7 Day Transition Guidelines

• The day bunny arrives home, put him/her in their new hutch. Do not play with the bunny like we all know everyone wants to. This bunny is in a new environment with new smells and sounds. He or she is away from everyone and everything they have ever known and it is time to let the bunny adjust in his or her time and way.

• ABSOLUTELY NO GROOMING! Grooming can and will stress your bunny out which can be fatal. Tangles, dirt, mats and messes can be cleaned up or even cut out after transitioning periods are over. Do not jeopardize your bunny’s life in any way.

• It is okay to pet your bunny, talk to it, carry on like normal in your life surrounding the bunny so they get used to the new noises and action in the room.

• Allow other household pets to meet and greet through cage only. They need to know there are other animals in the home as long as they are not trying to attack or bark at the bunny. Use common sense when allowing your dogs close to the bunny for the first time. Lots of barking  can cause the rabbit to have a heart attack.

• Feed and water bunny daily

• Clean waste tray as needed

• Check bunny bottom daily for diarrhea

• Make sure bunny has unlimited hay 

• Watch the size of bunny poops! If they get smaller, this is a sign that the bunny is not eating well and time to intervene.

• Contact us immediately with any concerns! We will walk you through how to remedy every situation and save your bunny from getting worse.

• If you are not observant each day, you could miss something going on. Pay attention to eating habits. Catch a problem early and we can fix it. Ignore it, there is a high chance they bunny won’t survive.

• No questions are too small or silly to ask. Please let me know what you need so I can help.  

Day 5 – 7

Once everything seems to be going well by day 5 – 7, you can start to pet the bunny more. You can take the bunny out of the cage and give it  15 minutes here and there to socialize with you. If you see things going well still, then you can start to slowly give the bunny more attention and time around humans and daily interaction. If the bunny does not respond well, just give him/her more time to adjust and keep in touch with us.

If you notice that the bunny does not eat well at any point during the transition period or anytime in its life, you will need to give it something to entice it to eat. Start with some oats topping off the feed dish. BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) or calf manna sometimes work as well. Hay is a requirement when they are not eating well but some bunnies seem to get upset and not want to eat hay. When this happens, I offer different types of fresh greens: