Daughter doesn't look after her rabbit. Best way to rehome?

[TheodoraLily]

Hi my daughter is 12 and doesn't look after her rabbit. She has even got to the point of lying and saying she has changed water/fed when she hasn't. The poor rabbit never comes out of his hutch.

Best way to rehome?

You don't get a child a pet unless YOU are prepared to step in when they inevitably loose interest. So selfish.

This is horrid. Do you not have a run for it? Did you honestly expect a child to take full responsibility for it? Please rehome through the right channels and don’t get a pet again but I agree with posters it’s pretty crap lesson to your child that she can just get rid of it when she’s fed up with the poor thing. So irresponsible to buy it in the first place.

Hi OP as the adult the rabbit is your legal responsibility. They can live for up to 12 years if properly cared for - we’re you really expecting your child to take on that responsibility? Rabbits need access to grass/exercise and a rabbit companion. Females should be spayed and they should also be vaccinated. As with all animals, basic care information can be found on the Internet a good resource is shown below: rabbitwelfare.co.uk/pdfs/RWAbrochuremaster.pdf Please regime responsibly to a rescue so the rabbit diesn’t End up being discarded in a hutch in someone else’s Garden

rspca-canterbury.org.uk/home/

Hutches are for storing rabbits if you're using them for food. They're NOT what you're supposed to home a family pet rabbit in. However you seem to be a bit stupid. The cleverest thing to do would be to regime the poor rabbit.

Rehome, obviously.

id let it go in a field somewhere, give it a last ditch attempt at a normal life. Rabbits shouldnt be pets

Don't be ridiculous, it's been bred in captivity and won't have the necessary survival skills, Bran. Jesus. Whether or not they shouldn't be pets, this one IS.

Not sure why the OP is getting such a hard time here. She's doing the right thing by trying to find a new home for it. And if you get a child a pet on the understanding that they look after it, it's reasonable to expect them to do it; it's one way they learn responsibility. OP our local Pets At Home also rehomes rabbits, in conjunction with a charity I think.

Contact your nearest rescue if you don't want to take it on yourself.

It isn’t reasonable to expect a child to be able to understand what an animal needs and meet all those needs for as long as that pet lives. A rabbit could live as long as that child has lived.

Children should not be ultimately responsible for pets. There are other ways to learn responsibility without heaping suffering on an innocent animal

We asked pets at home when buying him and I took their advice

I got my daughter pet rats as a Christmas present when she was 9, she was great with them, but I picked up the slack, they lived out their natural lives happily with us.

They advised you to keep him alone in a small hutch and to put all responsibility for his care on your child?

They suggested the hutch yes and said he was fine to live alone

We have four cats now, Dd again, great with them, even took one to the vet, (non emergency), when I was in hospital, but again, I pick up any slack.

OP getting a hard time here! Your daughter doesn’t care for rabbit, you are looking for advice on how to find the rabbit a more suitable home. You aren’t stupid and you are doing the right thing. Rabbits require such a lot of care but people do think they are ideal pets for children. The rescue will find him a home with a partner as they should always be kept in pairs. A quick google search will find your most local rescue.

Well they're idiots then. And so are you for doing no research and picking up a pet like with as much thought as you'd give to getting a few groceries.

Pets at home are rubbish. Did you honestly do none of your own research other than asking the shop staff who are paid to sell you stuff?

Honestly. You could tell Pets at Home you'd like to pick a rabbit to put in a pot for dinner and they'd sell you one. They don't care.

@MsOliphant it would be less cruel than leaving in a fucking box any longer. Itll probably get rehomed to someone who will also keep it in a box. Rabbits in the wild cover miles over night. Even letting it go in the garden it would have a great time and probably build its own burrow. I got given a rabbit as a teenager and he jumped out of my hands and i never caught her again. She made a hole under my shed and lived quite happily for a good six months or so. Better life than she would have had in the hutch

Of course any animal's care should be supervised by an adult (which is the case here - that's how she knows it isn't being properly looked after). But if a child doesn't look after a pet they should have a choice - start doing it properly, or it will be rehomed with someone who will. That's a much better lesson than 'stop bothering and Mum will do it for me'. 12 is old enough to get that IMO.

A tame rabbit that is likely a very unwildrabbit like colour is NOT better in the wild. If you’re going to take on a pet like this you need to be prepared tower its needs.

Please take it to a sanctuary your making the right decision now! Please don't give it to someone who will do the same thing when their kids get bored. It sounds as though you bought without research, if you had researched it you would have read that they're not really a pet for children and that its just too much responsibility and this is the most likely outcome for your rabbit :( Your the person responsible when you sign up to when you get a pet, not the child. They require as much if not more commitment as a cat or a dog & they live 10+ Years which people don't realise. I have two outdoor rabbits they are 8 years old they spend most of the time in the garden their choice they are free to go in their over 6ft two story hutch which is often the min requirement or come inside the house. Even with that requirement to keep them trapped in it would be like a prison especially if its alone :( Rabbits are social animals they should be in bonded neutered pairs. I thought I was on the best insurance to cover but it seems at times even that isnt good enough because of a recurring issue it wasn't covered and 6months ago I spent £1500 on my rabbit and most people told me to no joke "hit it on the head and buy another one" another comment was "Think how many that would have bought you" Sigh at the world we live in just goes to show how much of a throwaway animal people think they are its soo sad! I love mine like my children.