Mia and Murphy, living without limitations

Along with our family cats, dog and Guinea Pigs, we had our pet rabbit Lucky who’s independent type of living was slightly unusual for rabbit behaviour, as they are usually sociable animals. Lucky recently passed away, unfortunately, a recurring abscess under his eye spread through his body, but he lived to a ripe old age and I felt it was time to look for other pet rabbits to welcome into our family. We already have a great set-up for rabbits, so felt right to offer it to other rescues who would benefit from the covered run, hutches and beautiful garden.

Rescue Rabbits

I love to pick pets from dedicated rescue centres, and if I can, locally. Working in my job as a veterinary nurse I see a lot of mistreatment and abuse, giving a rescue pet a new home means they get a second chance at enjoying life, along with my veterinary knowledge I can give them added medical aid and years of background experience!
I contacted a rescue centre near Godstone, called Foal Farm where they have plenty of dogs, cats and small furries to adopt. With the current COVID restrictions, once I fill out the paperwork we had a zoom call to check out the garden and my previous rabbit experience. Foal Farm had 12 pairs to rehome, so Jacob and I went to have a debrief and pick our pair! The set-up at the farm is really great, as the rabbits are housed with little Wendy houses in a horseshoe shape. Jacob wanted Mia and Murphy, a pair of brown rabbits that had been sent back after a week of being with a new family who hadn’t realised how much work rabbits take to look after. They are vaccinated, neutered, microchipped and are both around five years old. I will schedule their booster vaccinations for RVHD and myxomatosis in a few months.

Welcome, Mia and Murphy

We chose Mia and Murphy and they came home with us that day. The concern is that they are new to a family group, so we needed to settle them in and introduce them to the other pets. So every day they came into the house, loose for a few hours. The cats watched them and Dylan, the dog, was all good. Mia and Murphy would stay in the hutch with their runs and then would progress into the large runs, they were desperate to go out, the weather was a mix, so after a few weeks had run of the garden.

Murphy, more like Peter Rabbit

Murphy decided the other side of the fence looked good, he acts a lot like Peter rabbit! There are flowers on the other half of the garden and he would go under, over or jumped to get to things. For three weeks it became a game. Then the neighbours called, they don’t have rabbits, but a rabbit was in their garden…
So now the WHOLE of the garden had to be rabbit proofed, from fences to gates, overgrown bushes to under sheds.

Training the rabbits

Lucky was litter trained, so I thought I would try something new with these rabbits. Every time they were fed I would ring a bell, so now when I ring a bell they will come to it and sniff around my legs, they know it’s feeding time. This allows me to call them in whenever I need to, the training is ongoing, but I hope it will also help when it gets dark and will save me hunting around for them.

For now, they are content, living without any limitations!
With these rescue pets, I hope I can give them a better life.