Care Info

If cared for properly, your rabbit will live for many, healthy years as a loving pet! These "fancy" breeds are all small-sized rabbits, so only require about 1/2 cup of pellets per day. Netherland Dwarf rabbits, however, are so tiny that they will do well on about 1/4 cup of pellets per day - watch out, as these little ones eat and get fat quickly! Baby rabbits can be "free-fed" or given all they can eat, but once they're a couple of months old, they need to be "limit-fed" at the amount for their breed (about 1 ounce of pellets for each pound of expected adult weight). All rabbits can get "wool block" or "hairballs" as they groom themselves and accidentally ingest hair, so they'll need Petromalt or papaya tablets to help their digestion. Fresh water, and lots of it, is the most important ingredient in the rabbit diet. Remember to check those water crocks in the winter - it'd take a long time to get enough water if the rabbit has to lick an ice cube! You can feed high quality grass or timonthy hay if you'd like, to keep the rabbits busy, and also to add fiber to their diets. It's wise to add a handful of clean, bright wheat or oat straw to their diet weekly to aid in reducing hair build-up in their digestive system. Keep treats to a minimum to avoid digestive upset - try old-fashioned oatmeal - rabbits love it! Older rabbits can have small green treats, and also like small pieces of apple or banana, or carrots, and a wide variety of herbs - a good source of which greens and herbs are safe is the book Lop Rabbits as Pets, by Sandy Crook.

Good feed and conditioning shows in a healthy, fit rabbit!

Happy, healthy rabbits make the best pets!

Rabbit Health

Check your rabbits daily, especially young ones. Make sure their bottoms are clean, as sometimes young rabbits have problems eating their night feces - remember, coprophagy is normal for a rabbit, but young ones have a little trouble. Maybe their fat little bellies get in the way! Some breeders clip the fuzzy baby hair from the genital area, others just use pet combs and clean with unscented baby wipes, or just plain water. Don't use any cleaning chemical that would hurt the rabbit if they get it in their mouth when grooming! Also, make sure your rabbit is eating normally. It's O.K. if they haven't cleaned up all their pellets, but they could be sick if they haven't eaten anything. If they haven't eaten, make sure they're not out of water - would you eat a dry meal without something to wash it down? As part of your daily check, also make sure the cage is clean - feces stuck to the wire are sure to breed disease! Clean those cages at least weekly to keep your rabbits healthy. If your cage has a solid bottom, you'll need to clean it daily so the rabbit doesn't sit in its own urine and feces, or you can try litter boxes. I use triangular litter boxes in many of my cages with either aspen or crushed corn cob bedding, and I just clean these daily - the rabbits love to sit in them, and the bedding allows the urine to drain away from their fur, so they stay clean and have a play area!

Turn-Out

Rabbits LOVE to be turned out, but it's hard sometimes to keep them out of trouble! Try a small, enclosed room like a bathroom, where it's easy to watch them, there aren't electric cords in reach, and it's easy to clean! I've got outdoor runs for mine - they love to jump and play on wooden boxes, run through big plastic conduit, and dig in the leaves and grass. Be careful they don't dig out (you can put down wire mesh on the ground, cover it with dirt and then plant grass). Remember that your young kits shouldn't have grass (in the wild, they live in an underground burrow for the first few months of life, so their digestive system isn't designed to handle greens until they're a little older), so keep their turnout limited to areas free of green things! I keep big exercise cages for kits. They love playing on things like oatmeal boxes with both ends cut out, little platforms they can jump on, etc. - be creative and have fun with your bunnies!

A rabbit shows its good health in bright eyes, a shiny coat & eagerness to play!

Newborns

The litter is made in the nest box, so be sure to have the doe fit, but not fat! You can give her small green treats as the big day approaches, and then use these treats to keep her busy when you need to check the kits (baby rabbits). After kindling (birth), keep the nest box clean and check the kits daily for injuries, illness, or feces stuck to their fuzzy hair as they get their new coats. After the first week, you can give the doe a few milk pellets with her daily ration to help her maintain the protein levels required to produce her rich milk. Give the doe and kits hay daily to help prevent digestive problems, and I also give old-fashioned oatmeal daily to help prevent diarrhea (enteritis). I also put straw on the cage floor at the base of the nest box to cushion the landing of the kits when they start jumping out of the box. This loose hay or straw has to be cleaned up daily if dirty, though!