File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
This is sort of another one of those "What should I get?" threads.

I've been thinking about getting a rabbit, /an/, because they're really fucking cute and not illegal. Probably a dwarf breed, maybe a hotot or a lop since they look really nice. However, I already have a cat and live in an apartment (3rd floor, balcony).

Is this a good idea, /an/?
Also, for those who are current owners, what're the costs of feeding/taking care of these guys, generally?
>> Anonymous
It will chew any cords you have and love doing it. Be ready to watch them carefully whenever you let them out and you do have to let them out.

Cost is cheaper the cats to feed but you also have change their shavings in the cage, which should be a good size. But buying food and shaving in bulk makes it cheaper.

Rabbits are fun companions, they have quirky personalities like all animals. My rabbit loved being handled after she got used to it, adoring it when I rubbed her forehead and the behind her ears.
>> Anonymous
Chew toys are needed too or their teeth grow to long and cause problems.
>> Anonymous
>>214205

Male rabbits, neutered or no, will hump your leg like crazy. However, male rabbits are also more mellow than female rabbits.
>> Anonymous
You'll have to find a rabbit vet so that it can be spayed or neutered. Both males and females become horribly tempermental when they reach breeding age. Your bun will start trying to rape your cat all the time.

I think rabbits suck shit. I've had several house rabbits and while I took great care of them, their "personalities" are a big dissapointment. You'll need to buy a lot of hay, veggies, litter, and carefresh or aspen chips (no pine!). If you don't have space in your appartment for a full sized hay bale, you'll spend at least 25$ monthy for hay alone (it's the most important part of their diet). Cage cleaning can be rather intense, too. Really they're a lot of work and expense for 0 emotional rewards. Stick with cats, or get rats if you want a cool small animal :)
>> Anonymous
I had a big mellow flemish giant and I thought he was awesome. Very affectionate and hilarious to watch when he got in one of his crazy leaping and running moods. Really my only experience with rabbits. I hear dwarves can be a little more high strung but getting it spayed or neutered would probably fix that. So yeah, one of the more high maintenance pets but I thought mine was really cool.

Just make sure you find a vet who has experience with rabbits. Vets unfamiliar with rabbits have the potential to make HUGE diagnosis errors. I had two vets tell me I needed to put my rabbit down when he was sick. The third vet, who knew shit about rabbits, gave me some very simple anise paste stuff to help his digestion and he was better within days. Pretty ridiculous.
>> Anonymous
My brother had one growing up. It was a shitty pet, always terrified and running away, it was impossible to catch to pet and always chewing on wires if you're not careful. Maybe you can socialize em, but it seems like it'd be a lot more work than most other small furry animals. And they need a bunch of space.
>> Anonymous
>>214736
It must come down to the individual animal. My rabbit would follow people around and loved to lay down next to us for lots and lots of pets. He didn't run away from us unless it was time to come inside from yard playtime (can't blame him). Then again, we never chased him or anything like that so he had no reason to run from us when we approached. All of this good behavior came very naturally to him, he needed no encouragement. Kind of like.. litter training. He was good about that, too.
>> Anonymous
In my experience rabbits are similar in temperament to a cat, but you can keep them in a cage most of the time and they are cheaper to feed. Never leave them out of the cage unattended and let them out daily and they can be very rewarding pets.
>> Anonymous
I have a dwarf rabbit that is litter trained, and it is the best pet in the world: extremely sweet, good tempered, trusting, etc. You have you invest a lot of time with it though, and if you have other people living in your house they have to be prepared to interact with it too.

The worst thing you can do is buy a rabbit and force it to live in a cage on its own. Even if you take it out for a while every day, it's going to develop problems. Litter training isn't that hard, and rabbit-proofing a house isn't a big deal after you get it over with in the beginning.
>> Anonymous
Hay is really important for their digestion. Do a Google on it or some shit and tons of sites will explain exactly why; they have a unique digestive system and hay keeps it strong and grows the right type of bacteria or whatever they need. Rabbits will be fine without hay at first, but one day your rabbit will get fat and unable to digest his food, then eventually die.
>> anon
i dont get how u can get this thing litter trained especially when they pooper constantly. they also like to eat their poops. unless they are constantly running to their litters, they are bound to poop everywhere.
>> Anonymous
They don't actually eat their poop. They make a special substance in a special organ that they poop out. They need it to digest their food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecotropes
>> Anonymous
Rabbits are so easy to litter train that they practically teach themselves. They chew every damn thing though. But if you adopt from a shelter, look up House Rabbit Society and providing there's a chapter in your area, they'll be involved enough to know a bit about the personality of the shelter rabbits and will be able to help pair you and your cat with one of appropriate temperament.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I've had rabbits, only one was really special in any way, he was very playful and good at solving problems (like how to unlock his cage). Being in the midwest, he was very inexpensive to keep, a large bag of pellet food is about 6 bucks from a farm/home store (that's about how much a little bag costs at a retail store), medicine is only a few bucks, etc.

But my rabbit came off as a real asshole, if you tried to cuddle him he would just jump off your lap, and when he was excited he would attack the cats and dog. To him it was playing, but the other animals were offended and hated/avoided him. My family had an "outdoor colony" of rabbits in a 10'x5' pen that was much more fun to watch, even though they weren't tame. So I think there's much cooler house pets out there. If you just want cute, invest in the dire cuteness/softness of the chinchilla, or even a couple gerbils or rats would be more rewarding.

If you get a rabbit anyway, I would recommend a Dutch (the black/white one like in your pic) or a mixed breed semi-lop.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>216038
This is what I did, and ended up with a very affectionate little rabbit that made best buddies with my cat.
This is them, just hanging out.