We've been turned down as adopters of rabbits (but not of children!)

[Somerville]

Apparently, we don't meet the criteria for suitable adopters from our local bunny rescue.
I don't know whether I'm more annoyed or amused!

DH is definitely annoyed... he wanted to do the right thing and get a suitable pair who need a new home, rather than exacerbating, in a small way, the trade for baby bunnies.

I've barely talked him down from sending a very arsey email attaching all the approvals we gained for him to adopt my older children recently.

Did you start measuring up the size of the pans when the bunny social worker came round? Either that or she's clearly seen evidence of a bunny taxidermy business 🐰🍽🥂

Mere it depends on the capabilities of the rescue. I started off helping the RSPCA and had around 10 rabbits in my care at one time. They contacted me to say there had been funding cuts and they could no longer support the buns requiring veterinary care, which was every single one of the rabbits I had at that point. Their solution was to have all of the rabbits euthanised. Obviously I refused and just kept the lot.

Other charities, like the two I work with now, have the capacity to keep their residents on a long term basis if necessary. This is down to the fact that we’re fortunate enough to have quite a few foster parents in our area. So when a potential new home is turned down, it is because the foster home or rescue itself is the better alternative.

The rspca shelter nearest to us wouldn't allow us to adopt cats - they wouldn't adopt to any household where all of the adults were working full time. They weren't interested in even assessing our house. But they had also had the "luxury" of only having around 10-20 cats at their shelter.

So we went somewhere else, where there were over 200 cats desperately waiting for a home. So many that their volunteers and fosterers were in some cases caring for dozens of animals in their own homes. The place was overflowing with cats. We adopted a pair that had been waiting months for a home.

You just need to look elsewhere. There must be bunnies out there that desperately need an adopter. This would be so much more preferable to buying and supporting the breeding of excess bunnies.

I would look at the advisory letter they sent you though. It might have some useful tips for how you could make your home even more lovely for bunnies.

Can't believe you've been turned down for a RABBIT! Wonder what the reason is? I had a rabbit as a child and she was a great pet. She didn't really use her hutch as she was free to come and go in the house and garden and went everywhere with me, except school. She was house trained and everything.

This reminded me of the time that my in laws went to adopt a rabbit from a place that they had adopted dogs from lots before and they wouldn't allow it until they met the "child who lives in the house to check they behaved appropriately" my 22 year old SIL who had just finished uni was less than impressed!!!

It sounds like it must be your baby. They could have said that though if they knew before visit. Did the letter arrive yet?

I was turned down as an adopter for a new kitten from the RSPCA, despite having had several from them in the past, having a lovely house with garden surrounded by other gardens in a safe secure place and having an existing healthy, vaccinated cat.

Their reasons....not all the family were available to visit the kitten and agree we wanted it. The rest of the family being a 23 year old son who worked and lived away from home, a 20 year old daughter who was away at university and a DH who worked away several days a week and wasn't free to come to the foster home and view the kitten.

I pay for the kitten, I clean it's litter tray, feed it, take it to the vet, let it sleep on my bed, but I couldn't make that decision on my own.

So I went to Cat's Protection and was allowed a beautiful moggie who we all love dearly.

I was turned down by a cat charity when I applied to adopt one of their cats. One year later I became a fosterer for the same charity! Tbh I've seen pleasant responsible people get turned down, and in one case an inappropriate person get approved (and not soon after we had to go and get the cat back from him because his son accused the charity of taking advantage of a very elderly man). It can be very arbitrary...

Anyone else thinking of theModern Family episode where Cam is trying to adopt a kitten and it all goes horribly wrong.
Pah are awful for this. My son wanted to get a hamster to replace his much loved and long lived hammy. Went with travelling cage, pictures of set up, all prepared. He got turned down and told to bring his parent. " But I'm twenty five!"

there is a trade in young rabbits? Who knew?

Have we just shot something worth money? The reason is of course to stop it destroying our garden (including veg crops) and breeding a thousand more of the bloody things, which will suffer in these conditions and the year to come. But at least until the last ten seconds of its life, it had a good one wandering about, foraging and doing whatever rabbits do.

BTW there was a myxi outbreak last year so numbers do seem to be down. Perhaps that's the reason for the cost increase.

wouldn't it be lovely if all the people in the bunny protection league turned their attention to the condition of farmed animals instead?

specialsubject Wild rabbits aren't very suitable as pets because they behave in a more 'wild' way. Not all domestic rabbits like being handled anyway but it's extremely unusual for wild rabbits (e.g. raised at home from being babies) to do so.

Rabbits in rescues will have been vaccinated against myxi and RHD. The big recent outbreaks have been RHD type 2. Pets affected would have been mostly the unvaccinated.

Who know what I love about MN? That one thread encompasses opinions from Rabbits can be more high maintenance than dogs and very difficult to care for to have we just shot something worth money?

DH is still feeling rejected and struggling to find my/your jokes amusing, BTW 😂😂😂 Poor DH.

It seems so extreme. I adopted a dog from Battersea dogs home, and I just had to answer a few questions, they didn’t even need to do a home check. It boggles my mind when half these rescue centres can’t even keep their animals in the conditions they demand from adopters!

The rspca shelter nearest to us wouldn't allow us to adopt cats - they wouldn't adopt to any household where all of the adults were working full time. They weren't interested in even assessing our house. But they had also had the "luxury" of only having around 10-20 cats at their shelter.

Madness - like cats give a crap if you’re out the house most of the day, as long as you feed them, they’ll tolerate you

Is it because if the dog?

wouldn't it be lovely if all the people in the bunny protection league turned their attention to the condition of farmed animals instead?

People can do both or neither...

Ffs - of the dog

It's hard for animal rescue shelters to walk that fine line between limited resources meaning they let just anyone take an animal and doing what is best for the animals by being really picky. I can see where a charity trying to rehome previously ill-treated and traumatized animals has to be careful about where the animals are placed but rejection does seem a bit harsh in some cases as it does in this one. I understand they may be worried about your toddler OP, but surely the simple fact having put yourselves through what sounds like a very exhaustive screening process and inspection of your home should tell them something about your willingness and ability to meet the needs of an animal.

The main reason is likely to be your youngest child. Many animal rescue groups will not rehome to a household with small children, as toddlers can often be an issue for stressed animals.

Rabbits are very complicated pets to own with a long lifespan. Some rescues seem to be much stricter than others in regards to rehoming.

Maybe they didn’t have any pairs of buns suitable for your setup e.g. need to be indoors not outdoors or not near children.

I hope the letter clears things up for you.

Radish my rabbit says hello

"People can do both smile or neither..."

but generally, as a society, we don't do we? which seems like a pity to me.

It's not all bad being rejected. We have a single (by his choice ) older male rabbit.

He wooed us with his cuteness, he let us stroke him, hand feed him etc.

That sweet behaviour lasted all of 5 minutes. Once he had his feet under the table he now just does whatever he fancies which is mostly ignoring us, sleeping and throwing objects at his level across the room for entertainment.

He is genuinely happy and content by all accounts! But for us, it is like we have adopted a grumpy old bulldog

The main reason is likely to be your youngest child. Many animal rescue groups will not rehome to a household with small children, as toddlers can often be an issue for stressed animals

But that’s treating adults like they’re all irresponsible idiots. If someone is jumping through hoops to adopt, they clearly care, so you simply talk to them about keeping the toddler at a distance and see if the adults think they can manage this and still want to adopt. I just don’t think keeping them in a rescue for months on end is the better option.