Creating better tomorrows for all pet rabbits
Rabbit care that’s second to none
Caring for your rabbits is fun. It’s up to you to make sure they have enough room to exercise, display normal rabbit behaviour and eat the right diet to keep healthy.
You can find all this information and more on the next few pages. Whether you have specialist breeds, long haired bunnies or a supersize, we have everything to help you give your furry friends the best care.
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Behaviour
Rabbits are very intelligent and active animals. They spend a huge amount of their time foraging for food, but they also need to dig, hide, run jump and stretch. Providing the right diet, companionship and environment are all essential to making sure that they can behave as normal.
In this section we cover how to help your rabbits to meet their behavioural needs, while highlighting some of the most common problems they face.
Housing
Creating the right environment for your rabbits is vital. Our recommendations are based on research. One thing that all welfare organisations agree on is that A Hutch Is Not Enough. We recommend a minimum enclosure area of 3m x 2m x 1m high for a pair of average sized rabbits, whether they live indoors or outside.
Diet
A good diet is the basis of everything. It keeps rabbits healthy and can also help to prevent boredom. As a general rule, rabbits need a diet based on 85% grass or feeding hay, 10% greens and 5% good quality nuggets. Providing the food that mimics what rabbits would eat in the wild is vital, can be inexpensive and even fun. You can even pick rabbit food in your garden!
Recommended Vegetables and Herbs
Wild rabbits forage for a variety of foods to get a good nutritional mix. So, keep things interesting for your pets by mixing and matching foods from the list below.
Remember, only give your rabbits small amounts of sweet veg, like peppers and carrots. Keep it regular, so a small piece, of around one cubic centimetre, every day or so, is great.
Rabbits on a good diet, with lots of hay or grass, and a good gut microbiome, will tolerate larger amounts. But those on poor diets are likely to develop diarrhoea and GI stasis even with a small, occasional piece of veg.
There are two good options to create the variety they’d enjoy in the wild. One is to pick treats from a list of sweet vegetation, rotated from day to day, all year. The other option, is to choose seasonal veg, fresh month by month, for a happy healthy rabbit
General care and handling
From health checks to keeping their coat and nails in good condition, as a responsible rabbit owner you’ll need to know how to keep your rabbits healthy. It’s important to understand how to handle your rabbits when you need to and what specific needs giant and older rabbits have.
Ownership
Taking on rabbits is a big commitment and the first thing to consider is, are rabbits really for you? If, after considering everything involved, you decide you have the time, space and money to give them what they need, then this section will help you prepare for these gorgeous little pets.
