To not take our pet back home

[Teenagecrisisagain]

We have been having a huge amount of work done in the house for the last few months.

A few weeks ago (when it was very disruptive/dusty/noisy) we asked dm if she would mind having our rabbit till the work is finished. She agreed. He has a big indoor cage and an outside run. Dh dropped it all round to dm

I go there after school drop off to feed him and dh goes through clean litter tray etc when it needs doing. At weekend dm feeds him.

The work is nowhere near finished and our house is an absolute tip atm
Dm has declared today the rabbit has to be gone by Christmas ??? She knows we are nowhere near completion of the work and that we have a house full at Xmas.

Dm in the other hand will be alone in a big three bed house and is complaining she wants her house 'tidy' for Xmas (by 'tidy' she just means no rabbit as house is spotless except for one room where dsis has stored furniture for 2.5 years)

AIBU to just say no? If we don't actually take him home she has no way of getting him back to ours herself and I'm annoyed as we had agreed she would have him till the house was ready?

I do miss his cuddles tbh

What a fuss about nothing. Lots of places do small animal boarding, look on line you will be sorted within the hour.

There's obviously a back story, although that does make me wonder why you ask her to do stuff at all!

She's done some weeks so has already helped out, so think about that rather than what she now can't or won't do.

How much would renting more storage cost compared to having bunny kennelled? Hutched?

Here he is

"His old cage will have to go.elsewhere"

Haha!

Tell your mum that you'll take the rabbit but can she store the cage??!!

I'll try and sort playroom for him

Tbh I think she wants to piss me off (she has but better to vent here than give her the satisfaction )

Stop giving her the opportunity to piss you off. Seriously.

He is gorgeous btw. I would offer if you live oop North - but my cat would think he was an early Christmas present for her!

Have I missed why the rabbit can't go to a pet boarding place?

Oh so cute!!! If you're in London I'll have him!

However, I think some posters haven't owned rabbits and are thinking 'how big is a hutch ffs'. Where as rabbits need to be out and about either in house or outdoors weather depending

Personally speaking, I've been a rabbit owner for almost 15 yrs. I'm sure many of the contributory posters could claim similar circumstances.

We had a very poorly rabbit last Christmas. (Our bunnies live outside normally). One had a stroke on 23rd Dec, so various emergency visits to the Vet, she had to live indoors for several months, with intensive nursing care (me). Antibiotic injections, feeding her with liquid food and water with a syringe. Wiping her rear end as her tummy was upset with the antibiotics. And family round for Christmas. Bunny was in a little hutch in the bathroom. And do you know what? We All Survived and Lived to Tell the Tale!

Amazing!!

This is very odd.

Agree to collect the rabbit before Xmas. She doesn't need to give her reasons. Collecting it and finding a small place for it to go will be just one of thousands of little jobs to do around Xmas time - and on the scale of just having your house ready to host guests, this seems a triviality.

If the house is ready for guests before Xmas, then it's ready for the rabbit (OK, there might be a couple of days when you need to move him about, but I can't believe it's that bad if you're living there now).

I bet if some other last-minute thing came up you'd be able to manage it, it really just seems you're trying to convince yourself it's impossible because you're pissed off with your MIL.

Well if she just wants to piss you off, the answer is to not let her see that she has. Just smile graciously, say okay and take the rabbit. People who do things just to piss you off get no satisfaction if you don't let them see you're pissed off.

TBH, I could see how your Mum would be pissed off. If I was boarding someone's rabbit that they couldn't possibly have, yet they invited a household of people for Xmas, I would be a bit cheesed off too.

I didn't realise there were rabbit boarding places of I'm honest. I had only heard of ones for cats and dogs so at least I know now

you are being so completely unreasonable it is quite unbelievable!

move your rabbit

maybe she is fed up with you traipsing in and out seeing to it, maybe she wants some peace and quiet.

maybe she just doesn't want a rabbit, cage etc in her house anymore. that is absolutely fair enough!

I always take our Guinea pigs to boarding when we are away. Can you not do tha??

It seems to me you are just making excuses now, every suggestion given here has been met with "yeah but"
It's obvious you are not willing to compromise so your only option is to board the poor rabbit.

I am another not understanding why you have arranged a houseful on Christmas Day not knowing whether the house will be ready or not. If it is ready to host Christmas then it's ready to collect the rabbit. You say you don't want to be rushing round on Christmas Eve but I think you will be doing that anyway if it is tight on getting the work finished.

We had work done last year before Christmas and yes it was absolute mayhem but putting the tree up when space is so very limited is just daft. Yes I get it is in memory of your first baby but in your current circumstances It won't mean that you are not thinking of your child. It just means you don't have a tree taking up much needed space.

Did you miss the bit where I've said I will try and sort the playroom out for the rabbit to return home ?

Have I missed why the rabbit can't go to a pet boarding place?

No you haven't missed it. The OP has just studiously ignored that suggestion.

We used to board our guinea pigs and it was really cheap. About £2 a day I think.

Something doesn't quite add up here....

You're saying that you would have postponed the work until after Xmas or done it one room at a time if she couldn't take the rabbit, rather than doing the whole house like you have. BUT, you've said that you're having a houseful of people (that can fit in the house and have room to eat etc) but no room for a rabbit.
Sorry, but I suspect that you had intended to have all of the work done for Xmas and it's taking a bit longer than expected. Who has everyone round for Xmas half way through a renovation?! It's either finished in time or you put it off till after.
YABU. What if the work took six months, or 2 years? Surely there is a cut off point.

And the tree. I have to do it every year on that day. Obviously if I didn't put it up on 27 November it doesn't mean I'm not thinking about him but I want to do it.
I do it because I want that day to be about remembering him but also the beginning of the Christmas period for our family, something that makes the dcs faces light up and makes me feel just a bit better. Every year I've got a new decoration to put on here and it's just our tradition now. I couldn't have missed a year and I don't think I ever will

Sorry I wasn't ignoring the boarding I said above I didn't realise boarding for rabbits was available

Well she clearly hasn't bonded with the rabbit. Might be a good thing though, saving us a thread about how your mother stole your pet.

The guests are just daytime only. I was planning on doing the sort of tidying where (like it is now) everything just get shoved upstairs/under stairs/ in cupboards etc
Nobody would be staying overnight

We got our dog from a rescue place & they also board animals.