Pets!...

[yunihara]

With 5 kids and a dog, do you think adding a small animal like a rabbit would be a good idea? I'm mostly worried about the younger kids being unable to resist trying to touch it or get in its cage when we have our backs turned, and the dog is a lab and may have a very hard time being trained to not mess with it. Our oldest son would really like the experience, and we're considering adopting one.

We would put the cage up high but we have monkey children and we catch them climbing on things from time to time (even when they know they're not supposed to lol). Any suggestions on bringing a small animal into the household? Such as keeping the younger kids from messing with it unsupervised? (They're used to the dog, and she's puts up with anything, really, but a rabbit is more likely to be aggressive and may not have grown up with children).

 

[cybele]

We have had a slew of animals in our household throughout the years, at the moment it's just the four cats.

We used to have rabbits, I don't know exactly how you can 'put it up high' and still have adequate space for it to exercise, rabbits need a proper run in order for them to burn off their energy and can get quite large, we have had a few dwarf lops in the past and the biggest one got to 2 kilos (around 5lbs).

Can your children not be taught to leave the rabbit alone? To me that is part of having an animal, the children learn responsibility and that animals are not toys. I would be much more concerned with the dog.

In my experience, it doesn't matter if rabbits grow up with children or not, if you upset them, they will bite. Fortunately, if you treat them with respect then they won't.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I wouldn't recommend small animals with small children at all. Not because of a dog but children want to play and treat pets like toys -- small animals can be hurt very easily.

Also rabbits cannot be caged all the time -- it needs as much exercise as a small dog.
I'd say stick to dogs and/or/maybe cats.

 

[akmom]

I don't understand why you want a rabbit then. You don't want the kids playing with it. You want to put it up high where no one will really be able to see it anyway. Do you just like paying for feed and cleaning cages? Or will you raise it for rabbit stew?

 

[singledad]

I am a firm believer that when one decides to get a pet, you have to research your chosen pet's needs thoroughly, and if you can't or don't want to provide all that the animal needs to live a happy and healthy life, you should get something else.

There are a few aspects of your post that worries me..

1. Why get an animal if the entire family won't be able to enjoy it? That simply doesn't make sense to me.
2. No animal should be confined to a cage for the majority of its life. That simply isn't fair. If you can't give the rabbit space to move and explore, and lots of attention and exercise, you really aren't giving it what it deserves.
3. If we accept that a rabbit will have to be in a cage at certain times, that cage should be big enough to allow it to move around. Something that can be picked up an placed on top of something else, is too small for a rabbit.
4. Rabbits are social animals - they need to be with other rabbits. You will need to get at least two if you want it to be happy.

Really, if you want a smaller animal, why not just get another, perhaps smaller dog, or a cat?

 

[yunihara]

Ah, I didn't realize I would get such negative responses. I fear asking questions all the time in this forum. I really didn't think I was asking stupid questions.

The rabbit's cage would be in a 4' long cage on a table that's just as long.. And only when my oldest son, who the rabbit would belong to and is 13, is not home. Its a bit difficult to explain the set up of my oldest son's room, but he really does have a good place for a big cage where it'd be harder for the 2yo to get to. We're looking at adopting a dwarf. We of course would take it out and play with it, I know how to care for a rabbit. But we would be keeping it's cage in my 13 yo's room at the beginning until we can introduce it to the dog slowly.

Yes, the childen can be taught to leave the rabbit alone if my oldest son or my wife and I are not around to assist them, but they have trouble with impulse control at times and get pretty excited about animals. I was essentially asking what's the best way to teach the 6 & 2 year old how to handle the rabbit. I thought I was clear that this was something my 13 year old boy wanted to do.

I didn't say I didn't want them to play with it, I said I didn't want them to pester it or get in its cage without asking for help. My 6yo has a very "I can do it myself" attitude and I wanted suggestions on how best to teach him that a small animal is not like the dog and he needs to have special consideration for it. I asked how to teach them not to get into its cage and hold it unsupervised.

Once it and the dog know each other well, we will let it free roam in the living room for a majority of the day (we already have gates up so the dog can't get into the living room unless we let her). By then, we'd hope to have everyone used to and understand the needs of the rabbit. I don't suppose I explained it well in the first post, but I just wanted advice on how to teach the younger kids about handling the rabbit and cage etiquette and that sort of thing. I've had rabbits before, but not with young children. So I know the needs of the rabbit, but don't really know the best way to teach.

My rabbit hated other rabbits and got aggressive with them. She was also cage aggressive but really nice when she was running around. These are why I'm concerned with the kids getting in the cage without help. Rabbits also have fairly delicate bones and stress easily. How do you teach the kids to quiet down for the first few weeks to get the rabbit completely comfortable with her home?

 

[mom2many]

I think the wording in your original post made it seem a little different then you meant

We've had two rabbits and a monster sized guinea pig. For a rabbit with young kids I like the medium sized ones, they are hardier and can handle a little roughness from the children. One we had for 4-5 years, but he was mature when we got him so his exact age is beyond me. Him and the dogs did fine together, we did have to make sure the cats were outside or he'd try to rape them lol

The other one we only had 6 months when she suddenly died. No clue what or how it happened.

Change the cage often, they can be stinky little creatures.

As for the little ones, mine never really got over the excitement of when we would let them out. The first hour was always about me staying on top of them, so the rabbit wouldn't get hurt, but after that they would calm down and let the rabbit do his/her thing. As with anything there is a learning curve, but again rabbits are fairly hardy.

Oh and ours (not even the ones I had as a kid) were ever aggressive. They'd nip every once and a while if they were being hurt, but that's it.

 

[momandmore]

It may take a lot for the dog to get along with the rabbit. Maybe you could do a trial period with the rabbit and slowly introduce the two? I had a weim and she was very aggressive to smaller animals. I had 5 other dogs and a kitten when she came to me and it was quite a process to get the weim to not want to eat the cat. about a week later.. they were cuddling on the couch together.
We have 6 kids all together and right now we have one dog, 4cats and 21 chickens.

 

[yunihara]

The rabbit I had before my mother got cancer wasn't fixed, so she was very possessive of her cage and if you didn't heed her warning to get away from the cage (wether I was spot cleaning or putting fresh hay or food in it), she would draw blood. But not before a bit of boxing to warn me. Otherwise, she was a real sweet rabbit. The shelter here doesn't fix rabbits before adopting them out, so I hope to get it done when its more accustomed to the home.

I think my wife and I, as well as our oldest son, will have to probably watch the younger kids closely until they calm themselves. But we're starting the teaching process for the younger ones about how to handle a rabbit (I'm sure they'll need lots of reminding, my 6yo is a lot more excited than I thought he'd be lol).

My dog is pretty calm around animals in the backyard. She's chased a squirrel or two but not consistantly. Hopefully she'll be pretty calm around the rabbit, but we plan to take at least a week to expose the rabbit to her (more for the sake of the rabbit and not to overstress it right away). And of course, to see how the dog reacts to it. She's a lab, so traditionally a hunting dog, but she's great at learning so I don't think we'll have too much trouble (I hope lol).

 

[singledad]

Please, seriously consider getting at least two rabbits!
http://www.therabbithouse.com/blog/2010/09/28/radio-4-socialrabbits/[/URL]

 

[yunihara]

We are, but like I said, my rabbit refused companionship with my mother's rabbit. We had to keep them separated because mine would go into attack mode if they were in the same area at the same time.

We're adopting one from the shelter, and it depends on if they have been able to cage the rabbits together or not. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they are unable due to the rabbit's disposition. We don't know who we are getting right now, because we're getting everything prepared for it first. But we've been looking at the info on the websites we've been looking at. We'll see what happens.

 

[cybele]

If they were both males and one was not desexed they would have fought to impress a potential female.

It's what animals do naturally, in the wild a desexed male would have the company of a group of females.

 

[yunihara]

My rabbit was not fixed and female, and my mother's was also a unaltered female. That might have been the problem, but my mother's rabbit was really gentle in and out of the cage. We're planning on getting whichever critters we decide on fixed after about two weeks, hopefully to curb any aggression.

 

[singledad]

Well, you can't just chuck them in the same cage and that's that. Rabbits are social, but they are also territorial. As the article I linked said - how would you react to finding a stranger in you're living room?

You have to introduce them gradually, and in neutral territory. Yes, it's an effort, but as a per owner, it's you're responsibility to honour your chosen pet's natural instincts. If you do, you will be rewarded with a happy and therefore non-aggressive pet.

 

[mom2many]

Our last two could not be in the same cage...at all! We kept them next to each other. Part of is was Freaker was an only bunny for years, he did not like anything in his cage. Should have seen what happened when a cat would get in there...yeah, poor cat's learned a lesson real quick lol

Growing up we had some that could share and others that couldn't. Dog are social animals, but it doesn't mean they will like other dogs.

 

[yunihara]

Yeah, I know about all that. My mother and I introduced them slowly and in neutral territory, but mine just didn't like her. She was a happy bunny but aggressive with my mother's rabbit and with her cage but at no other time was aggressive.

My rabbit was the new kid in town, though. She also stomped a lot if she saw me handling my mother's rabbit lol. Its been a few years, though, since I've had one (my mother's illness destroyed her immune system and the rabbits, her dog and the tiniest bit of dust made her extremely sick). But we don't have to worry about that this time around.