I’m enthused quickly by many things, especially when those things are presented by enthusiastic people! But…
“You’re not allowed to have a rabbit!” – my wife
And with that instruction, I set off to a “Behaviour Problems in Rabbits” course organised through Stichting Dierenlot Academie and given by Tamara Duijzend of Tinley Gedrags Therapie voor Dieren (Tinley Behaviour Therapy for Animals).
Personal Experience with Rabbits
I don’t come across many rabbits through the animal ambulance (maybe a few hares every now and then), so my motivation for attending this course was pure interest!
But I do have experience of a problem rabbit. Her problem was people. Understandably:
Rabbity
Not the most original name, but that was it.
Rabitty was one of several rabbits kept by a bunch of students in Wageningen. These Life Science students slaughtered these rabbits themselves and used the meat to make frikadels.
Aside on Dutch frikadels: A friend of mine came to visit me in Holland and I took him to a snackbar where he asked the guy behind the counter what was in a frikadel. The guy replied “I don’t know. Meat, if you’re lucky.”
The students either passed their exams and moved out, or failed their exams and got turfed out of the residence. Rabbity was left on her own. Deprived of her friends, and now also even of the students who fed her, she attracted the pity of one of my wife’s friends who took her in. Somehow, Rabbity was passed to us via this chain of comments:
“She’s really old.”
“She’s really grumpy.”
“She has a lump which I think might be cancer.”
“Can you keep her until I’ve bought a pen for her?”
“I don’t want to buy a pen for her.”
“Can you keep her?”
So yes, we kept her, loved her and looked after her! And yes, she was an extremely grumpy old lady, and no she didn’t have cancer. And I’ll be careful to add that her being lovable isn’t the only reason why we did NOT make a frikadel out of her. We got hold of a huge multi-level hutch for her and put a fence around it so she could run around. It dominated our garden, but it was really nice to have Rabbity around and interact with her – as much as she’d let us! 😉
(Ahem…back to) The Course.
Even after a dreadful drive to Arkel, HQ of Dierenlot Academie, I was the first in.
It gave me a chance to have a friendly chat with the course trainer, Tamara. (I usually grab a moment before courses start to quickly tell trainers in advance that if they see me on my phone it’s because I’m accessing a translation app and not because I’m bored and scrolling!)
An intro. round amongst the other participants revealed all the others worked in rabbit shelters. And of course, most had pet rabbits of their own too.
“Aww how nice! What sort of rabbit do you have?” – Tamara
There are different kinds of rabbits???! – Me
Tamara provided a beautiful insight into the world of rabbits, and in some ways this was complemented by group floor discussions. This was really useful for me because my ownership of Rabbity was brief (recall, she was elderly). And I noticed many similarities in rabbit behaviour with cats, dogs, and (my) guinea pigs.
Notes from Course
These are my notes from the course and discussions which stood out enough for me to jot them down. Any errors are from my own misunderstanding.
- Rabbits communicate through body language, and send signals from stress, pain and relaxation.
- Rabbits, like dogs, are sensitive to stress.
- Rabbits show aggression, for example, from pain or from inadequate their living space.
- How to house a rabbit: with a social partner, enough running room, shelter and straw. For info., wild rabbits live in area “as big as 34 tennis courts” (I think this is around 8000 m^2) and can sprint up to 45 km/hr! (so faster than quite a few toroises!). Running space isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for a rabbit.
- Many people keep their rabbits in houses that are too small, there’s no nature in there and no running space. This is ignorance, not cruelty; generally people are becoming kinder towards their pets, for example, bringing them to the vet more often when they notice something is different with their pet, or for advice.
- Rabbits freeze as a survival instinct; they’re prey animals and know that predators are sensitive to movement.
- Some people turn rabbits on their back, inducing “tonic immobility”; an involuntary natural survival reflex where a rabbit freezes completely. This makes it easier to groom rabbits, clip their nails and administer medication. But the rabbit is terrified and highly stressed. NEVER DO THIS.
- Approach rabbits from the side when feeding them. (I’ve tried this with my guinea pigs and they seem happier being fed like this too!)
- Bringing a towel with our scent on it helps rabbits (and guinea pigs) feel more relaxed when brought to a vet.
- Rabbits are intelligent enough to associate things and people (e.g. smell, time, position of furniture) to experiences. This can be both good and bad. Pros are obvious. But it would be inconvenient if a rabbit was able to predict an unpleasant experience (e.g. receiving medication) and thereby do his utmost to avoid it!
- Rabbits are sensitive to the dust in sawdust, so this is not ideal bedding. (I needed to check: this is also true for guinea pigs, though they are not as sensitive to dust as rabbits.)
Course End
As per my wife’s instructions, I didn’t come home with a rabbit, but Tamara was kind enough to provide each of us with a book about successfully coupling rabbits by animal trainer Bernice Muntz. Given Rabbity’s culinary escape I’m slightly wary in saying this about the book, but I’m looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into it! 😉
Many thanks again to Tamara at Tinley Gedrags Therapie voor Dieren for giving the workshop, Stichting Dierenlot Academie for organising and making it available, and Dierenambulance Nederrijn for letting me volunteer there so I’m allowed on the course! 🙂
