We just got our first one star review from somebody who had actually come by the shelter. (The handful of others are from weird countries, mistakes or fake names). A woman contacted us wanting to foster or adopt a bunny. She was very anxious and wanted to come right away after filling out just our brief online contact form and not our full five-page questionnaire. We were super busy but said yes. When she arrived, kids in tow, Deanna quickly put her in a room with Sugar and Buttercup, who weren’t up for adoption, but they were bombproof. It was a test. When she came back in, one of the two kids, a 3-year old boy, was slamming the pen wires up and down with the mom making no effort to intervene. This as an immediate ‘FAIL.’ While we are in certain cases willing to adopt to families with children, they need to be gentle and interact with the bunnies (on the bunnies’ own terms), and most importantly, the parents have to take the lead. (We’re adopting to the parents, not the kids). They need to be closely supervising (physically next to the child) and teaching an excited child how to interact. Even a brief observation of this not happening isn’t worth the risk to the health and happiness of our rabbits. (OUR kids). Her form said she wanted a relaxed rabbit, but she’ll never have a relaxed rabbit in that environment. She was upset (we wasted her time, we ‘judged’ her, etc) and she will now go get a rabbit from Craigslist. We sincerely hope she really listened to us though, what we said to her about interacting with rabbits (in great detail), so that whatever rabbit they get won’t spend years of silent unhappiness. No loud noises, no touching (without the rabbit’s express permission), provide a kid-proof zone, a kid-proof hiding box and work on gentle interaction using small bits of healthy treats. Good luck! (To the bunny).
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Our team had been working tirelessly to plan a spay + neuter clinic for both our buns and our greater community. And this weekend, everything came together (with just one flat tire). 🩷
With the dedicated support of Dr. Ryan Wong, Dr. Jennifer Miller, Dr. Adrian Walton, our clinic coordinators CJ and Chelsea, transport coordinator Deanna, and all of our incredible clinic volunteers, we neutered 19 and spayed 5 rabbits.
If you're wondering about the 3 girls who were dumped on our shelter property, one underwent surgery and we found she was already spayed. We elected to not put the other two through surgery, as they are likely spayed as well.
We even had a bonus pooch surgery, with our dog-friend Clapton getting a lumpectomy. With 26 total surgeries, it's safe to say that the weekend was a success!
PS - An extra special thank you to the guys over at Fowler Auto & Light Truck Repairs who came to our rescue - our bunny-mobile had a screw embedded in one of its tires. They offered to flat free of charge, squeezing us into their day because they knew we had a bunch of post-op bunnies that needed to get back to the shelter. Less than three hours and our spay-neuter team transport was back on track! 🐰🚐
Photo credits to Gail and Chelsea. Thanks for capturing the weekend you two!
Donate to sponsor future clinics - rabbitats.org/donate/
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Our team is tired 😴 Nope, not from all the mashed potatoes and Tofurky. But from the 250 bunnies we vaccinated this weekend! 🥳
With RHD nearing our community, getting your bunnies their yearly vaccine is more important than ever.
Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers, APEX Animal Hospital for hosting our clinic, Dr. Veronica for vaccinating all 250 rabbits, Gail for assisting, Paul + Sophie for being expert bunny wranglers at the shelter, and Chelsea for organizing the event (in 2 days, no less 🫠).
Are we forgetting anyone? Maybe - we're truly sleepy. And the fun doesn't stop here. We have another upcoming vaccine clinic at The Bunny Cafe (date to be announced). If your buns are due for their annual vaccine, sign-up for our waitlist here: rabbitats.org/vaccine
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Rabbitats isn't a political organization, but the bunnies can't vote and we can. Here in Richmond, BC, we have dealt directly with three candidates who we can safely say have the bunnies' interests at heart. They have been helpful, they have listened to us and we know they love animals.
Aman Singh represents our headquarters, and he is a BIG animal lover. He has rescue dogs and made an 'adopt don't shop' speech in the legislature.
Henry Yao is blessed to represent the neighbourhoods with the most rabbits, and he has been extremely helpful! He has always had the time to listen to and help everyone, including Rabbitats. We can't imagine Henry Yao not being reelected given how active and supportive he has been for everyone.
And lastly, we're putting in a good word for Kelly Greene, who was supportive as a Richmond City Councilor and who has been involved with the environment as an MLA.
We will be limiting comments on this post just because... well... politics!
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