.
Usually as soon as they turn, maybefour or five months old, their little
bunny , isn't as sweet as it used to be.
(10:00):
It's starting to mark things.
It's starting to chew things.
It's starting to really smellmusky, especially if it's a boy.
And people just don'teven think of options.
They say, I don't want this anymore.
And it's just so sad because all you haveto do is get the bunny spa or neutered.
(10:25):
And Jefferson Parish has a great programcalled Fix a Rabbit, and it's a low
price spay or neuter for the rabbitfor residents of Jefferson Parish.
And even if they cannotparticipate in the Fix a Rabbit
(10:45):
program, you just call around.
Rabbit.org
has a list of bunny savvyveterinarians because rabbits are
really sensitive to anesthesia.
And if you don't get someone who'sfamiliar with rabbits, it's a high
possibility that your a little bunnyis gonna have some serious difficulty
(11:10):
and maybe even lose the bunny.
But there are options.
If you can't afford it, maybea rescue would work with you.
Maybe a shelter would work withyou to be able to keep your bunny.
And also they need to stay inside.
A lot of people put theirrabbits outside and when I was
a kid, I did the same thing.
(11:32):
Being outside, you cannotmonitor the rabbit.
You can't tell whether it's noteating as much, whether it's litter.
Habits have changed, things lookdifferent, whether it's getting
enough water whether it's overheating,whether there are predators around
rabbits can be scared to death.
(11:52):
One of our adoptees there was a straydog in the yard and they had the
bunnies out playing in their pen.
And the dog did not evencome close to the enclosure.
But one of their rabbitsjust was so high strung.
He just started thumpingand they went out.
(12:13):
They shooed the dog away and theypicked up the rabbit and he, his
heart was just beating a mile aminute, and he never calmed down.
And he died.
He gave himself a heart attack.
So those things, bunnies are way morefragile than people give him credit for.
And they need an exotic vet.
And, there are things that can happen tothem that you might not think about, like.
(12:37):
When they shed likeother animals, they can.
Swallow too much hair.
And unlike a cat, they can't cough it up.
Rabbits cannot vomit.
They can only swallow, and that'sanother thing most people don't know.
And that's why you neverfast a rabbit before surgery.
(12:59):
Their gut has to keep going becauseif their gut slows down, then
there's a possibility that theirgut will stop working altogether.
So rabbits have to always have food and ifyou don't get a rabbit savvy vet then, you
might get more trouble than you expect.
(13:23):
But I'm just so concerned about people whoalready have their rabbits that already
have purchased an Easter Bunny, and Ijust feel like grabbing them and saying,
you must let me look at this rabbit.
You must let me tell youwhether it's a boy or girl.
You must let me help you keepit in a safe environment.
(13:46):
You must keep it inside.
Please.
Because there's predators,there's parasites.
There's poison plants, all the peas.
And you don't know, sometimes yourbunny will get into something that
they shouldn't, or you don't know.
Like most of the bulb plantsare poisonous to rabbits.
(14:07):
Some of the ones that havethe oh, like irises and stuff.
What do you call theroots of those things?
Rhizomes.
Sometimes plants withrhizomes are not good.
We had someone whose bunny, hopped intothe irises and he started nibbling on 'em
and he had a seizure and they lost him.
You really have to be familiar with alot of things if you're gonna try even
(14:32):
just to let your bunny play outside.
Because they are prey animals, theirnature is to hide, to be on the ground.
And, they don't really feel safe unlessthey know that they can get somewhere
where they cannot be seen from above.
And sometimes even, all sides.
If you have a bunny in their space andthere's nowhere for that bunny to feel
(15:00):
like they can have a quiet, dark space.
They can often just be nervousall the time, and that's a
stress that can make them sick.
There's just so many things thatcan make a bunny ill and people just
(15:22):
don't know enough to realize that.
They really need to considertheir rabbit's needs and, be more
accommodating if they want that littleguy to be their friend for years.
Unfortunately people buy them andkids 10 years old and don't think
(15:43):
about when the kid's 20 years old.
They just, oh my kid wants a bunny.
Kids can't take care of bunnies.
Some adults can't eventake care of bunnies.
The best thing to do is.
Educate yourself.
And we have a program which not too manypeople have taken advantage of, maybe
just because they don't know about it.
(16:04):
But we've got a program calledLearn Before You Leap, and it's.
especially geared to people who don'treally understand what bunny life can be.
So we try to give them an opportunityto try out bunny life with, of
course, with an application,with, approval and all that stuff.
(16:25):
We, I guess what you mightcall, rent all the supplies to
the family and with a bunny.
Just stay in touch with them.
Let them ask questions.
Tell 'em what's the right thing.
And and they try it out fromanywhere from two to six weeks.
(16:47):
Usually two weeks is enough for a kid.
To say, oh this thing actually hasto process food and at the end I'm
the one who has to clean it up.
Oh no.
And they get tired of that real quick.
Yeah.
The bunny's cute, but that cute littlethree week old bunny is gonna double
its size in another two weeks and thenthey're not cute anymore, or they're not.
(17:14):
Special anymore.
And that's another reasonpeople don't keep them.
They see some of our miniature bunniesand they say, gosh, that's a big rabbit.
And it's so sad because then you knowthat they've never seen anything but
prematurely sold pet store bunnies.
So man, it's just a big problem.
(17:37):
It's a big problem.
Especially in Jefferson Parish, there'sso many places that people just, they
get tired of their rabbit or theydon't want the responsibility and
they just, oh, let 'em run around inthe yard and oops, they got out and
then they don't go looking for them.
(17:57):
And, poor little guys get injured or,malnutrition or pick up a parasite from
any animal that tinkles in the grassand it could die a slow, painful death.
And I just wish that people who doget rabbits and then regret it, not to
(18:21):
let them free, but to contact someone.
Keep the rabbit temporarily untilsomeone, one of the rescue people, one
of the shelter people can line up someappointments, line up a foster, but
don't make us go out in a park and chasea poor little scared to death rabbit,
(18:49):
could take us days, weeks to catch 'em.
And by then, their problems are worse.
But it's just somethingthat continues to be done.
And I don't know if it's becausepeople just don't see rabbits as
companion animals or if they're just.
(19:15):
Selfish or if they think thatrabbits are wild animals and
they can live like cottontailsor swamp rabbits, but they can't.
So I don't know.
I'm just really disappointed inthe human race a lot of times.
Dixie (19:37):
Yeah.
I think it's a lot of times too, like thestores will market them as starter pets.
And no pets are astarter pet for, one thing
Donna (19:49):
maybe a pet rock.
Yeah.
But that's about it.
Dixie (19:51):
A pet rock.
I can agree with that.
But if a child wants an animal,I think the parents need to be
educated on that as well, notjust getting a pet for the child.
It's fine to have a pet for a childif you understand the responsibilities
that are involved in it,
Donna (20:09):
right?
If you are going to care for thepet, if you're gonna be the main
caretaker and show the child whatit means to sacrifice for another
life, help the child understand that.
It's something that's living andbreathing and needs love, and needs
care, and needs the doctor sometimes.
(20:31):
And, sometimes just like kids,it's afraid of loud noises.
It's afraid of dogs, it's afraid.
Like they have to understand that it is aliving feeling, being that it's not a toy.
And but the way they're marketed,it's this little impulse buy.
(20:54):
Look how cute.
Look how cute this little thing is.
Oh, this is so fluffy.
You just need to have this.
Oh, this one has floppy ears.
It looks like a baby.
It looks like a stuffed animal.
Get this one because it,it's just so cute and fluffy.
Cute and fluffy has to be groomed.
Cute and fluffy.
Has to be, you have to make surethat little bunny is trimmed, that
(21:17):
it doesn't swallow too much furthat it has the right nutrition.
It's not a toy.
And parents need to be more responsibleabout their decisions because it's
their decision and it's their animal.
It's their responsibility,and they need to know that.
They need to accept that from the moment.
(21:41):
They make that decision becauseif they're gonna go to the store
and just pick up something becauseit's cute and not even think about
what happens when it gets sick?
What happens if we have to go on vacation?
What happens if we have a baby?
What happens if we move?
(22:02):
What happens?
You have to think of all the things thatyou would think about for a dog or a cat.
Even another family member, it's notjust a quick fix to, to make your
kid happy, because the kid, when thebunny reaches maturity is probably
gonna bite or scratch that kid.
Dixie (22:22):
And then you were saying too, like they'll get 'em and then they don't
think of all those things, but theydo that for puppies and kitties too,
Donna (22:30):
absolutely.
Dixie (22:31):
Unfortunately, that is part of the
problem is for some reason, animalsare looked at as being disposable.
There are people like us who willdo anything for our animals, but
then you see people, that arelike, oh, my kid wants a pet.
Let's go out and get a puppy, akitten, a bunny, or whatever, and a
few weeks later they don't want 'em.
I know somebody thatactually got two bunnies.
(22:54):
And, the sex of the bunnieswas wrong, so yeah, those two
bunnies turned into six bunnies.
And luckily I believe a rescue steppedin before it got outta control.
Donna (23:07):
That was
lucky.
Dixie (23:07):
Yeah.
But , a rescue shouldn't evenhave to for that, you have to
have a little bit of common sense.
If you're getting two bunnies, make surethat you're getting two females, if you
are not sure, then don't get two, get one.
Donna (23:20):
Oh, it's just educate.
There's pictures of howto correctly sex a rabbit.
There's there's just so much informationavailable, basically almost, I.
Almost having just Google isenough but there's a lot of wrong
information on Google, so that's whyI specifically recommended rabbit.org,
(23:43):
because there are random pet sites thatdo not have accurate or full information.
And you really need to look for thatpet specific group because especially
exotic pets because only the peoplewho've had them know what their
(24:07):
common issues are or what comes up.
In their care.
And you know what can happenwhen they reach a certain age?
And speaking of certain age, the femalerabbits, if you get one that's older,
say somebody got one and they don'twant anymore, so they give it to you.
Okay, fine.
(24:27):
So you've got this 2-year-oldfemale rabbit that they let her
have a litter at least once and.
When females are over two years old theyhave a higher risk of reproductive cancer.
But if they've ever had a litter,then that possibility shoots up.
(24:50):
And , you have to get your femalesspayed, even if you don't have a boy.
'cause people tell me, oh, whyshould I get my bunny fixed?
Isn't no, I don't have boy rabbits.
No, it's because your femalecan get uterine cancer.
We've rescued some that already haduterine cancer or mammary gland cancer.
(25:12):
And thank God with the spay,they were able to remove the
cancer and the cases that we had.
But you can't take that kind of risk.
If you love that pet.
You want that pet to be happy and healthy.
You need to consider always to spay aneuter because females can go into a false
(25:33):
pregnancy and that stresses them out.
Just like a woman with PMS, youdon't wanna a grumpy bunny who's
all just feeling and all mixedup and she's pulling out her fur
it's a stressful situation for her.
And if you get her fixed,she won't go through that.
She won't be making a nest becauseshe feels like she's having babies
(25:55):
or her hormones are going crazy.
Hormones can make them aggressiveand it can actually affect
other critters in the house.
Anytime I rescue a bunny that'snot fixed yet my other rabbits
start tussling with each other.
It's just those hormones.
(26:17):
They can smell 'em, it affects them.
Even males.
Oh my gosh.
Males, they can have sucha stinky musky, oh gosh.
It just smells up the wholehouse and they'll go, I don't
wanna bring my bunny inside.
That's 'cause you didn't neuter him.
If you neutered him, then that smellwould not overtake your entire house.
(26:39):
He wouldn't wanna spray all yourfurniture . He wouldn't wanna chase
you or hump your leg or whatever.
There's just so much to besaid for spay and neuter.
It just.
It's near miraculous that, youget a whole new money almost
they automatically just aboutautomatically litter train themselves.
(26:59):
They can use litter boxes andpeople say you just use cat litter.
No.
Rabbits have to have paper-basedlitter or kiln dried wood like.
Sometimes they have thelittle pine pellets.
A lot of people use the horsestall pellets from tractor supply
me because we have so many, Iuse newspaper and shredded paper.
(27:21):
But no, you can't do the clay litters.
You can't do the untreated pine.
You can't do especially cedar if theyare inhaling cedar oil, they can.
Have liver problems.
There's just so much of what we thoughtwe knew years ago was totally wrong
(27:45):
and totally harmful to our rabbits.
There's things on the market that havea picture of a rabbit on it, but you're
not supposed to give that to a rabbit.
They're not.
Equipped to process that kind ofprotein or that kind of sugar.
You can't even depend on the pet storeindustry to give you accurate information.
(28:11):
You have to go and find it yourself and,there's a lot of good resources out there,
but you have to want to know about it.
Dixie (28:22):
Now, what about fleas on bunnies
? Donna (28:24):
Fleas, they do like rabbits.
They mostly like the lightcolored rabbits for some reason
they're attracted to light.
But a free meal is a free meal andthey'll go after the dark ones too.
They can pick up fleas from outside.
They can pick up fleas from, from inside,they can, fleas can hit you right on
(28:45):
your socks and boom, you've got fleas.
But there are over the counter remediesthat you can get to eliminate the fleas.
The I always tell people youcan get the advantage with a G,
but never advantage with an x.
(29:05):
I always tell them G means go.
X means skull and crossbones.
Advantix will kill yourrabbit Advantage is ok.
You can get the cat dose and there arecharts online tell you how much per
pound of rabbit that you have to put on.
(29:26):
You just put it on topically and butfor us we feel like a better product
is the prescription revolution.
Now revolution has made another formula,but it's the original revolution formula.
It's just selemectin.
But the revolution forcats, it got too expensive.
(29:48):
And now finally there isa generic called revolt.
But if it is selemectin,then that is what?
We use because not only does it killfleas, but if there are any kind of mites
or ear mites because a lot of time we'vegotten, we've rescued rabbits that, oh,
poor babies, they had crust in their ears.
(30:11):
They lost hair because these littlebunny lice or just eating them
all alive, but the revolution.
Or the revolt will take care ofthe mites and the fleas, just the
advantage, it will only control thefleas, but the environment needs to
(30:33):
be treated, needs to be vacuumed.
We just use diatomaceous earth,which is basically crushed coral
and it's food grade, so it'sjust like this gray dust that.
The pieces are so tiny that theycut into the exoskeleton of the
bugs and they end up drying them up.
(30:54):
It's not an instant kill,but it does take care of 'em.
Dixie (30:57):
I've heard other people mention that before, but I have no experience
with how you would actually use it.
Donna (31:04):
Diatomaceous earth is like a very fine powder.
So you can either put itin a powder container.
They actually, at the gardenstores, they actually sell like this
little accordion, plastic pump thatit's just got a straw at the end.
And when you squeeze it, itpoofs, the powder into the air.
(31:27):
Only thing is with the bunnies, you justhave to be careful not to apply it close
to their face because they can inhale it.
But it is safe if theyaccidentally eat it.
If it gets on their skin, it's fine.
It just might dry their skin a little bit.
But the the environment, you couldsprinkle some in their litter.
(31:52):
I have a contraption that you windit up like a, oh, gosh, I'm not even
sure what how to describe it, butit's almost like a powder machine gun.
You load up the.
Canister.
And then when you turn the wheel, itjust pushes the powder out of the nozzle
(32:13):
and you can do a big area that way.
And then people used that to spray theirtrees, especially the citrus trees.
I think my papa used to dothat with the, with his trees.
He had one of those look, italmost looked more like a bike
pump that he would just pump the.
The powder all over the branches.
But but yeah that's how you apply it.
(32:33):
You can put it in a saltshaker it's so fine.
It can clump up if you don'thave the big enough holes.
So you gotta maybe have a little airbehind it to to make it spread out.
But if you get there are some farmstores that will sell a small bag for
a lot of money, but I'll usually goto an agriculture store and get a big
(32:56):
old bag, and that's only like maybe25 bucks, maybe not even that much,
and you get 40 pounds of that stuff.
It could last forever.
And, I'll share, so yeah, there, thereare some things you can do to control
the fleas to keep them out of your carpetor your your house or your Bunny's area.
(33:17):
And you just have to know what'ssafe and, just keep an eye out.
If you regularly handle your rabbitand pet them, you can tell whether
there's gonna be fleas or not.
You don't have to treat a bunnyevery month if they had fleas one
time, unless you're seeing fleas.
Like I said, it's usually.
(33:38):
Mostly the light colored onesthat the fleas like to jump on.
But we've had some, especially thelong-haired bunnies that the fleas like
to get under the mats in their fur.
So that's another reason youreally need to be diligent about
if you get a fluffy, cute bunny,you better be good with a comb.
(33:58):
You better, learn howto trim 'em correctly.
And that's another thing you can.
Look up online, you know howto safely trim your rabbit.
You got to do their nails because theycan get arthritis in their little toes
if their nails grow so long that theirtoes are crooked when they're walking.
Just maintenance.
Just learn what theirday-to-day needs are.
(34:21):
And once you know what your bunny is likeas far as what their normal is, what their
normal appetite is, what their normalwater intake, what their normal activity,
what their normal poops look it's easyto tell when something's not right.
If you have kept your eye on that bunnyand know them well enough to know when
(34:43):
they're not acting themselves and.
Bunnies will hide their illnesses.
They will hide their pain, they will hideall their symptoms because being prey
animals, they don't wanna stand out likea sore thumb with a target on their head.
They're gonna hide the thingsthat are bothering them.
(35:04):
So you are responsible to knowto look, to, to spend time to,
watch over your bunny, to check.
And see, how much they're eating and iftheir litter habits are consistent and if
what's in the litter box is consistent.
'cause they can have different shapedstools that mean certain things.
(35:25):
And if you catch it early,you can avoid the vet.
But, it's really important thatthey see a vet at least once a year.
But if they stop eating, if their appetitegoes down, that's something you really
have to be on alert for because thatcould be GI stasis and it can happen
(35:49):
if they're stressed, it can happen.
If there's maybe constructiongoing on, it can happen If.
There's a new kid in the house.
It can happen if you move their enclosureto another room, they can stress out
easily and they can lose their appetite.
And if they lose their appetite andthey don't have food going through their
(36:10):
system, it can slow down and it can stop.
They'll go in shock.
All their organs will shut downand you're gonna lose your bunny.
So as soon as you notice that appetite is.
Not what it needs to be.
You need to get ready to syringe,feed that bunny and call your vet.
If they need to have somethingin their system 24 7.
(36:33):
That's why they recommend that youleave hay in their space all the time.
They need Timothy hay.
The older ones need TimothyHay and the youngest.
The babies need alfalfa becauseit's got protein and calcium, but
don't give the older bunnies alfalfabecause it can make bladder stones.
(36:55):
So yes, even rabbits can get bladderstones and there's just a lot to know.
I'm still learning.
I've been at this a long time, but I amstill learning, I'm still finding out
things that are happening to other rabbitsand going on within other rescues that.
Oh my gosh, I didn'teven think about that.
Or I didn't know that.
(37:15):
Or, oh man, I need to, bemore diligent about this.
Or it's they're fascinating littlecritters and it's such an honor
to be trusted by one of them.
I just wish people, more peopleknew what joy they can bring to
your household if you just take alittle time and educate yourself.
Dixie (37:38):
Absolutely.
Donna (37:40):
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Dixie (37:43):
Yeah and definitely it's important that you always think about the animal
first and for any pet you have, if youthink, or if you suspect there's something
that's out of the ordinary to the pointwhere you're questioning yourself, then
you just need to go take 'em to thevet and just go get 'em checked out
for your peace of mind at least too.
Donna (38:05):
Absolutely.
An exotic vet.
It's gonna cost a little more thana dog or cat vet, but would you
rather have caught something beforeit was too late or just saved a
few bucks and lost your friend?
You have to think about it that way.
So mean, but you won't know.
You won't know if there'sanything wrong if you are not.
(38:29):
Spending time, if you're not handlingthe bunny, sometimes you'll find a lump.
Sometimes you'll find a little sore orjust small things that can become great
big things if you don't know about it.
It's just like your child.
(38:49):
If you're gonna have this kid inyour house and what you're never
going to, pet their hair and nevergonna, give them a bath and see if
they have a bruise or, it's important.
All that stuff is important.
Animals are family and if that'snot what they're gonna be.
Then get a stuffed animal,go visit somebody with a pet.
(39:12):
It's not that hard.
If you can't commit, but you loveanimals, hey, be a foster, right?
We give you everything you needand all you gotta do is love them.
And yeah, it's a little sacrifice oftime, you don't have to pay for the vet.
You don't have to.
Go get the cage and allthat and the litter box.
(39:33):
If you're close enough to whereI can meet you, I'll bring you
shredded paper for the litter.
I'll bring you hay and pelletsif you know that's what you need.
And then, whenever you need to goon your summer vacation, hey, let
us know a couple weeks in advanceso we can come and get the baby.
(39:54):
Find somebody else.
But during that time, at least thebunny has been paid attention to
it's been seen by people who maybenormally wouldn't see being here at
the rescue and the people who tookcare of it have learned, if that's
something that they want in the future.
(40:16):
It seems to be a win-win for everybody,people need to take advantage.
We need some fosters.
So help.
Dixie (40:25):
Can I ask where you've learned all this information?
Donna (40:29):
Oh my goodness.
Years years of talking to other people.
Years of experience, years ofhaving vet surprises sharing
information with other rabbit groups.
Reading going online and going to thereputable sites and finding out, and,
(40:52):
a lot of times the rabbit groups will.
Post something about the latestillness and, it's from everywhere.
I absorb it from a lot ofdifferent resources and you
can't always trust one resource.
You have to get, you have toget a well-rounded resource.
pool to, to know to be ableto trust the information.
(41:15):
And like I said, from experience I knowa lot of this stuff from experience, but,
some of it was someone else's experienceor mistakes that I learned from.
And, we've made a lot of mistakes.
Like I said, the, especially thebunny being fertile after neuter.
Yeah.
We've made some mistakesand we still make mistakes.
Sometimes we miss things . We don'tknow the whole story about, and we
(41:40):
don't know the whole story abouta lot of these rabbits we rescue.
So sometimes they have things that wehad no idea and, come up with it later on
after they've been adopted and we just,there was no way we could know that.
But it's all a continuous learning curve.
Just by observing and being awareand paying attention and being
(42:04):
passionate about it, it's I care.
So I wanna know where my mistakes are.
I wanna know what is abetter way to do something.
I wanna know how to keep my bunnies happy.
And healthy of course.
But there's just a lot ofinformation that can be had if
you take a little time and look.
Dixie (42:26):
I'm lucky that you were able to come on and share all
this information with me today.
I really enjoyed listening to you.
Before we end this, is thereanything else you would like to add?
Donna (42:38):
Oh my goodness.
Volunteer, donate adopt Foster,everybody can do something.
It's just so important.
There's so many animals out there.
Educate yourself, educate others,and just be compassionate.
Dixie (43:01):
Definitely.
Thank you so much.
I really enjoyed speaking with you.
Donna (43:05):
Alright thank you for letting me explode your brain with information.
Dixie (43:09):
I'd love to have you back on in the future too.
Donna (43:12):
Awesome.
All right, I hope somebody gleamssomething from this conversation.
Dixie (43:18):
I think they will.
It was very informative.
Donna (43:21):
Nice.
All right, thank you so much for theopportunity and keep loving them critters.
Dixie (43:27):
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi, Donna.
How are you?
Donna (00:11):
I'm good.
Dixie (00:13):
tell me a little bit about yourself and what is the name of your rescue?
Donna (00:18):
My name is Donna Rome.
I have been a single mom fora long time, but my kids are
grown and out and I have been.
helping bunnies for, oh gosh, aboutalmost 20 years, but it only became
official in 2019 when I became BunnAgain Rabbit Rescue and Education.
(00:40):
That's a mouthful.
I have people who help me do the onlinestuff because I am not tech savvy.
I am trying to round up some more fosters.
We have about.
18 rabbits at my homeinside, and it's quite a job.
But there are just somany rabbits in need.
(01:02):
But I have had to slow down and.
Stopped taking in rabbits becauseI've been working with Jefferson,
SPCA, I'm in touch with Lola andFriends Rescue in Mississippi.
We communicate with Magic HappensRabbit Rescue in Baton Rouge.
(01:25):
We're all trying to do the same thing andwe're all in communication to see who can.
If anyone can accommodate, thenewest rabbit or, anything like that.
So we bounce ideas off of one anotherand get advice from one another and
and try to help one another, makethis job a little bit more bearable.
Dixie (01:49):
I think it's great that you work with all these other groups too.
'cause I've already had James onthe show with Lola and Friends.
I've spoken with Hannah, withthe Jefferson SPCA and they have
mentioned Bunn Again, both of them.
And I think it's great that all ofthe rabbit rescues work together.
'cause it's all about just gettingthem into homes and keeping 'em safe.
Donna (02:10):
And we're not competing against one another.
In fact, I welcome any and everyone toopen their own rabbit rescue because
there will be plenty of dumped.
Abandoned homeless rabbitsto last a lifetime.
Unfortunately, it justhappens all the time.
Even, yes, around Easter, afterEaster, but really year round because
(02:34):
people do not educate themselvesor they do not want to be educated.
Dixie (02:40):
I'm hoping that you can give us an education on it.
First I'd like to start, if you could tellme what is the difference between getting
a bunny from a rescue versus a pet store?
Donna (02:53):
The pet stores usually get tiny baby bunnies that have been
taken from their mother too early.
It suggested that.
Recommended that a baby bunnystay with its mother eight weeks.
Usually they're four weeks to wean, butthey need to be with mom another four
weeks for their gut flora to be mature.
(03:16):
So they're taken away from mom, sotheir gut is not mature and many times.
The stress of being at a petstore, they get coccidia.
In fact, most bunnies from the pet storewho are under six months old or six
weeks old actually have coccidia whenpeople buy them and they don't know it.
(03:40):
And.
Then if you don't take your newlittle baby bunny to the vet right
away, you could lose that baby bunny.
And for us we are always gettingcalls about pet store bunnies.
Oh, my bunny died, or My bunny's sick, or.
They told me I had two boys, but I havea boy and a girl, and now we have babies.
(04:03):
And 'cause little tiny rabbitsare really hard to sex.
You cannot sex a two tofour week baby accurately.
And that is a lot of the problem.
But, mainly they're, they shouldn'teven be sold at stores because
they're, they get sick, they getinjured, they're so stressed.
(04:24):
And the pet stores don'tgive any interviews.
They don't ask any questions.
Okay how are you planning totake care of this little rabbit?
They just say, oh, you got 40 bucks.
Here's your rabbit.
Oh, here's two of 'em.
It's a boy, it's two boys.
And then in a couple of months theyget mature and you find out whether
(04:47):
they're two boys or a boy and a girl.
Or whatever, but in rescue we neverwill adopt out a fertile rabbit.
That is just a big no-no for us.
The first thing we do is get the bunny vetchecked and spayed or neutered, depending
(05:13):
on if they're old enough, because theycan have babies young as three months
old, which is ridiculous, but it happens,and we try to get the rabbits fixed
as soon as we believe they are ready.
And the vet can usually tell whether,they're too young if they're female,
but usually the males, as soon astheir little family jewels drop,
(05:34):
then they are ready to be fixed.
But the thing is, people don't realize.
The little males can stay fertilefor up to five weeks after neuter.
Dixie (05:44):
Oh, wow.
Donna (05:44):
So if you have a yes, if you have a boy and a girl, you better
get that little girl fixed first.
Dixie (05:51):
Wow.
Donna (05:51):
Because that little boy is going.
Yeah.
That little boy is still gonnahave some live bullets and there
is no guarantee that you have.
solved your problem, and alot of people just don't know.
I found out by accident years ago.
Yeah.
It's really amazing.
They have earned their reputation.
(06:12):
Absolutely.
The girls, rabbits havetwo uterus, so guess what?
When they're mature.
Mature and there's a boy around,they'll ovulate and guess what?
They're pregnant.
And it could be from 28 to 30 days, buta couple weeks before they give birth,
it's possible to go ahead and have somemore eggs fertilized than the other
(06:37):
uterus so they can overlap litters andthose poor breeder bunnies are just.
Worn out because they don't geta chance for their body to heal
and rest, and it's just cruel.
But it is ridiculous how quicklythings can get out of hand if you
do not make sure that somebodyknowledgeable is checking to
(07:01):
see, do you really have two boys?
And if you don't take 'em to the vet.
They need to be the vet can tellyou if you've got a boy or girl
they know how to tell very early.
And they can also do a fecal test tocheck for parasites because if your
little baby bunny has parasites, then.
(07:22):
All the nutrition that they're takingin can be taken away by the parasites,
and then they get loose stools, theyget bloated belly, and they can really
starve to death without, lacking any food.
It's just a really sad situation.
The possibilities are when you buy arabbit from a pet store, you just really
(07:45):
don't know what you're getting literally.
And with rescue, you are getting a bunnythat cannot have babies, whether it's a
boy or a girl, and it's been fixed anyway,you pretty much know the personality
of the bunny because, we've had anidea of how they act and what they do.
And with rescue, we will be oncall basically to help answer
(08:12):
questions and, for my rescue.
I'm always willing tobe available by text.
It's if is this plant safe forthe bunny and how do I do this?
And oh, the nails, and there's a greatresource online called rabbit.org.
It's the House Rabbit Society.
(08:33):
And that's like a worldwide bunnycrazy people forum, which has a lot of
articles and videos and just really basicinformation, especially for new bunny
owners because you can go and you canfind out what their body language means.
(08:55):
You can find out.
How is the best way to handle them?
You can find out differentways to clip their nails.
You can find out, why does my bunnyseem angry and why does he attack me?
A lot of rabbits are, they're ina small little space and they take
ownership of that little space.
If you don't give them morespace they're gonna be bored,
(09:18):
they're gonna be aggressive.
If you can work with them and youcan help them to feel safe, to
trust you and to be happy and.
Do their cute little binky bounces up inthe air and just be really entertaining.
You just gotta give them space.
(09:38):
And so it's just so much of a betteridea to get a bunny from a rescue.
But if people have alreadygotten Easter bunnies.
Usually as soon as they turn, maybefour or five months old, their little
bunny , isn't as sweet as it used to be.
(10:00):
It's starting to mark things.
It's starting to chew things.
It's starting to really smellmusky, especially if it's a boy.
And people just don'teven think of options.
They say, I don't want this anymore.
And it's just so sad because all you haveto do is get the bunny spa or neutered.
(10:25):
And Jefferson Parish has a great programcalled Fix a Rabbit, and it's a low
price spay or neuter for the rabbitfor residents of Jefferson Parish.
And even if they cannotparticipate in the Fix a Rabbit
(10:45):
program, you just call around.
Rabbit.org
has a list of bunny savvyveterinarians because rabbits are
really sensitive to anesthesia.
And if you don't get someone who'sfamiliar with rabbits, it's a high
possibility that your a little bunnyis gonna have some serious difficulty
(11:10):
and maybe even lose the bunny.
But there are options.
If you can't afford it, maybea rescue would work with you.
Maybe a shelter would work withyou to be able to keep your bunny.
And also they need to stay inside.
A lot of people put theirrabbits outside and when I was
a kid, I did the same thing.
(11:32):
Being outside, you cannotmonitor the rabbit.
You can't tell whether it's noteating as much, whether it's litter.
Habits have changed, things lookdifferent, whether it's getting
enough water whether it's overheating,whether there are predators around
rabbits can be scared to death.
(11:52):
One of our adoptees there was a straydog in the yard and they had the
bunnies out playing in their pen.
And the dog did not evencome close to the enclosure.
But one of their rabbitsjust was so high strung.
He just started thumpingand they went out.
(12:13):
They shooed the dog away and theypicked up the rabbit and he, his
heart was just beating a mile aminute, and he never calmed down.
And he died.
He gave himself a heart attack.
So those things, bunnies are way morefragile than people give him credit for.
And they need an exotic vet.
And, there are things that can happen tothem that you might not think about, like.
(12:37):
When they shed likeother animals, they can.
Swallow too much hair.
And unlike a cat, they can't cough it up.
Rabbits cannot vomit.
They can only swallow, and that'sanother thing most people don't know.
And that's why you neverfast a rabbit before surgery.
(12:59):
Their gut has to keep going becauseif their gut slows down, then
there's a possibility that theirgut will stop working altogether.
So rabbits have to always have food and ifyou don't get a rabbit savvy vet then, you
might get more trouble than you expect.
(13:23):
But I'm just so concerned about people whoalready have their rabbits that already
have purchased an Easter Bunny, and Ijust feel like grabbing them and saying,
you must let me look at this rabbit.
You must let me tell youwhether it's a boy or girl.
You must let me help you keepit in a safe environment.
(13:46):
You must keep it inside.
Please.
Because there's predators,there's parasites.
There's poison plants, all the peas.
And you don't know, sometimes yourbunny will get into something that
they shouldn't, or you don't know.
Like most of the bulb plantsare poisonous to rabbits.
(14:07):
Some of the ones that havethe oh, like irises and stuff.
What do you call theroots of those things?
Rhizomes.
Sometimes plants withrhizomes are not good.
We had someone whose bunny, hopped intothe irises and he started nibbling on 'em
and he had a seizure and they lost him.
You really have to be familiar with alot of things if you're gonna try even
(14:32):
just to let your bunny play outside.
Because they are prey animals, theirnature is to hide, to be on the ground.
And, they don't really feel safe unlessthey know that they can get somewhere
where they cannot be seen from above.
And sometimes even, all sides.
If you have a bunny in their space andthere's nowhere for that bunny to feel
(15:00):
like they can have a quiet, dark space.
They can often just be nervousall the time, and that's a
stress that can make them sick.
There's just so many things thatcan make a bunny ill and people just
(15:22):
don't know enough to realize that.
They really need to considertheir rabbit's needs and, be more
accommodating if they want that littleguy to be their friend for years.
Unfortunately people buy them andkids 10 years old and don't think
(15:43):
about when the kid's 20 years old.
They just, oh my kid wants a bunny.
Kids can't take care of bunnies.
Some adults can't eventake care of bunnies.
The best thing to do is.
Educate yourself.
And we have a program which not too manypeople have taken advantage of, maybe
just because they don't know about it.
(16:04):
But we've got a program calledLearn Before You Leap, and it's.
especially geared to people who don'treally understand what bunny life can be.
So we try to give them an opportunityto try out bunny life with, of
course, with an application,with, approval and all that stuff.
(16:25):
We, I guess what you mightcall, rent all the supplies to
the family and with a bunny.
Just stay in touch with them.
Let them ask questions.
Tell 'em what's the right thing.
And and they try it out fromanywhere from two to six weeks.
(16:47):
Usually two weeks is enough for a kid.
To say, oh this thing actually hasto process food and at the end I'm
the one who has to clean it up.
Oh no.
And they get tired of that real quick.
Yeah.
The bunny's cute, but that cute littlethree week old bunny is gonna double
its size in another two weeks and thenthey're not cute anymore, or they're not.
(17:14):
Special anymore.
And that's another reasonpeople don't keep them.
They see some of our miniature bunniesand they say, gosh, that's a big rabbit.
And it's so sad because then you knowthat they've never seen anything but
prematurely sold pet store bunnies.
So man, it's just a big problem.
(17:37):
It's a big problem.
Especially in Jefferson Parish, there'sso many places that people just, they
get tired of their rabbit or theydon't want the responsibility and
they just, oh, let 'em run around inthe yard and oops, they got out and
then they don't go looking for them.
(17:57):
And, poor little guys get injured or,malnutrition or pick up a parasite from
any animal that tinkles in the grassand it could die a slow, painful death.
And I just wish that people who doget rabbits and then regret it, not to
(18:21):
let them free, but to contact someone.
Keep the rabbit temporarily untilsomeone, one of the rescue people, one
of the shelter people can line up someappointments, line up a foster, but
don't make us go out in a park and chasea poor little scared to death rabbit,
(18:49):
could take us days, weeks to catch 'em.
And by then, their problems are worse.
But it's just somethingthat continues to be done.
And I don't know if it's becausepeople just don't see rabbits as
companion animals or if they're just.
(19:15):
Selfish or if they think thatrabbits are wild animals and
they can live like cottontailsor swamp rabbits, but they can't.
So I don't know.
I'm just really disappointed inthe human race a lot of times.
Dixie (19:37):
Yeah.
I think it's a lot of times too, like thestores will market them as starter pets.
And no pets are astarter pet for, one thing
Donna (19:49):
maybe a pet rock.
Yeah.
But that's about it.
Dixie (19:51):
A pet rock.
I can agree with that.
But if a child wants an animal,I think the parents need to be
educated on that as well, notjust getting a pet for the child.
It's fine to have a pet for a childif you understand the responsibilities
that are involved in it,
Donna (20:09):
right?
If you are going to care for thepet, if you're gonna be the main
caretaker and show the child whatit means to sacrifice for another
life, help the child understand that.
It's something that's living andbreathing and needs love, and needs
care, and needs the doctor sometimes.
(20:31):
And, sometimes just like kids,it's afraid of loud noises.
It's afraid of dogs, it's afraid.
Like they have to understand that it is aliving feeling, being that it's not a toy.
And but the way they're marketed,it's this little impulse buy.
(20:54):
Look how cute.
Look how cute this little thing is.
Oh, this is so fluffy.
You just need to have this.
Oh, this one has floppy ears.
It looks like a baby.
It looks like a stuffed animal.
Get this one because it,it's just so cute and fluffy.
Cute and fluffy has to be groomed.
Cute and fluffy.
Has to be, you have to make surethat little bunny is trimmed, that
(21:17):
it doesn't swallow too much furthat it has the right nutrition.
It's not a toy.
And parents need to be more responsibleabout their decisions because it's
their decision and it's their animal.
It's their responsibility,and they need to know that.
They need to accept that from the moment.
(21:41):
They make that decision becauseif they're gonna go to the store
and just pick up something becauseit's cute and not even think about
what happens when it gets sick?
What happens if we have to go on vacation?
What happens if we have a baby?
What happens if we move?
(22:02):
What happens?
You have to think of all the things thatyou would think about for a dog or a cat.
Even another family member, it's notjust a quick fix to, to make your
kid happy, because the kid, when thebunny reaches maturity is probably
gonna bite or scratch that kid.
Dixie (22:22):
And then you were saying too, like they'll get 'em and then they don't
think of all those things, but theydo that for puppies and kitties too,
Donna (22:30):
absolutely.
Dixie (22:31):
Unfortunately, that is part of the
problem is for some reason, animalsare looked at as being disposable.
There are people like us who willdo anything for our animals, but
then you see people, that arelike, oh, my kid wants a pet.
Let's go out and get a puppy, akitten, a bunny, or whatever, and a
few weeks later they don't want 'em.
I know somebody thatactually got two bunnies.
(22:54):
And, the sex of the bunnieswas wrong, so yeah, those two
bunnies turned into six bunnies.
And luckily I believe a rescue steppedin before it got outta control.
Donna (23:07):
That was
lucky.
Dixie (23:07):
Yeah.
But , a rescue shouldn't evenhave to for that, you have to
have a little bit of common sense.
If you're getting two bunnies, make surethat you're getting two females, if you
are not sure, then don't get two, get one.
Donna (23:20):
Oh, it's just educate.
There's pictures of howto correctly sex a rabbit.
There's there's just so much informationavailable, basically almost, I.
Almost having just Google isenough but there's a lot of wrong
information on Google, so that's whyI specifically recommended rabbit.org,
(23:43):
because there are random pet sites thatdo not have accurate or full information.
And you really need to look for thatpet specific group because especially
exotic pets because only the peoplewho've had them know what their
(24:07):
common issues are or what comes up.
In their care.
And you know what can happenwhen they reach a certain age?
And speaking of certain age, the femalerabbits, if you get one that's older,
say somebody got one and they don'twant anymore, so they give it to you.
Okay, fine.
(24:27):
So you've got this 2-year-oldfemale rabbit that they let her
have a litter at least once and.
When females are over two years old theyhave a higher risk of reproductive cancer.
But if they've ever had a litter,then that possibility shoots up.
(24:50):
And , you have to get your femalesspayed, even if you don't have a boy.
'cause people tell me, oh, whyshould I get my bunny fixed?
Isn't no, I don't have boy rabbits.
No, it's because your femalecan get uterine cancer.
We've rescued some that already haduterine cancer or mammary gland cancer.
(25:12):
And thank God with the spay,they were able to remove the
cancer and the cases that we had.
But you can't take that kind of risk.
If you love that pet.
You want that pet to be happy and healthy.
You need to consider always to spay aneuter because females can go into a false
(25:33):
pregnancy and that stresses them out.
Just like a woman with PMS, youdon't wanna a grumpy bunny who's
all just feeling and all mixedup and she's pulling out her fur
it's a stressful situation for her.
And if you get her fixed,she won't go through that.
She won't be making a nest becauseshe feels like she's having babies
(25:55):
or her hormones are going crazy.
Hormones can make them aggressiveand it can actually affect
other critters in the house.
Anytime I rescue a bunny that'snot fixed yet my other rabbits
start tussling with each other.
It's just those hormones.
(26:17):
They can smell 'em, it affects them.
Even males.
Oh my gosh.
Males, they can have sucha stinky musky, oh gosh.
It just smells up the wholehouse and they'll go, I don't
wanna bring my bunny inside.
That's 'cause you didn't neuter him.
If you neutered him, then that smellwould not overtake your entire house.
(26:39):
He wouldn't wanna spray all yourfurniture . He wouldn't wanna chase
you or hump your leg or whatever.
There's just so much to besaid for spay and neuter.
It just.
It's near miraculous that, youget a whole new money almost
they automatically just aboutautomatically litter train themselves.
(26:59):
They can use litter boxes andpeople say you just use cat litter.
No.
Rabbits have to have paper-basedlitter or kiln dried wood like.
Sometimes they have thelittle pine pellets.
A lot of people use the horsestall pellets from tractor supply
me because we have so many, Iuse newspaper and shredded paper.
(27:21):
But no, you can't do the clay litters.
You can't do the untreated pine.
You can't do especially cedar if theyare inhaling cedar oil, they can.
Have liver problems.
There's just so much of what we thoughtwe knew years ago was totally wrong
(27:45):
and totally harmful to our rabbits.
There's things on the market that havea picture of a rabbit on it, but you're
not supposed to give that to a rabbit.
They're not.
Equipped to process that kind ofprotein or that kind of sugar.
You can't even depend on the pet storeindustry to give you accurate information.
(28:11):
You have to go and find it yourself and,there's a lot of good resources out there,
but you have to want to know about it.
Dixie (28:22):
Now, what about fleas on bunnies
? Donna (28:24):
Fleas, they do like rabbits.
They mostly like the lightcolored rabbits for some reason
they're attracted to light.
But a free meal is a free meal andthey'll go after the dark ones too.
They can pick up fleas from outside.
They can pick up fleas from, from inside,they can, fleas can hit you right on
(28:45):
your socks and boom, you've got fleas.
But there are over the counter remediesthat you can get to eliminate the fleas.
The I always tell people youcan get the advantage with a G,
but never advantage with an x.
(29:05):
I always tell them G means go.
X means skull and crossbones.
Advantix will kill yourrabbit Advantage is ok.
You can get the cat dose and there arecharts online tell you how much per
pound of rabbit that you have to put on.
(29:26):
You just put it on topically and butfor us we feel like a better product
is the prescription revolution.
Now revolution has made another formula,but it's the original revolution formula.
It's just selemectin.
But the revolution forcats, it got too expensive.
(29:48):
And now finally there isa generic called revolt.
But if it is selemectin,then that is what?
We use because not only does it killfleas, but if there are any kind of mites
or ear mites because a lot of time we'vegotten, we've rescued rabbits that, oh,
poor babies, they had crust in their ears.
(30:11):
They lost hair because these littlebunny lice or just eating them
all alive, but the revolution.
Or the revolt will take care ofthe mites and the fleas, just the
advantage, it will only control thefleas, but the environment needs to
(30:33):
be treated, needs to be vacuumed.
We just use diatomaceous earth,which is basically crushed coral
and it's food grade, so it'sjust like this gray dust that.
The pieces are so tiny that theycut into the exoskeleton of the
bugs and they end up drying them up.
(30:54):
It's not an instant kill,but it does take care of 'em.
Dixie (30:57):
I've heard other people mention that before, but I have no experience
with how you would actually use it.
Donna (31:04):
Diatomaceous earth is like a very fine powder.
So you can either put itin a powder container.
They actually, at the gardenstores, they actually sell like this
little accordion, plastic pump thatit's just got a straw at the end.
And when you squeeze it, itpoofs, the powder into the air.
(31:27):
Only thing is with the bunnies, you justhave to be careful not to apply it close
to their face because they can inhale it.
But it is safe if theyaccidentally eat it.
If it gets on their skin, it's fine.
It just might dry their skin a little bit.
But the the environment, you couldsprinkle some in their litter.
(31:52):
I have a contraption that you windit up like a, oh, gosh, I'm not even
sure what how to describe it, butit's almost like a powder machine gun.
You load up the.
Canister.
And then when you turn the wheel, itjust pushes the powder out of the nozzle
(32:13):
and you can do a big area that way.
And then people used that to spray theirtrees, especially the citrus trees.
I think my papa used to dothat with the, with his trees.
He had one of those look, italmost looked more like a bike
pump that he would just pump the.
The powder all over the branches.
But but yeah that's how you apply it.
(32:33):
You can put it in a saltshaker it's so fine.
It can clump up if you don'thave the big enough holes.
So you gotta maybe have a little airbehind it to to make it spread out.
But if you get there are some farmstores that will sell a small bag for
a lot of money, but I'll usually goto an agriculture store and get a big
(32:56):
old bag, and that's only like maybe25 bucks, maybe not even that much,
and you get 40 pounds of that stuff.
It could last forever.
And, I'll share, so yeah, there, thereare some things you can do to control
the fleas to keep them out of your carpetor your your house or your Bunny's area.
(33:17):
And you just have to know what'ssafe and, just keep an eye out.
If you regularly handle your rabbitand pet them, you can tell whether
there's gonna be fleas or not.
You don't have to treat a bunnyevery month if they had fleas one
time, unless you're seeing fleas.
Like I said, it's usually.
(33:38):
Mostly the light colored onesthat the fleas like to jump on.
But we've had some, especially thelong-haired bunnies that the fleas like
to get under the mats in their fur.
So that's another reason youreally need to be diligent about
if you get a fluffy, cute bunny,you better be good with a comb.
(33:58):
You better, learn howto trim 'em correctly.
And that's another thing you can.
Look up online, you know howto safely trim your rabbit.
You got to do their nails because theycan get arthritis in their little toes
if their nails grow so long that theirtoes are crooked when they're walking.
Just maintenance.
Just learn what theirday-to-day needs are.
(34:21):
And once you know what your bunny is likeas far as what their normal is, what their
normal appetite is, what their normalwater intake, what their normal activity,
what their normal poops look it's easyto tell when something's not right.
If you have kept your eye on that bunnyand know them well enough to know when
(34:43):
they're not acting themselves and.
Bunnies will hide their illnesses.
They will hide their pain, they will hideall their symptoms because being prey
animals, they don't wanna stand out likea sore thumb with a target on their head.
They're gonna hide the thingsthat are bothering them.
(35:04):
So you are responsible to knowto look, to, to spend time to,
watch over your bunny, to check.
And see, how much they're eating and iftheir litter habits are consistent and if
what's in the litter box is consistent.
'cause they can have different shapedstools that mean certain things.
(35:25):
And if you catch it early,you can avoid the vet.
But, it's really important thatthey see a vet at least once a year.
But if they stop eating, if their appetitegoes down, that's something you really
have to be on alert for because thatcould be GI stasis and it can happen
(35:49):
if they're stressed, it can happen.
If there's maybe constructiongoing on, it can happen If.
There's a new kid in the house.
It can happen if you move their enclosureto another room, they can stress out
easily and they can lose their appetite.
And if they lose their appetite andthey don't have food going through their
(36:10):
system, it can slow down and it can stop.
They'll go in shock.
All their organs will shut downand you're gonna lose your bunny.
So as soon as you notice that appetite is.
Not what it needs to be.
You need to get ready to syringe,feed that bunny and call your vet.
If they need to have somethingin their system 24 7.
(36:33):
That's why they recommend that youleave hay in their space all the time.
They need Timothy hay.
The older ones need TimothyHay and the youngest.
The babies need alfalfa becauseit's got protein and calcium, but
don't give the older bunnies alfalfabecause it can make bladder stones.
(36:55):
So yes, even rabbits can get bladderstones and there's just a lot to know.
I'm still learning.
I've been at this a long time, but I amstill learning, I'm still finding out
things that are happening to other rabbitsand going on within other rescues that.
Oh my gosh, I didn'teven think about that.
Or I didn't know that.
(37:15):
Or, oh man, I need to, bemore diligent about this.
Or it's they're fascinating littlecritters and it's such an honor
to be trusted by one of them.
I just wish people, more peopleknew what joy they can bring to
your household if you just take alittle time and educate yourself.
Dixie (37:38):
Absolutely.
Donna (37:40):
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Dixie (37:43):
Yeah and definitely it's important that you always think about the animal
first and for any pet you have, if youthink, or if you suspect there's something
that's out of the ordinary to the pointwhere you're questioning yourself, then
you just need to go take 'em to thevet and just go get 'em checked out
for your peace of mind at least too.
Donna (38:05):
Absolutely.
An exotic vet.
It's gonna cost a little more thana dog or cat vet, but would you
rather have caught something beforeit was too late or just saved a
few bucks and lost your friend?
You have to think about it that way.
So mean, but you won't know.
You won't know if there'sanything wrong if you are not.
(38:29):
Spending time, if you're not handlingthe bunny, sometimes you'll find a lump.
Sometimes you'll find a little sore orjust small things that can become great
big things if you don't know about it.
It's just like your child.
(38:49):
If you're gonna have this kid inyour house and what you're never
going to, pet their hair and nevergonna, give them a bath and see if
they have a bruise or, it's important.
All that stuff is important.
Animals are family and if that'snot what they're gonna be.
Then get a stuffed animal,go visit somebody with a pet.
(39:12):
It's not that hard.
If you can't commit, but you loveanimals, hey, be a foster, right?
We give you everything you needand all you gotta do is love them.
And yeah, it's a little sacrifice oftime, you don't have to pay for the vet.
You don't have to.
Go get the cage and allthat and the litter box.
(39:33):
If you're close enough to whereI can meet you, I'll bring you
shredded paper for the litter.
I'll bring you hay and pelletsif you know that's what you need.
And then, whenever you need to goon your summer vacation, hey, let
us know a couple weeks in advanceso we can come and get the baby.
(39:54):
Find somebody else.
But during that time, at least thebunny has been paid attention to
it's been seen by people who maybenormally wouldn't see being here at
the rescue and the people who tookcare of it have learned, if that's
something that they want in the future.
(40:16):
It seems to be a win-win for everybody,people need to take advantage.
We need some fosters.
So help.
Dixie (40:25):
Can I ask where you've learned all this information?
Donna (40:29):
Oh my goodness.
Years years of talking to other people.
Years of experience, years ofhaving vet surprises sharing
information with other rabbit groups.
Reading going online and going to thereputable sites and finding out, and,
(40:52):
a lot of times the rabbit groups will.
Post something about the latestillness and, it's from everywhere.
I absorb it from a lot ofdifferent resources and you
can't always trust one resource.
You have to get, you have toget a well-rounded resource.
pool to, to know to be ableto trust the information.
(41:15):
And like I said, from experience I knowa lot of this stuff from experience, but,
some of it was someone else's experienceor mistakes that I learned from.
And, we've made a lot of mistakes.
Like I said, the, especially thebunny being fertile after neuter.
Yeah.
We've made some mistakesand we still make mistakes.
Sometimes we miss things . We don'tknow the whole story about, and we
(41:40):
don't know the whole story abouta lot of these rabbits we rescue.
So sometimes they have things that wehad no idea and, come up with it later on
after they've been adopted and we just,there was no way we could know that.
But it's all a continuous learning curve.
Just by observing and being awareand paying attention and being
(42:04):
passionate about it, it's I care.
So I wanna know where my mistakes are.
I wanna know what is abetter way to do something.
I wanna know how to keep my bunnies happy.
And healthy of course.
But there's just a lot ofinformation that can be had if
you take a little time and look.
Dixie (42:26):
I'm lucky that you were able to come on and share all
this information with me today.
I really enjoyed listening to you.
Before we end this, is thereanything else you would like to add?
Donna (42:38):
Oh my goodness.
Volunteer, donate adopt Foster,everybody can do something.
It's just so important.
There's so many animals out there.
Educate yourself, educate others,and just be compassionate.
Dixie (43:01):
Definitely.
Thank you so much.
I really enjoyed speaking with you.
Donna (43:05):
Alright thank you for letting me explode your brain with information.
Dixie (43:09):
I'd love to have you back on in the future too.
Donna (43:12):
Awesome.
All right, I hope somebody gleamssomething from this conversation.
Dixie (43:18):
I think they will.
It was very informative.
Donna (43:21):
Nice.
All right, thank you so much for theopportunity and keep loving them critters.
Dixie (43:27):
All right.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
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