5 Benefits Of Rabbit Adoption (Instead of Buying)

After reading my post on 5 Things to Consider Before Getting A Rabbit, you may have this question in mind:

So here are 5 reasons why I highly recommend potential owners to adopt instead of getting from pet shops, from the least to the most important reason (in my opinion).

1. YOU SAVE MONEY

I'm going to be honest here, Dou Dou was not adopted, she was bought. I have to admit that I didn't do enough research before getting Dou Dou, that was why I didn't know I could adopt rabbits (I only knew about dogs and cats).

She cost me SGD$560, this was a much higher cost, as compared to the adoption fees (ranging from S$10-$50) from the rescue groups.

Also, the bunnies under these rescue groups are also sterilised and in good health, saving you from surgery cost and additional medical expenses as well (more on this in point 4).

But to me, this is the least significant reason, because I was ready to spend on this baby.

"Boohoo! I can't reach!" (Dou Dou 5 weeks old)

2. YOU SAVE ENERGY

For new bunny parents, it can be hard to train your bunny to poop and pee at the right place because either you are not sure how, or you may not have experience in handling rabbits. By the time both you and your rabbit are comfortable with each other, the rabbit may have developed its own (bad) toilet habits.

Imagine all the hair-pulling moments, cleaning poop and pee whenever you let your bunny out of the cage to play.

I am peeing right on my potty!

I was lucky that Dou Dou was quite an easy rabbit, she was easy to handle and got her potty spot correctly at the end of 7 days.

But by getting a rabbit from the rescue groups, your bunny will already be litter-trained.

Save the hassle.

3. YOU SAVE GETTING BITTEN

If you are thinking to get more than 1 bunny, you can get a bonded pair from foster homes, which means they won't fight to see who's the boss when you bring them home.

If you are only thinking of getting just 1 bunny, the bunny will already be familiar with humans as they are well taken care of by the volunteers. Rabbits are prey animals and it's important to make them feel safe. If they are familiar with humans, they will feel less threatened when you come into contact with them.

For Dou Dou, even though she is rather sociable, she is a very careful rabbit. So it took me about 4 months of love and patience for her to fully trust me (and let me cut her nails). I guess she probably wasn't very familiar with human contact.

"I like these legs, they bring food."

4. YOU SAVE GETTING WORRIED

In my opinion, I think the next 2 reasons are the MAIN reasons why you should definitely adopt instead of buying.

When Dou Dou was about 5 month-old, I found worms in her poop.

I'm sorry if you're eating.

I freaked out, collected some poop samples, packed her up and rushed to the vet.

The vet seemed surprised and interested in the filled-with-worms poop (I wasn't sure why they have never came across this before), sent the poop for testing and did a brief body check-up on Dou Dou.

According to the vet, this condition is animal-specific, meaning it can only spread between the same types of animal. Dou Dou was my only pet, and we humans couldn't have spread this to her, so our only guess was it came from the pet shop.

It took about 4 months for us to discover the worms. Maybe I didn't notice early enough, or the worms took quite sometime to mature. Dou Dou seemed active and having good appetite during this whole time having worms in her body, that was why there were no signs of any discomfort.

Anyway, Dou Dou was given antibiotics and was fully recovered in a week's time.

Rabbits that are put up for adoption, on the other hand, are thoroughly checked that they are healthy and are sterilised before they can be brought back to their new owner's home.

So no horror stories like mine.

5. YOU SAVE MORE THAN 1 RABBIT

Adopting an animal from rescue groups or shelters would mean that you are saving two (or more) bunnies! The one you bring home, and the available space for the next needy bunny.

Sleeping in peace, without needing to worry about anything.

Many rescued rabbits are either abandoned, lived in bad living conditions or abused. They all have their own sad, horror stories. If you have the ability and capacity to provide a good and loving living environment, these rescued rabbits deserve a chance to be happy.

Addition to that, many breeders breed rabbits in inhumane ways, and by not supporting the pet-selling pet shops/breeders, you are also discouraging the rabbit breeding scene. If more people are adopting instead, hopefully this will make breeders disappear!

BREEDERS BE GONE!

If you are a true animal lover, do consider these reasons and adopt a bunny instead of buying one.

Do drop me a comment if you beg to differ, or if you have more reasons to share :)

Hoppy Monday!