My Introduction To Bunnies

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice that I’ve had a recent addition to my little family: a beautiful baby miniature lop bunny rabbit. For those wondering, his colour is called Sooty Fawn.

His full name is Albus Dumbledore, more affectionately known as Albie. As the true Harry Potter fans/nerds DG and I are, it’s only expected that we would use a name from the HP universe. You can judge away but his perfect little bunny face, complete with twitching nose, suits his name perfectly. It’s also kind of hilarious to yell out Albus Dumbledore when he’s in trouble.

Albie is the first bunny I’ve ever owned though I have always felt favourably towards bunnies thanks to a love of Beatrix Potter and the Peter Rabbit stories throughout my childhood. So why did we decide to get a rabbit? As someone who has had a pet my whole life, I missed having a fur baby. DG and I desperately wanted a pet and due to the fact we’re living in a rental property, we eliminated cats and dogs.

The past six weeks have been a huge learning curve for both DG and I as we have adjusted to life with the world’s cutest bunny rabbit (I’m not biased at all). First things first, having a rabbit as a pet is hard work, especially if you want a cuddly rabbit. For your rabbit to like being held and handled, you have to hold and handle them every day. You simply cannot leave a rabbit in an outside hutch all day every day and not pay attention to it except for changing it’s food, water and litter tray (yes, you can litter train them) and then expect them to like being held. So we spend a lot of time with Albie.

We bought Albie from a breeder which I would highly recommend if you’re in the market for a rabbit. We had the opportunity to meet his parents which helped us decide on Albie. We wanted a chilled out, relaxed rabbit and his parents were both of these things which in rabbit breeding is very important.

Albie is pretty clean, his poo is just little pellets (which he mostly does in the litter tray, we’re still getting there) and after going through a period of weeing on me which was not enjoyable AT ALL, he now goes in his litter tray or on the bathroom tiles, never the carpet. He is so freaking adorable I just want to smoosh his little face, and I do quite frequently. Albie is a special little bunny. He loves cuddles, eats parsley and baby spinach so quickly it looks like it disappears, and rolls over onto his back and side to show just how happy he is in our home.

I’ve learnt that even though Bugs Bunny chows down on carrots all the time, the high sugar content in carrots means that they should only be given sparingly and in small amounts and you should never give them iceberg lettuce or similar. In the same vein, bunnies have very particular digestive systems and it can take them a while to get used to and start properly processing new food.

You can calm a rabbit down by holding them on their backs, but if your rabbit is anything like Albie, there will be times when he has a look of sheer annoyance. Rabbit harnesses are also a real thing and yes, we have one so that Albie is able to walk on the grass without making a run for it into next-door’s yard which is home to two dogs.

I will never get tired of watching him clean himself, so much cuteness!

Owning a rabbit has been a learning curve and it’s definitely not for everyone but it’s the cutest curve ever.

Have you ever owned a rabbit? What’s your favourite thing about your pet?

Pictures supplied by author