New neighbour rabbit

[Katheclepto]

So, we have new neighbors… nice enough. Our 10 year old boys go to the same school so they play occasionally. However, they have a rabbit. They clearly don’t like the rabbit or play with it. It’s kept in a hutch outside and is filthy. Dad admitted to me the other day they rarely clean it out as they forget. We went there the other day for dinner and I noticed the rabbit had no water! The bottle was empty so when no one was looking I took it upon myself to fill it up!

I can see it never has anything fresh and is sometimes given dry food. I look over the fence often and see its baron cage with no hay, no fresh food and it just looks miserable. I want to cry!

I don’t know what to say! I want to say ‘please let me have your rabbit, I will look after it’ but how without offense?! I don’t want a rabbit but I also can’t bear seeing it suffer… sometimes its cage is covered with a thick woolen blanket… in the day.. in this heat!

Poor bunny, this is so sad 😭
A very pampered and happy bunny lives in my house 🐰🐇
Terrible to be responsible for a living creature and not look after it properly. Please try to adopt this bunny by stealth!

"Hello, I know you mentioned you forget to clean the rabbits hutch out and I'm sure it's overwhelming having pets and being parents, working (whatever the circumstances). I love rabbits and I am more than happy to take the rabbit off your hands, you know your DC are welcome round any time to visit and you are as well. I have been looking at getting a new pet and this would work out perfectly for us all?' something along those lines may work??

I’d just take it and find a loving home for it. Let them think they didn’t shut the hutch door properly and it escaped. Doesn’t sound like they’d care much, vile people.

It is sad and now I have the sad bunny song Bright Eyes an earworm

Ahh I love to hear of your 11 year old bun! Every day is a gift with my accidental house hare but I know of one who made it to 10 and 3/4 which I try not to hope for but secretly do! My boy is now 2 and 1/4 and a very similar set up to yours although I never close his crate unless there’s a tradesman or someone in as he is not impressed and he doesn’t get into any trouble if I’m out on a short message..

OP I would definitely try the holiday angle and then they might not want him/her back. If they do say your DC has fallen in love with him and maybe you could keep him and they could visit type angle, if they forget to give water they’re never going to do that

Please take it. Rabbits are so often overlooked. They need space, company and are quite complex. I would absolutely please say let me have your rabbit and I will take care of it (I have four rescue rabbits). Even if you could not, I would take to a rescue. That's a fab work in Glos if you are near that way.

Offer to look after it when they are away and either keep it or take it to a animal shelter.

Now that you know, OP, you can't just do nothing. You are bunny's only hope for a decent life.
Offer to pay for the rabbit - money often has a magic effect when they'd otherwise hesitate.

When I was a small child my mum rescued a rabbit from next door. It was living locked in a hutch in a garage.

No joke Charlie lived with us for a good 8 years or more. He was like a family member. They are lovely animals and pets. If I were the OP, I would unquestioningly follow my mother’s example.

If you’re worried they’ll say no immediately or get defensive, you can also plant the seed first and follow up later:

“Your rabbit is so sweet. If you ever decide you don’t want to keep it or need a hand with anything, I’d be happy to help out or even adopt it - no pressure at all. I just really care about animals, and I’ve gotten quite attached just seeing it out there.”

This way, you’re offering without demanding, and leaving space for them to come around.

Report it, I would tell the horrible man too!!

Why don’t you say “oh if you’re ever going on holiday, I’m very happy to look after rabbit. Had one as a child and loved it”!

You could check with your local rescue to see if they are able to take the rabbit in. Then, at first opportunity, offer to take the bun off the neighbours hands
( somehow) and hand it over to the rescue. They will check it over, take it to the vet to deal with any health issues, neuter/ spay and hopefully find a loving forever home for the bun. The only issue is, that many rescues are bursting at the seams with rabbits being surrendered, so you may need to look further afield.

Rabbit rescue north west cover a large area. The Rabbit Residence Rescue are further south, but many rescues have a team of volunteers who can collect and transport buns to and from all over the country and take them to foster homes.

Please try to do something as this is animal cruelty. RSPCA?

Keeping a rabbit in a hutch is bloody cruel never mind not giving it water! Ours live in a second world bunker with an attached outside run. Rabbits need space and company.

It certainly sounds like the dad is desperate to get rid of the rabbit and would happily hand it over.

How do the neighbour's kids react to it ?

Do they play with it or have they lost interest

I would certainly keep mentioning the rabbit, it may jolt the family into looking after it better.

You're being unreasonable for not reporting this to the RSPCA already!!

You cannot wait if it has no water (I know you replaced but this will happen again). Please don't wait.

When I was a teenager I made my boyfriend at the time come with me to steal someone’s rabbit that was being mistreated. Tbh if I was in your situation I’d send DH over the fence to rescue it.

Bunnies are so often mistreated. Kids ask for them because they’re cute, but very few kids can actually look after them without significant adult help. DD asks for a rabbit for her birthday most years but atm she’s not really equipped to take care of one, and we don’t have the time to do it. She whines how all her friends have them and how they can look after them, but I doubt they’re actually looked after. Also most people think they’re cuddly but most are really not… I mean at the end of the day what prey animals want to cuddle.

I think you should see if you can find a person to re home it with, then once you’ve secured that steal it and leave the cage open so it looks like it escaped. Asking them isn’t worth the risk, the ends justify the means. Liberate this bunny!!!

Thinking again, just take the rabbit, else it will die! Please do something. Arsehole people. So cruel and vile! Water is a basic need FFS.

If you're friendly enough with them to be invited round for dinner then I would say something to them. That poor rabbit.

Quite a few years ago I had a neighbour who had a rabbit whose hutch was facing the sun. On a really hot day it was distressed and kicking trying to get out, so I shouted to my neighbour to let it out the hutch otherwise it would die. She was grateful to me for saying something and let him out to run around and find shade in the garden. She then moved it's hutch to a more shaded part. She was a lovely neighbour and loved the rabbit, but I don't think she had thought it through.

This is so so sad. Please as suggested say that you would like a rabbit so can you have theirs for a few days to learn how to take care of one first.. they won’t ask for it back I can guarantee. Poor baby will be miserable please help him or her.

Offer to have it or report to RSPCA - they are incredibly clean, sociable and intelligent animals - it must be so depressed - my rabbit lived in the house with our 3 cats and slept curled up on the sofa with one of them every night. He even used the cat flap to go in and out with them into a secure back garden (no road sense!) Poor thing!!! 😢

I love this description and it really makes me want to adopt some rabbits! DD has been wanting them for ages.

I do remember that the dwarf rabbit my mum adopted (together with the guinea-pig) was a real character. Intelligent but stroppy, he liked us to do things a certain way, and when we fell short of his expectations, he wouldn't hesitate to let us know, e.g. by kicking us, stamping his feet while glaring at us and occasionally, by turning the bowls over and pulling the hay rack off the wall. By contrast, the guinea-pig was amiable and whooped for joy over carrot peelings, but bless him, he wasn't terribly bright.

PS rabbits don’t belong in hutches!

Ask if you can have it as your son has been asking for a rabbit and you would like to take that one if they don’t want it anymore.