The poor rabbit

My parents friends bought their daughter a rabbit. They both don't like animals and are horrified at the idea of it living indoors, one of them is allergic and recoils in horror from the poor thing. As a result it lives in a cage in the back garden and is often let out to roam around. It is terrified of Lauren (the daughter) and runs away from her whenever it can, its only a baby, and it tries to hide from everyone in its tunnel. Lauren is Extremely loud and likes to carry it into the living room where it cowers behind a cushion.
My actual point is that winter is coming and I was wondering if it will be ok outside? Also can foxes break into rabbit hutches?
Lauren's parents think he will be fine but have a bit of a 'if it dies, it dies' attitude. They aren't bad people, just don't understand pets at all, and if it wasn't for lauren they wouldn't own any.
He is a lovely soft terrified little thing called Autumn, and has black fur with a brown belly and lions mane.

hi, i have a rabbit and it lives in a large hutch in my garden. A well made hutch shouldn't enable any animal including foxes to get in. So if its a good hutch it will be fine.
Unless the temperature goes below freezing it should be ok. I sometimes bring Fudge in through winter esspecially when he was a baby. When its colder they should be more hay or straw in the hutch for the rabbit to snuggle in.
Rabbits are scared easily, and are not fond of being handled by humans. As its only still a baby it should be easy enough to train it to be more affectionate towards humans and stop running away from them. It sounds like the owner of the rabbit, the girl, needs to be more quiet around it or else it will continue and grow up to be scared of humans.

I've tried, but the parents don't care enough about the rabbit to really talk to her about him. Last night she had her cousins over-3 noisy under 10s- who were yelling and picking him up, carrying him all over the house, and all the parents said was an occasional 'be quiet' or 'keep the noise down' which she, as always, completely ignored! I'm worried that when he grows up one day she'll go to far, he'll bite her and they'll either get rid of he rabbit or she'll never play with him again. Although the latter could almost be a blessing in disguise.

Oh, poor bunny!

What country/area are you in? The weather is pretty moderate in England, but if you're in one of the colder American states or, god forbid, Canada, having an outside bunny and keeping it healthy and safe is a full-time chore. What kind of cage is he in? He needs a good solid wood hutch with an enclosed sleeping area. During winter you stuff that part full of straw, and they snuggle right in happy as clams. It should be a big hutch too because it sounds like he's not getting let out to play very often. I think the UK RSPCA only rehomes rabbits where they'll have a hutch that's at least five feet long. I've seen some fabulous UK hutches, but if you're in the US you have to make one yourself or deal with a cruddy 3 foot hutch.

Foxes, stray dogs, and wandering cats (as well as large hawks and owls) are major problems with outdoor rabbits. Foxes can get into poorly-made hutches and runs, and stray dogs have been known to tear wooden hutches apart to get to rabbits.

Also if you're in the UK he needs to be vaccinated regularly for VHD and myxomatosis. These are fatal diseases which are unfortunately fairly common. VHD is easily transfered, carried on fur, shoes, clothes, cars, etc. Myxomatosis is spread by biting insects such as fleas, mites, etc.

Maybe you could take him instead, and the girl could visit him at your place?

I used to keep rabbits as a child and they lived outside all year round - this was in the south of England where comparitively mild winters are the norm.

They had a lovely large outdoor run with a hutch at one end, which my dad built, and in the winter the sleeping area would be filled with lots of fresh straw and hay for warmth.

One of the rabbits I had caught myxymatosis and had to be put to sleep we didn't know about the vaccine at that time, all our later rabbits were vaccinated every 6 months. Whether this is necessary depends on where in the world you are, in the UK it is essential as both myxymatosis and VHD are endemic.

Handling a rabbit roughly and being loud around it is definitely a no-no. They are naturally nervous and need a gentle, quiet environment.

Is there any way the child will listen to you?!? After all, the bunny will be a much nicer pet if it is tame. I would give her a gift of a book on bunny care, and try to talk to her about watching for the cues from the bunny.

Thank goodness I live in England! And London at that. I'd to take him in but I have 2 lively kittens that go Mad for rabbit fur. I like the idea of the book though, and christmas Is coming... I'll also talk to them about the vaccinations. Thankyou for all your help!

Originally Posted by cata_mint

Thank goodness I live in England!

And London at that. I'd

to take him in but I have 2 lively kittens that go Mad for rabbit fur. I like the idea of the book though, and christmas Is coming... I'll also talk to them about the vaccinations. Thankyou for all your help!

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Please do try to get them to have vaccinations. Watching a rabbit ill with that is the most horrible thing, and there is no treatment - It is very easily transmitted by all sorts of animals - foxes and crows and other scavengers carry infected fleas from the bodies of dead infected rabbits, and other biting insects such as gnats and mosquitoes carry it, so it can travel quite a long way and there is no way to keep bunny safe other than getting the vaccine!

Originally Posted by Naturestee

Oh, poor bunny!

What country/area are you in? The weather is pretty moderate in England, but if you're in one of the colder American states or, god forbid, Canada, having an outside bunny and keeping it healthy and safe is a full-time chore. What kind of cage is he in?

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I got a chuckle out of this. We actually have less snow and often a milder winter here in Southern Ontario (Canada) than some of the northern United States. Buffalo NY gets tons of snow which fortunately often misses us.

It's always interesting to see how others perceive your country to be.

Must depend on exactly where you live. I know a girl in Ontario with outdoor rabbits, and she has to change their water 6+ times a day. They'd be inside if her dad wasn't deathly allergic. We compared winter temperatures and it's colder there than in Wisconsin, and we've had rabbits dumped at the Humane Society with frostbitten ears.

Poor little bunny! No way should they have any pets!

Yes rabbits can survive winters ONLY if you winterized the pen. That means enclosing it against winter wind, a solid box for sleeping and plenty of straw for bedding.

My dad built our rabbit hutch and had it enclosed for winter with panels. We also had the hutch near the house for protection against wind, snow, etc. If the hutch is not secure any large animal could knock it over and the rabbit risks getting killed.

I doubt (from your post) that the parents would put that much effort into winterizing the rabbit. And rabbits have to be handled gently/quietly and often in order for them to be tamed.

This is a really sad situation!