Review: Living World Green Salad Bowls for Bunnies

May 25th, 2013

The post person came – I got a bill for bunny insurance renewal, Scamp, on the other hand, got sent tasty things to try out again. It seems a little unfair to me, but he thinks it’s great.

Hagen are launching a new range of ‘salads’ for small animals and wanted guinea pigs, or rather rabbit’s that didn’t mind playing guinea pigs, to taste test them.

living world rabbit salad

They describe it as:

Far superior than common snacks, this scrumptious salad also contains cellulose, a natural plant-derived source of insoluble fibre that is key to your small pet’s health and fitness. With no added sugar, colourants or preservatives, the salad is an excellent complementary pet food for hamsters, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, degus, rats, chinchillas and rabbits. It can be mixed in a bowl to help satisfy your furry friend’s natural foraging instinct or hand fed. Available in 4 delicious flavours to suit your pet’s needs.

I’m not sure if you can make it out in the picture but Scamp got the carrot, rose hip, dandelion and alfalfa variety.

living world salad ingredient alfalfa, rose hip, carrot, dandelion

 

The others include things like strawberry, oat hay, marigold, sunflower and parsley.

Scamp was very impressed, his nose started going before I got the lid off!

livingworld_saladpot

And he couldn’t wait to tuck in. He loved the dandelion, alfalfa and carrot bits, but wasn’t entirely sure about the rose hips. They got a good sniff and a chin, so he might be saving them for later.

livingworld_saladscamp

So, all paws up for this. There is a surprising amount of plant in the pot, and it would be great for bunnies with tummies that prefer dried foods to fresh, or aren’t so keen on hay. Judging by Scamp’s reaction it smelled great so it would be good to mix in with hay – it’s also 20% fibre/10% protein/2% fat so very healthy. Brilliant alternative to processed treats!

livingworld_tastetest

Don’t mind me, I’m just stuffing my face with tasty goodies!

Animal Welfare Act & the Rabbit Code of Practice

May 10th, 2013

Petition for Rabbit Code of PracticeWe believe that a government code of practice outlining what is required to meet the welfare needs of rabbits will lay the foundations towards shortening the huge gap between the reality of their needs and what many owners are currently providing. – Camp Nibble

In 2006 the UK introduced a new Animal Welfare Act. The key change was instead of just being wrong to treat an animal cruelly, owners now had a duty of care to provide for all animals needs, including the need:

  • For a suitable environment (place to live)
  • For a suitable diet
  • To exhibit normal behaviour patterns
  • To be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if applicable)
  • To be protected from pain, injury, suffering and disease

Codes of Practice

To cover all animals, the needs are expressed in a very general way – just what is a suitable diet? Obviously, the answer for a cat is very different for a rabbit. So, how would people know what the legal ‘suitable diet’ was for their pet? The solution was included in the Animal Welfare Act – the government would issue ‘Codes of Practice’ documents. These would explain in detail how to put the law into practice.

14.1 The appropriate national authority may issue, and may from time to time revise, codes of practice for the purpose of providing practical guidance in respect of any provision made by or under this Act.

Although the Animal Welfare Act (2006) applies to both England and Wales (the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 applies in Scotland) the Codes of Practice don’t.

Wales went ahead and published a Code of Practice for Rabbits in 2009, which does a very good job of explaining how to care for a rabbit’s diet, housing, social, behavioural and health needs e.g.

Your rabbit should have daily access to a safe and secure run where it can run and jump. The run should be as large as possible so that your rabbit can stretch upwards to its full height and run, not just hop.

But, whilst England went ahead and issued Codes of Practice for cats, dogs, horses and primates… seven years after the Animal Welfare Act the promised Code of Practice for Rabbits hasn’t materialised for England or Scotland. This is despite the fact that rabbits are Britain’s third most popular pet and according to the RSPCA its most neglected.

Concerns over this issue were noted in the 2010 ‘Memorandum to the Post-Legislative Assessment of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (PDF)‘ which consulted a number of groups, such as the RSPCA and British Veterinary Association, working with the act to see what they thought of it.

“concerns include the general lack of codes for different species and the lack of training for local authority inspectors, such that some are not aware of how the code ought to be implemented. A number of groups expressed concern over Defra’s priorities in introducing secondary legislation and in the choice of animals covered by Codes of Practice for e.g. private ownership of primates, but no Code of Practice for rabbits (in England).”

In February 2011, William Bain MP, asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when they planed to publish a code of practice on the welfare of pet rabbits.

The answer:

“We have no current plans to publish a code of practice on the welfare of pet rabbits. We consider that the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to provide for the welfare needs of animals are sufficient to ensure the necessary protection for the welfare of pet rabbits.”

Which is daft! If we want the public to improve their care standards there needs to be a clear document explaining what those standards are – that’s where the Rabbit Code of Practice should come in. I’m not the only one to think it.

Campaigning for a Rabbit Code of Practice

Camp Nibble, a rabbit rescue centre in Leeds, have started a petition calling for the government to introduce a code of practice. If you haven’t come across them before, petitions run through the Direct.gov website that generate 100,000 signatures within a year trigger a debate in parliament. It sounds like a lot but it’s quite a small portion of the millions of rabbit owners in the UK. I asked Hannah, from Camp Nibble, why a Code of Practice is important to their work:

Most of our rescue rabbits one way or another have ended up at Camp Nibble due to people taking on rabbits with little realisation of what is needed for them to live happy, healthy lives. They are widely misunderstood animals and are very often mistakenly taken on as cheap, easy pets. In many cases the responsibility for their care is even left in the hands of children.

Welfare organisations now understand well what rabbits need for their welfare to be best met. However, this information needs to be adopted and accepted by the general public. We believe that a government code of practice outlining what is required to meet the welfare needs of rabbits will lay the foundations towards shortening the huge gap between the reality of their needs and what many owners are currently providing.

With the code of practice in place we would hope to see a reduction in the currently huge numbers of rabbits being neglected/abandoned simply due to ignorance and a misunderstanding of their needs.

On behalf of Camp Nibble and the millions of rabbits in the UK, can I ask you a little favour now? If you are in the UK, can you please pop over here and sign the petition:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49086

Composting Rabbit Droppings

April 29th, 2013

Did you know: rabbit droppings make great fertilizer. In the wild, rabbit’s droppings would be scattered over the ground they are grazing, fertilizing it and encouraging future plant growth. So, instead of throwing bags of waste in the bin I take advantage of all the poop (they certainly produce plenty of it!) and use it to make my flowers grow better and to grow some giant vegetables.

Not only is recycling your rabbit’s poop great for your garden it means less waste going to landfill (most councils won’t except rabbit waste for composting/recycling), and reduces your carbon foot print (less waste transported) and, if the government does decide to carry out their threats of charging by the bin full, it could even save you money!

How to Compost

You don’t need a lot of space to compost. My compost bin is about 2′ square and tucked out the way behind a tree. The compost bin needs to sit on bare earth so the worms can wriggle up inside. Compost bins don’t usually have bottoms so the worms can get in and excess water can drain out. You can buy basic compost bins quite cheaply or your local council may even provide them free of charge or at a discount. They don’t need to  be anything fancy, you can even build your own. Wooden pallets are the traditional solution, just nail four together to make a square.

The whole contents of your rabbit’s litter tray can be composted including the litter and hay. Wood shavings take longer to compost so, if you don’t already, you might want to consider paper based cat litter. You can also compost any chewed up paper and cardboard – it will actually compost better for having been pre-shredded by a bunny!

I also throw in any other compostable waste too like tea bags, vegetable scraps unsuitable for bunnies, fallen leaves, old flowers, cardboard and grass cuttings.

And the result:

Beautiful Compost!

Beautiful Compost!

No Compost Bin?

Rabbits droppings are superdupa because they can be used straight on your garden, though you will want to separate out any bedding and litter. In hot weather spreading the droppings over the ground can also mean they dry out instead of breaking down so give them a water or spread them before rain is forecast.  You can also bury/dig them in to help them break down more quickly. I buried loads under my runner bean and squash plants last year whilst waiting for the composting poop to mature.  They are also the perfect chemical free completely rabbit safe lawn feed – just sprinkle them on! Alternative no. 3, is making compost tea. Leave poop to soak in water for a few days and then water your plants with the resulting tea.

If you don’t have the garden, space, or inclination to muck about composting your rabbits droppings yourself why not ask around your friends, neighbours or local allotment society and see if anyone would like your spare poop. No really, rabbit droppings are prized amongst the green-fingered crowd!

For more advice of the practical aspects of making good compost try the Recycle Now website.

Seal of Approval

Composting certainly gets a Scamp seal of approval.

Wait, so I just poop a lot and it makes snacks bigger than me!

Wait, so I just poop a lot and it makes snacks bigger than me!

Review: Why Does My Rabbit? [+ two book giveaway!]

January 23rd, 2013

Why does my rabbit...? Anne McBrideJust before Christmas (Happy New Year!) Souvenir Press offered to send me a copy of ‘Why does my rabbit…?‘ by Anne McBride to review. In case you haven’t guessed, I said yes and here is my review.

The book is divided into three parts, the first ‘Behaviour Counselling for Rabbits’ discusses behaviour counselling briefly, but more interesting is the information on the history of the domestication of rabbits (who first arrived in Britain with the invading Normans) and the influences on rabbit behaviour – that old and much debated topic – nature verses nurture. McBride also talks about the influence of ‘Management’ – the way an individual rabbit is kept, such as the space it has access to, social companions and diet, and how these can effect rabbit’s behaviour.

I think these are some of the most under appreciated influences on behaviour. Too often people write off a rabbit as being aggressive or grumpy natured when they are just reacting to the environment provided for them. The lovely people that adopt rabbits from rescues and provide wonderful environments are often rewarded with rabbits that flourish in their new surroundings.

Part two asks ‘What is a Rabbit’ and looks at wild rabbit behaviour, which is excellent, because if you want to understand pet behaviour you really need to put it into context. It covers how and where rabbits live and reproduce. It includes quite a bit of detail about rabbits senses and habits and how they are adapted to help them survive:

If feeding close to a place where a predator could be hiding, near a hedgerow or a shed in the garden, for instance, then the rabbit will lift its head often to check that all is well, a lesson Peter Rabbit’s father had not learnt, to his cost. Frequent checking is also necessary if the animal is feeding a long way from its burrow, at a distance of over 35 metres (38 yards). To cover this sort of distance at speed is quite an effort and may mean it gets outrun and caught by a swift-footed foe such as a fox. But when a rabbit is feeding a reasonable distance from its burrow and clear of any cover which could be advantageous to an enemy, it can afford to relax a little, knowing it has time to retreat to its burrow if surprised.

The final part, and the longest, answers the question ‘Why does my rabbit…?’ with an A (Attack me when I bring food to her?) to Z (Zoos) look at common issues, which includes a few non behaviour related tit-bits such as agility, old age and injections.

Some issues are more indepth than others for example, chewing the hutch is covered in just half a page, but there are so many different aspects covered that you’ll gain much more reading the whole thing and seeing how changing ‘management’ to help with one issue will often help with others.

The surprising thing is this book was originally written in 1998 (15 years ago), but you wouldn’t know it reading it. Whilst many other rabbit care books that old are now completely out of date and some so bad they make me cringe, this could have been written yesterday. If I had to find something negative to say, it would only be that we’d perhaps plug neutering slightly more strongly (though it is mentioned several times throughout the book) as a first step in more behaviour problems, e.g. aggression, today, but it’s become a much more routine operation and much easier to find vets familiar with it.

In summary, I would recommend every rabbit owner have a read of this book!

bookgiveawayTwo Book Giveaway!

I love getting free bunny bits and bobs, and I think my lovely readers should get to enjoy the feeling too, so I’m giving away this copy of ‘Why does my rabbit?’ along with a special edition of my own book ‘Understanding Your Rabbit’s Habits‘ which has 10 articles on bunny behaviour problems added to the back in addition to the illustrated guide to bunny behaviour. It’s the perfect package if you’re interested in rabbit behaviour.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me the naughtiest thing your rabbit does. I’ll pop all your names in a hat and pick a winner on Feb 1st.

One final thing, I’m getting the hang of twitter, so if you’ve got an account please say hello to me @therabbithouse

Edible Christmas Snowflakes for Rabbits

December 8th, 2012

That thing that happens at the end of December is sneaking up again, and it brings with it a whole new range of rabbit-proofing challenges. I hear some rabbit mums actually hang the tree off the ceiling in an attempt to keep little teeth and paws from causing trouble!

Obviously what we need is more bunny suitable decorations, like these…

They are snowflakes (you can tell right? Scamp already ate the best looking one).

Materials

I used the little white paper bags like you get cookies in from the baker. But you could really use any thinnish white paper. Then something your bunny likes to eat – these are Scamp’s dry food (a mix of Supreme Science pellets), but you could use dried veggies or similar.

Snowflake Step one

Tear the paper in to 1.5″ wide strips about 6″ long. Three strips per star. You can use scissors for straighter strips but they don’t need to be perfect.

Snowflake Step 2

Add a treat one end and twist the paper each side of it. Twist all the way along adding another treat just before the other end.

Snowflake Step 3

Repeat three times.

Snowflake Step 4

To put the stars branches together I just used another piece of paper about an inch wide, folded lengthwise twice to make it a bit tougher and then wrapped in around the three branches, making sure to make one wrap in between each set of branches.

And you are done!

Just hand them to your bunny to decorate his/her house or hang them up for nudging…