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Rabbit Educational Presentation
Presented by Jeff, Ally, Justine, and Stacey
Author:
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Introduction
How to Pet Us
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Meet the Kids
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Name: Hanky Panky
AKA: Hank
Breed: Lion Head
Age: 7.5
Weight: 3.5 lbs.
Back story: Was at a college dorm where no pets were allowed.
Name: Pearly White
AKA: Pearl
Breed: Plush Lop
Age: 4.5
Weight: 5.0 lbs.
Back story: Surrendered for an unknown reason.
Name: Oliver Quill
AKA: Starlord
Breed: Rex
Age: 6.5
Weight: 6.7 lbs.
Back story: Found wandering the streets of Minneapolis by animal control.
Name: Iris Bloom
AKA: Iris
Breed: English lop/Harlequin
Age: 5.5
Weight: 7.8 lbs.
Back story: Wasn’t getting along with a friends other rabbits.
More Kids
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Bella
Butter Butter
Cola
Peanut
Roo
Tinsel
About MCRS
Established 2002
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Advocacy for Rabbits as house pets
(part of the family)
Non Profit
All Volunteer
(~120 active)
No facility to house rabbits. All rabbits in foster homes.
(~80 in foster)
Primary Mission #1
Education
To reduce the number of unwanted rabbits.
Primary Mission #2
Adoption
100s of rabbits are euthanized at rescues/shelters due to overcrowding.
Services
Classes
Sales (hay & pellets)
Social media (email)
Hoppy Hours
Nail trims/scent glands
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Being Prey
We are Prey for most Predators
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Being picked up reminds us of being captured.
Always alert for predatory dangers so we can take flight or hide.
Mostly soundless but we can growl/grunt, purr, honk, thump, and scream.
Each of us have a unique personalities.
We are crepuscular.
We are curious creatures.
Our Predator Defenses
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Our hearing is very good.
Good sense of smell
Whiskers to feel around in a dark burrow or dim light.
Can hop at 30 MPH.
Very sensitive taste.
We have good eyesight to detect predators. Almost 360° of vision.
We are quick
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Housing
Our Natural Home is a Burrow
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Why We Shouldn’t Be Kept Outside
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Typical Hutch
I am sad because of:
I like my inside home!
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X-Pen Fencing
Fleece and stuffed animal friend to play with
Roxanne
Litter boxes with hardwood pellets for litter and orchard grass hay
Place to hide
Snak Shak to chew on
Water crock
Cardboard to chew on
Fleece flooring with tarp underneath
We need more than a pen for exercise
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We need at least two hours a day out of our pen to get in the exercise we need.
Click image for free roaming video
Our digging and chewing habits
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Our teeth grow forever so we might chew wires but they are dangerous and it is destructive. House plants tend to be toxic to us.
We have a tendency to dig.
Bunny proofing your home is necessary.
Iris’s day
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Click image for Iris’s video
We like having a Friend (Bond Mate)
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In order for us to live together we must be bonded otherwise we will fight, possibly to the death.
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Care
The Best Diet for Us
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Hay must always be available 24 hours a day for us.
Feed us twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening to align with our natural crepuscular active times.
We are strict herbivores.
Our Fur needs to be taken care of
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We are self cleaning.
(we groom ourselves by licking like cats)
NO BATHS.
Be gentle when grooming us, our skin is thin.
Our Nails need to be Trimming
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Hmm I smell like a Skunk
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Something smells like a skunk and I think it is my scent glands!
Many of us like toys
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Health
Veterinary Care for Us
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Our Digestive System
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I cannot physically vomit.
I’m prey so I will hide the fact I am sick.
You shouldn’t see Cecal pellets because I practice coprophagy on them to extract all nutrition.
I defecate 200 to 300 Fecal pellets a day.
My fecal pellets are mostly harmless and safe to touch.
GI Stasis Our Silent Killer
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Not eating and/or not pooping is an emergency.
We can die within a day.
Head Tilt another issue us rabbits face
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Head tilt (wry neck) should be considered an emergency and requires us to go to the vet.
Mild Head Tilt
Severe Head Tilt
Our Teeth can have problems
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I can’t eat due to my overgrown teeth.
Our Skeleton is not made for rough housing
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12” fall caused this broken leg
We are thin boned.
Our Legendary Reproduction Capabilities
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Guess what we really do breed like rabbits!!
We will live longer than you think
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Our life span varies depending on where we live.
Wild ~1 year
Hutch ~5 years
Inside ~10 years up to 15 possible.
How big can our species get?
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For Humans
Places to acquire Us
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Why a rescue/shelter instead of a breeder?
Side notes:
Don’t gift a rabbit, actually any animal, it may not be what the recipient wants.
Far too many rabbits are gifted at Easter time, most won’t survive a year.
We can be trained
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Click Image for Agility Video
I will cost you some $s.
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Please don’t release us to the wild.
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Texas A&M study shows brain differences between domesticated and wild rabbits.
MRI scans reveal changes in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex. These regions deal with fear and flight. Click image to read study.
As a domesticated animal we are used to food being delivered on a silver platter, temperature control, not having to forage, protection from predators, insects, and medical care.
Please don’t release us to the wild we will not survive for long.
Be responsible and surrender us to an appropriate shelter or rescue.
The Weird Place We Occupy in the World
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Beloved Pets
Despised by farmers and gardeners
Raised for meat
Raised for fur
Raised for show (ARBA)
The End
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Questions