Bunny

Questions about adjusting to new life with a bunny and a baby


We rescued David Hasselhopp from a snowstorm on February 23rd and had initially not planned on keeping him because we have a baby due mid July.

Every rabbit rescue and animal sanctuary in the area is full, and all of my rabbit savvy friends don't have the space for a bunny, and I'm definitely not rehoming him to a stranger this close to Easter. We've had him about a month now and he's so happy and sweet we've decided to keep him. He does so many binkies, zoomies and happy honks it's ridiculous lol.

So Hasselhopp is here to stay, and I've slowly and safely been introducing him to my 3 senior cats who for the most part don't really care he's here, but 2 of them get a little scared of him cause he's only around 4 months old and is really interested in the cats.

His current set up is free roaming in my basement which obviously isnt the best set up, but he has foam mats, blankies, a bed, litterbox with wood pellets, alfalfa hay and oxbow young rabbit pellets and a water dish, toys, and we took the door off the cat carrier so that's his temporary hidey house, but now that he is staying we're getting things bunny-proofed and prepared for him upstairs.

We plan to keep him in an indoor enclosure overnight that will provide 14.1 – 18.8 sq ft of space depending on if we set it up as a rectangle or a square, and then allowing him to spend 6 hours a day free roaming the house. I'll plan to let him out 3-4 times a day 1.5-2 hours at a time (supervised cause cats) and then put him back in while I catch up on sleep during the newborn stage.

I'm just wondering if this is enough space for him to have overnight, and enough time free roaming during the day and how did you new parents adjust to life with a baby on top of having multiple pets? It's going to be very overwhelming at first because I never expected to have a bunny in my life, especially with a baby on the way.

How did your bunny handle being in the house with a baby, and when your kid became a toddler did they harass your bunny? Will my bunny handle being kept in his enclosure for 36-48 hours with someone coming to check on him when we're in the hospital while I have the baby? There's so much to consider that I would have already thought of if Hasselhopp came into our lives before I got pregnant.

Also, how will he react when we have him neutered and needs to be kept in his enclosure while he recovers? I worry he will get depressed and think he will be in there forever.

by Tokeahontis

4 Comments

  1. darksideoftheday

    I had six rabbits when my kiddo was born. I had a rough postpartum period and didn’t like my pets for a while. It got better when I started getting more sleep. I like to mention it to new parents because the new baby period can be really rough, but it does get better.

    I always had areas where the bunnies could escape the baby, and bunny proofing is similar to baby proofing. Time with the bunnies was always supervised. The only issue was the baby finding stray poops and trying to eat them. She was nipped a few times as a toddler, but learned quickly not to do the things that got her nipped.

    Baby is now 12 and we have two buns who she calls her sisters. She treats them with lots of love, and understands and respects their boundaries.

  2. madbunnywykop

    He will drop interest in cats after he is fixed. Now having 3rd bunny and my 2 out of 4 cats had a contact with all 3 bunnies. No problems at all. They need to be supervised thought because cats are predators and cats saliva is toxic to rabbits. If they bite bunny you will have to get him antibiotics straight away. I never had any issues. They gently played together and then lost interest in each other pretty much completely. He is new and they more curious but as soon as they will get used they won’t mind each other pretty much at all. Make sure cats dry and wet food is where bun can’t get to it. They like to eat dangerous food and that may be fatal for a bun

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