Long story short, I help rehome a rabbit that's not mine. The rabbit is an English Lop, boy, 1 year old, neutered, 3.4kg. Previous owner is my former friend. I took over the rabbit temporarily when previous owner can't care for him anymore. The new owner had him for a bit over 2 weeks. Yesterday I follow up with her to ask about rabbit, the new owner says he pees outside of litter box, not little pee stain like territorial marking, but a lot of pee, like empty his bladder type of peeing. To correct his behavior, she put him in the cage afterwards (not sure how long), and she place him in cage when she's out. I expressed my concerns about keeping him in a cage, and offer to come over and set up playpen to section her living room, where the rabbit is staying. But she declined because the rabbit is strong enough to escape playpen by lifting or pushing it. I propose to secure the playpen against furniture, but she declined, saying her living room is not big enough.
I took over the rabbit on November 1st, 2025. He free roams from day 1. He did territory marking but only pees a little. The rabbit was transfer to new home on November 14th. The neuter surgery took place on November 28th. When I hand over the rabbit to the new owner, we agree to split the vet fee (exam + neuter surgery = $1000 Canadian dollar). So each of us pay about $500.
I'm trying to think of other solutions to keep the rabbit outside of the cage and litter train him. The cage is from the previous owner, but the cage is doorless and intended to use as food and litter box area. I just kept using it because I didn't want to change setup before his neuter surgery (I've never had rabbit as pet, I learned rabbit care last minute). I was really surprised and sad to find out about this because the new owner seems really caring and nice when I screen her. If I can't change her mind about cage, I can't help but thinking about offering to take the rabbit back and pay her what she had paid for the rabbit ($ 500 share of vet fee and all other expenses).
It's been a really sad situation for the rabbit. I deeply regret not doing better when I rehome him. The full story was the previous ownerwas my friend from university. We're close and both move to Toronto after graduation. We live in the same building. While I was taking over the rabbit, she was having really toxic family drama, and I got dragged into the it. Later she lashed out at me over misunderstanding. She said some very hurtful things and her rabbit becomes an emotional pain trigger. At the same time, I emailed asking for help for posting this rabbit to Ontario's rescues and Toronto Humane Society, but I didn't get help. I can only surrender the rabbit to get help, and I didn't want to. When the rabbit was at my home, he does territory mark by pee a little in various place. Looking back, his territorial marking is so easy to handle. But because of the friend drama, I got really overwhelmed over the rabbit's presence. I love him, it's just when I clean after him, my friend's hurtful word show up in my head. then on November 13th, I had a full on anxiety attack. A first year University student that I rejected earlier (rejected because she's first year student) saw my online post asking for help, and she offers to help me pet sit the rabbit while I recover my mental health. When I visit the next day, the rabbit seems so relax at her place, and she's the complete opposite of my mental state at the time (she's calm, caring), so I give the rabbit to her and we agree to split the vet cost. Now I just want the best for the rabbit. I could try to convince the new owner, or I can offer to take him back with compensation. Even before I found out about the cage situation yesterday, I already submitted foster application at local shelters because I have plenty of space at home to foster rabbit. Sorry about the chaotic post. I was really heart broken when I knew he spent time in that cage.
by Leading_Fee_6765