I keep my rabbit indoors for the same reason and others, it also protects them from outdoor predators. Also outside a rabbit must live in a cage. Mine has free roam.
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I keep my rabbit indoors for the same reason and others, it also protects them from outdoor predators. Also outside a rabbit must live in a cage. Mine has free roam.
i kept my rabbit indoors (because we worried about the temperature change in the winter, coming out of a warm house in to a chilly hutch) but in the end it lived to a ripe old age. nearly eight.
eight is too old for a rabbit. don't get me wrong, i didn't want him to die but his territory got bigger and smellier. he became less and less interested in his surroundings. he spent the last year of his life apparently sulking on the upstairs landing. his legs weren't really up to the stairs, though, and after a couple of falls down them he gave them up altogether.
I recently visited a friend who had let their rabbit remain caged indoors for the first year and then moved it outside to a hutch and run. a dwarf lop just like mine had been. This rabbit had acclimatised extremely well to the new environment and was extremely lively and obviously happy. always glad of company and with complete rule over its territory.
Thing about rabbits is their territorial nature, see.
you'll have noticed your rabbit treating you as though you are it's subordinates. when it does that nodding thiing with it's head and tries to sit somewhere higher up than you- well that's one way it asserts it's superiority in the pack. the other ways are more obvious. like pissing.
living with a rabbit was wonderful for my family and we harboured a ridiculous amount of affection for ours- but in the end you could amount our time together as a constant struggle for territory which began with a litterbox and ended with reams of newspaper and a new carpet.
I totally understand why you think your rabbit should be inside but please elieve me when i say you're mistaken. put it outside, in a hutch, with a run. let it out by day, or when you're at home, and then lock it up safe at night, or when you go out. you need to draw a line between your space and the rabbit's. give it an inch and it will assume responsibility for every inch of your home it is able to leak onto.
instead give it it's own space outside. it will be the king of it's territory and enjoy occasional visits to yours.
when you cross the line into the rabbit's space- you'll notice how it fusses at you and pesters your ankles. this is because you're trespassing. when people share a house with a rabbit they often mistake all this attention for affection. that isn't what it is. it's bullying. it's the softest, cutest form of bullying you'll ever experience. it's being bullied by a soft toy. and it doesn't work- so the rabbit will be forced to piss on your bed instead.
sorry for the lengthy reminisces.. enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
enjoy your rabbit, but keep it in it's place. which is outside. don't worry about it being cold. it won't be cold. it'll be happy that nobody is eating toast in it's living room without offering it any. because it won't know.
Rabbits suffocate indoors..my wabbit died beacuase of too much oxygen produced by my fish tank and water plants..poor wabbit!! plz keep him outside!!
Should alway be kept OUTDOORS. They need the air and they do smell a bit.
I keep my pet rabbit outdoors when it is nice and sunny outside, like in the spring in the morning and afternoon. When it gets dark, I bring my pet rabbit back inside.
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