With a gentle nature and a trusting personality a rabbit makes a great choice as a pet.Many rabbits love human interaction and enjoy being held and stroked.Rabbit care is essential and as with any other pet, a responsible owner will do all in his or her power to ensure their rabbit is healthy.A rabbit is generally an easy pet to care for, but before you adopt one you need to bear several things in mind.
A rabbit needs several basics which you must provide. These are a hutch, bedding, food and space to run around.You don’t need to spend a vast amount of money on your hutch, but you do need to buy one big enough for a full size rabbit to be able to stand up in (on its back legs). Make sure your rabbit hutch has enough room to allow the rabbit to make at least four hops in one direction.Just like us, a rabbit likes to have a distinct area for certain activities, so make sure you allocate a space for sleep, a space for the toilet and a space in which to play.Of course, if you have more than one rabbit you will need to provide a bigger hutch. Rabbits love to snuggle down at night and in the UK climate good bedding is very important.When lining your hutch use newspaper which should then be covered with dust free straw.Think carefully about where you position your hutch. Do not allow it to stand in direct sunlight for long periods of time and make sure it is in a well ventilated spot.Cover the hutch at night with a breathable fabric so the rabbit is not confronted with any night time predators such as foxes and cats.If your budget will allow you should buy a rabbit run. This provides a protected area in which the rabbit can run around and play.
Your rabbits diet is important and you need to understand that they need 2 specific types of fibre – digestible and indigestible.This is necessary because food actually passes through a rabbits system twice.Your rabbit does not need a high level of articicial sugar in its diet, so make sure you don’t feed it mass market rabbit museli.To give your rabbit the very best chance in life feed it a specialist rabbit food product.You can buy specialist rabbit food online or through your vet.Rabbits love a treat, so offer it healthy and tasty snacks like fresh apple, chopped cabbage and juicy tomatoes.
Following a few simple guidelines and understanding how to care for a rabbit before you actually adopt one will ensure you are a well prepared and competent owner.