House rabbit

A house rabbit eating parsley

A house rabbit is a pet domestic rabbit kept for companionship that lives inside its owner's home. House rabbits can be trained to use a litter box, and can live as long as 8–10 years when properly cared for.

Keeping a rabbit as a house companion was articulated by Sandy Crook in her 1981 book Your French Lop. In 1983, Crook was a featured lecturer to the 35,000 attendees at the American Family Pet Show in Anaheim, California where she presented her personal experiences of living with her indoor rabbit as evidence of a human-rabbit bond. Throughout the 1980s it became more common to litter-box train a rabbit indoors.

In 1988, the House Rabbit Society was founded in the United States as an educational and activist organization with the general philosophy that domestic rabbits should be neutered or spayed and live in human housing".

Sources of house rabbits

There are many humane societies, animal shelters, and rescue groups, that have rabbits available for adoption. Typically, animal shelters charge the smallest fee. House rabbits are often purchased from pet stores, private breeders, and fanciers. House rabbits may be acquired as either housebroken or not housebroken.

Rabbits are often spayed or neutered for health and behavior benefits or to reduce the chance of unwanted offspring. Starting at adolescence, rabbits that are not spayed or neutered may begin displaying territorial marking, which can frustrate efforts to litter train as well as damage household items.

Socialization

A house rabbit sharing an apple with its owner

Rabbits are social animals whose welfare benefits from being housed with other rabbits;

However, house rabbits can live alone if lots of attention is paid to them by the owner.

Some house rabbit keepers teach their animals to follow voice commands such as coming when called by name.

Many house rabbits have successfully cohabited with the family dog or cat. Leaving dogs and cats alone with rabbits has been dangerous in some cases, as animals with aggressive predatory instincts or overenthusiastic play can lead to the dog or cat attacking the rabbit spontaneously. The choice to gradually introduce the different species is usually made with caution and after consideration of known temperaments of the animals involved. .

Rabbits have been successfully housed with guinea pigs; however, there are risks in doing so that may make the practice inadvisable. Guinea pigs are susceptible to respiratory disease from bacteria that rabbits carry. Additionally, rabbits may harm small rodents sharing their territory.

House rabbit care

A multi-level condo offers a house rabbit a degree of hopping space and variety even when not free in the house.

These two house rabbits share a litter box originally intended for cats.

House rabbits are kept in wire or wooden cages, or allowed to run free in a designated area of the house. Cages are often a self cleaning type with a raised wire floor or a solid floor for litter-box trained rabbits. A resting board or mat is often used for heavy weight rabbits or fine boned rabbits such as Rex to aid in preventing sore hocks. House rabbits are often trained to use litter boxes or litter trays.

House rabbits are usually fed grass hay. Pellets made from timothy grass may supplement a house rabbit's diet. This differs from commercial rabbits, where pellets often account for a much larger portion of the diet.

Living in a house shelters a rabbit from possible dangers such as predators and pesticides, but it has its own hazards if the owner is not diligent. To prevent electrocution, house rabbit owners hide electrical cords or cover them with flexible clear tubing. Rabbits' ingestion of papers, fabric, and carpet may cause gastrointestinal blockages, and their chewing may damage their owners' possessions and homes when proper precautions are not taken.

In most regions, house rabbits do not require vaccination; however, vaccines are prophylactic against myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease where these vaccines are legally premitted. While tularemia is a zoonotic disease of concern, there is no vaccine currently available - instead good hygiene is the best preventative. In the United States these diseases are extremely rare or nonexistent and of little concern to pet rabbit owners. There have been no reported cases of rabbit hemorrhagic disease (VHD) in the United States in over six years.

House rabbit organizations recommend that house rabbits be neutered or spayed. Health advantages of neutering and spaying include a reduced risk of ovarian and uterine cancer and endometritis in females. Neutering and spaying house rabbits also reduces territorial marking in males, and aggression toward other rabbits.

Unlike a cat, a rabbit cannot be declawed. Lacking pads on the bottoms of its feet, a rabbit requires its claws for balance. Removing its claws will render it unable to stand. Rabbits with access to rough surfaces will naturally keep their claws worn down to a certain extent when running, but most pet rabbits normally require their claws to be clipped regularly. House rabbits may need regular brushing, especially if they are of a long-haired variety. Due to the rabbit's biological incapability to vomit, removing excess fur prevents intestinal blocking and fatal choking that can be caused by hair ingested during self-grooming. Spaying female rabbits greatly reduces the risk of cancers of the breast, uterus, and ovaries.

See also

• Rabbit

References

• Pavia, Audrey (2003), Rabbits for Dummies, New York: Wiley, ISBN 0-7645-0861-X 
• Harriman, Marinell (2005), House Rabbit Handbook: How to Live with an Urban Rabbit, Drollery Press, ISBN 978-0940920170 

External links

• House rabbit at the Open Directory Project
• http://www.rabbit.org/