The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Basic Rabbit Care

Rabbits are a fun and rewarding pet and hobby plus a great production animal for a small farm or homestead.  No matter what reason you have them, basic rabbit care is the first step to happy and healthy rabbits!

Raising Rabbits is a Great Introduction to Animal Husbandry

Raising rabbits is a great way to learn about and embrace the concepts of “animal husbandry” which can help expand the understanding of all the types of animals we enjoy in our lives.  

Many people today are raised in urban or suburban environments with either no animals, or common pets (like dogs and cats) as their introduction to animal care. This oftentimes can cause confusion and potential heartbreak with the animals and pets we love. Our instinct is to treat animals like we would humans, but animals often don’t respond like we would expect a human too!

It is our responsibility as the caretaker of animals in our lives whether they are pets or production animals to understandthe science of the care and behavior of animals we own so we can provide the best possible life.

This is certainly true for rabbits!

Rabbits are an unusual domestic animal because they are considered both ‘pets’ and ‘livestock.’ Many people may be reading this because they recently acquired a pet rabbit and welcomed it into their home. While others may be considering rabbits to raise to meet the needs of their homestead.

Either way, the basic concepts of excellent rabbit care apply across the board. Learning about basic rabbit care equals happy rabbits and happy owners.

Pet Rabbits Are the Third Most Popular Pet

Hip-hopping their way behind cats and dogs, rabbits are the third most popular pet. According to a 2012 survey by the American Pet Products Association, 2.5 million American households alone live with rabbits. They are small, affordable and adaptable in many different situations.

Rabbits are also a great project to involve children with, teaching responsibility and basic rabbit care. Youth organizations such as 4-H and FFA, typically have rabbit programs and often have clubs and activities in urban environment.

Find a Local 4-H Chapter HERE.

Find a local FFA Chapter HERE.

All About Rabbits

There are many ‘rabbit-type’ species but only one rabbit species that we have domesticated — the ‘European Rabbit,’ aka Oryctolagus cuniculus. This species of rabbits originated in Southwestern Europe and it is the species we have developed all breeds of domesticated rabbits.

Whether that is a tiny Dwarf Hotot with small ears and black ‘eye-liner, a Belgian Hare with large, upright ears, long legs and beautiful shining red coat or a 15-pound, dog-like English Lop with floppy ears almost as long as its body! They are all the same species of rabbits just like Chihuahuas and Great Danes are all the same species of dogs.

There areother species of rabbits. In Northern America, that is primarily the Eastern Cottontail, aka Sylvilagus floridanus. These are the common small brown rabbits found wild in most of North America. There are also a few other types of rabbit species around the world, including true ‘hares.’ 

None of these species however, can breed with our domesticated ‘European Rabbit’ and they are not appropriate as pets or livestock. In fact, in most areas of the world it is illegal to capture and attempt to raise ‘wild’ species of rabbits.

The European rabbits was originally domesticated as a source of meat, pelts and wool (from angora rabbits). Today, rabbits are still raised for all those things as well as for pets.

Why Doesn’t My Rabbit Love Me? Understanding Rabbit Behavior

Many first-time rabbit owners are disappointed with their rabbits because they expect their rabbit to act like a dog or cat would.  But rabbits are ‘prey’ animals by nature, not ‘predators’ like dogs and cats. Because of that, they interact differently with their human caretakers.

It really is a matter of understanding ‘rabbit language,’and not expecting rabbits to act outside of their nature. Also, every rabbit has its own personality, and some are interactive and ‘loving’ while others will simply seem to tolerate their human owners as the ‘giver of feed.’  This candepend on the breed. Some rabbit breeds are known to be very gentle and playful, others have a reputation for being active and even aggressive. Make sure to research a breed first before getting a rabbit!

Many single rabbit owners worry that their rabbit ‘needs a friend.’ While rabbits can live in colony groups, by nature rabbits aren’t ‘herd’ or ‘pack’ animals and rabbits are just fine living without another ‘rabbit’ friend. In fact, rabbits often tend to fight and even siblings can suddenly become viscous enemies as they enter adulthood.  It is not uncommon for one rabbit to kill another in a fight, or severely injure each other. Something that new rabbit owners are shocked to learn!

Some rabbit owners do have luck slowly ‘bonding’ a pair of same-sex rabbits (or spayed/neutered) rabbits, but it takes time and patience and is never a guarantee.

Should You ‘Fix’ Your Rabbit?

If you do keep more than one rabbit housed together you must either keep only same-sex rabbits or get them spayed and/or neutered to avoid accidental litters. Or you will quickly have way more rabbits than you meant to!

Good pet homes are hard to find for rabbits so don’t think you’ll easily be able to find homes. Many rabbits are neglected or abandoned which is the worst thing you can do as a responsible rabbit owner. In fact, colonies of ‘feral’ rabbits, or pet rabbits that been let go into the wild, are becoming an increasing problem throughout the world.  Feral colonies harbor diseases and are a terrible life for those rabbits, that typically don’t survive longer than a year. Versus a cared for rabbit can easily live seven years or more.

However,if you decide to spay or neuter your rabbits, be aware that rabbits are sensitive to medical procedures, including anesthesia. Plus, many veterinarians are not well-versed in rabbits as it has only been in recent years that there has been a demand for rabbit veterinary medicine. Finding a vet who will even see your rabbit can sometimes be difficult. If you do opt to spay or neuter, only do so with a veterinarian that has had lots of experience with rabbits.

Rabbits Like Their Cages – Sometimes Too Much!

Rabbits, by nature, like having a safe ‘place’ that they consider their ‘home.’  Or, simply put, a cage. Even if you have a house rabbit you let rabbit roam (always supervised!) around your house having a ‘home base’ for your rabbit gives it a secure and safe place to be.

Even when inside, if you don’t provide a cage or ‘home’ for your rabbit, will find its own and that oftentimes isn’t where you want it to be. Outside, a rabbit needs a cage to be safe from elements and predators.

Sometimes a rabbit can get very aggressive about its ‘cage.’  If you have ever watched the “Killer Rabbit” scene in Monty Python, that was probably inspired by a ‘cage aggressive’ rabbit!

Cage aggression can be dealt with in many ways, either changing their set-up or distracting the rabbit with treats. But sometimes cage aggressive rabbits are simply just like that, and those sorts of rabbits do not make good pets, especially for children. Avoiding the situation altogether by selecting an appropriate breed and well-adjusted rabbit is the best bet.

Which is the Best Rabbit Breed for Me?

There are so many types of rabbits! In the United States there are currently 49 recognized breeds by the American Rabbit Breeders Association and 106 breeds recognized by the British Rabbit Council.

When you are considering a breed there are some basics to think about:

• Size
  • Rabbits come as small as just a few pounds and as large as 20 pounds! A smaller rabbit is easier to handle for children, eats much less and produces much less urine and feces than a large rabbit. However, small rabbits can be more delicate by nature while larger rabbits are more robust.
• Purpose
  • If your ultimate plan for rabbits is to raise them to provide meat to your family, you will want to consider larger, ‘meat breeds’ developed for that. Some breeds, like English Spots, are truly raised more for their pure beauty and to show.
• Personality/Activity
  • Some breeds are ‘flightier’ than others. A good example of this would be ‘running breeds’ like Britannia Petite, Belgian Hares and English Spots.  They are more active by nature than a typically ‘mellow’ rabbit breed like a Holland Lop.  If you want to do something like agility with your rabbit, you might want to consider a more active breed. But if you want a ‘lap rabbit’ a more mellow breed is best.
• Wooled Breeds
  • Angora rabbit breeds are raised to produce fiber, which is plucked or sheared when collected (the rabbits are not harmed). There are also cute ‘fuzzy’ breeds like Lionheads, Jersey Wooly and American Fuzzy Lops which have the ‘fur’ gene like an angora, but don’t produce high quality fiber. All the fiber breeds take extra consideration and care. They proper grooming and must be housed specially to avoid getting bedding and dirt in their fiber which causes mats. They also get fur everywhere!

Where to Find the Right Rabbit?

There are many places to find a rabbit, but also many places that don’t provide healthy rabbits from good quality stock to prevent health and personality problems.For people new to the rabbit world it can be hard to know how to find a responsible breeder you can trust.

While pet stores often sell rabbits, they often have unknown characteristics and health quality, and at worst, are supporting ‘backyard breeders’ raising rabbits of dubious qualities in poor conditions. The best place to find to find an excellent rabbit for a pet or to stock for meat rabbit production is reaching out to reputable rabbit breeders.

Some excellent places to find good rabbit breeders are:

• At Rabbit Shows
  • In the U.S. Check the ARBA website for a list of shows in your area.
• Finding Breeders via Local Breed Organizations
  • Many breeds will have specific organizations.  For instance, there might be a “Holland Lop Club” in your region. You can typically find those clubs by checking with ARBA, attending shows or searching the internet.
• From 4H and FFA Programs
  • Check with your county or local organizations for 4H and FFA programs in rabbits. They are often a good source of high-quality rabbits that have had plenty of handling.

How to Find Local 4-H Clubs

How to Find Local FFA Chapters

Warning signs of irresponsible breeders:

• They sell you a rabbit that is less than 8weeks old. 
  • Most places it is illegal to sell a kit less than8 weeks old. Best practice is to wait until a kit is at 10 to 12 weeks and properly weaned. Younger than that and they are at much higher risk of dying after you bring them home.
• They don’t provide you with introductory feed.
  • Anytime you get a rabbit the previous owner should send you with a small package of the food the rabbit has been eating. Transitioning a rabbit to new food can be dangerous and done slowly. Good breeders know this.
• They don’t offer advice or support
  • A good quality breeder cares about their rabbits and wants the best possible home for them. They will offer advice and even make sure you can contact them for questions.

Basic Rabbit Care Success ­ — What to Feed Your Rabbit

The number one rule in feeding your rabbit is – boring is good!

Rabbits have very sensitive gastro-intestinal systems and biologically, they cannot throw-up. That means if they eat something they don’t agree with it can be very dangerous for them. GI distress is considered the biggest heath issue (and a killer) of rabbits.

The best way to prevent that is to provide a good quality diet and especially, DON’T change it. The most nutritionally complete rabbit feed is good quality, balanced rabbit feed.

Many rabbit owners think that their rabbits need a varied diet of mixed vegetables and that is unfortunately shared on many uninformed pet sites. However, itmuch more complicated — and potentially dangerous — to feed rabbits vegetablesof varying types and quality rather than a good quality rabbit pellet. It may seem boring – but boring is better than a dead rabbit!

A healthy diet for your rabbit should consist of:

• Fresh, clean water available at all times

• Complete, nutritionally balanced pellets appropriate for your size of rabbit.
  • Rabbit feeds that are comprised of many different ‘seeds and nuts’ instead of a pellet should be considered a treat not rabbit food (despite packaging!).
  • Rabbit pellets should always be fresh. Check feed bag labels and make sure they are not more than three months old.
  • NEVER feed wet or moldy feed!

• Hay
  • Hay can be offered daily, or a few times a week but is not needed in quantity when a good quality pellet is offered.
  • Only offer Timothy or grass hay. Alfalfa hay is too high in protein except for young rabbits and can cause diarrhea

• Fresh vegetables, offered sparingly, a handful a day at most. *Never give a rabbit iceberg lettuce, it can cause diarrhea!*
  • Greens like dark leaf lettuce, kale, chard or spinach
  • Broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower
  • Dandelion greens (only cut from yards that are not sprayed with chemicals)
  • Pumpkin, carrots and bell peppers
• Treats – like fresh or driedfruits like apples, bananas, blueberries, melon, strawberries and papaya should only be given occasionally (like a few times a week) as they have high sugar content

• Branches from ‘safe’ trees such as apples, aspen, bamboo and even blackberry vines are all great for rabbits and they like to ‘chew.’ Willow branches are good for an older rabbit that might have arthritis because they have natural ‘analgesic’ qualities. Or safe, untreated wooden toys work too. Give about once a week.
  • Some trees, like peaches and apricots for instance, can be toxic to rabbits so bottom line NEVER feed something unless you know what it is and know it’s safe!

More rabbit owners probably overfeed their rabbits than underfeed them. Rabbits love their food and will insist they need more! 

The typical rule of thumb is one ounce of complete pellets for every pound of rabbit. But rabbits can have different activity levels. If your rabbit feels thin (you can feel its spine and rib cages) and is eating all its food, increase in small amounts. Conversely if it feels fat (or is leaving food) reduce the food given. Or give less pellets, vegetables and treats and more hay.

Basic Rabbit Care — How Should I House My Rabbit?

The primary goal, no matter HOW you house your rabbits, is to make sure yor rabbit is safe from predators (including other pets), is in a secure environment where they cannot be destructive and potentially injure themselves (house rabbits are known to electrocute themselves chewing on wires!) and protected from the elements.

The first thing you need to decide is will you house your rabbit inside or outside. There are pros and cons both ways. 

• Inside Rabbitry
  • Pros – A lot of human interaction, they are protected from wild predators. Better protected from diseases that spread outside, easy to control temperature.
  • Cons – They can be smelly, will often spray (urinate) in your house and they may or may not be reliably litter trained. They can be very quickly destructive to your house. Can still be threatened by other indoor pets. Hard to control what they eat, especially if allowed to free roam and more likely to get sick from eating something inappropriate (including your furniture).

Bottomline – Best for pet rabbits, one to three

• Outside Rabbitry
  • Pros – Can be set up in cages and hutches so they don’t destroy your home. Food intake is easier to monitor and keep healthy.  Smells are outside. Do not need to worry about litter training and feces can be collected as fertilizer for gardens or worm bins.
  • Cons – More susceptible to predators and spread of diseases. Harder to control temperatures, drafts and extreme weather elements.

Bottomline – Best if you have multiple rabbits or breeding for meat or showing. 

Once you decide inside or outside, then you need to consider what sort of hutch or cage set up works for you. Wood hutches are attractive especially indoors but are hard to clean and sanitize, expensive and many rabbits quickly destroy them by chewing on them.

Many indoor rabbit owners create extensive rabbit pens from inexpensive, interlocking panels that can be easily ordered online. However, keep in mind that rabbits can jump a lot higher than their owners expect, so you’ll need some sort of roof to keep them in. Also, those types of pens are not secure if a predator – say an aggressive dog – is given access to the rabbits.

Wire cages with floors that are suspended so feces drop through to a pull-out tray or onto the ground for removal (if outside) are easy to sanitize and clean. You might have problems with wire-bottom floors causing sore hock with your rabbits. This can be alleviated by providing resting mats and bedding.

If your rabbits are housed outside they need to be protected from rain, drafts and provided shade.  Rabbits are very susceptible to heat – anything over 80 degrees can quickly overheat and kill a rabbit. So, during summer outside rabbits must be provided shade, cooling drafts and even other cooling methods in very hot spells. 

On the other hand, rabbits are very hardy to cold temperatures. Even in below zero weathers, rabbits survive just fine in a hutch stuffed with plenty of hay or straw for bedding material and protected from drafts.

Recommended Indoor Cages

Recommended Hutches

Recommended Wire Cages for Barns

Basic Rabbit Care – What Type of Bedding

What type of bedding will depend on how you end up caging your rabbit. Keep in mind that they don’t ‘need’ bedding to start with if they are in a suspended cage with a wire floor that allow feces to fall through.

However, if you have a situation where you would like to provide bedding the best bets are:

• Clean and dry straw
  • You can also use grass hay, although they will be more likely to eat it. However, some people are allergic to straw and use hay as a replacement
• Aspen or Kiln-Dried Pine bedding
  • Never use cedar bedding for rabbits as it can cause liver damage if they eat it.
• Shredded Paper or Paper Pellet Bedding

If you use bedding, especially indoors, smells will be an issue and frequent – aka daily – cleaning is advised with a weekly deep clean.’  Outside wire cages with drop-down trays can go longer, though they should never go longer than a week before being cleaned and in small situations or where there are many flies you should still scrape them daily as well. Outside cages should be sanitized monthly at least, more frequently if disease outbreaks are an issue in your area.

Basic Rabbit Care – How Do I Handle My Rabbit?

A very common mistake many new rabbit owners make is not learning how to safely handle your rabbit. There will be times you need to pick up, carry and work with your rabbit for its care and safety. Rabbit owners need to learn how to handle their rabbit and frequently handle their rabbit to get it used to it.

The main thing to remember when picking up a rabbit is the rabbit will be calmer if it feels safe and secure. It can be difficult to learn to properly handle a rabbit on your own, so getting help from experienced rabbit owners can help teach you how to do this.

A few methods to handle your rabbit include:

• The Football Hold – Never carry a rabbit up against your chest.  The reason is because if the rabbit gets frightening it can easily scratch your chest, face and neck.
  • Place your dominate hand right behind the rabbit’s ears and grab a firm grip of the flesh behind the ears. Try not to ‘scruff,’ or pull the skin up away from the body. Rabbit skin is actually quite loose, delicate and easily pulled away from the body of the rabbit causing injury.
  • Without pulling up, reach around with your other hand and firmly scoop up on the rabbit’s bottom.
  • In one motion, using the hand under the rabbit’s rump as the primary method of support and the hand behind the ears just for control, ‘scoop’ up the rabbit and tuck it securely, head first, under your armpit. 

• Flipping Your Rabbit Over – You may need to flip your rabbit over to inspect its genitals, belly or trim nails. This move can take a while to get comfortable with and your rabbit needs practice too. Don’t be discouraged, ask for help and keep working on it!
  • Sitting in a chair, firmly grasp behind your rabbit’s ears as above with your other hand under the rabbit’s rump. 
  • Flip the rabbit so it is head is furthest away from you.
  • Tuck your rabbit in-between your legs so it is firmly secured.

• Trimming Nails – Many rabbit owners do not know how or are scared to trim their rabbit nails. This can result in injury to yourself, other rabbits or pets via scratching. If the nails get too long, they can even curl up and cause major health issues. Trimming nails is easy once you get used to it.
  • Proper tool – You will need good animal nail trimmers for rabbits or dogs.
  • Holding the rabbit’s paw, look at the nail in good light. You should be able to see where the ‘quick’ is.  It is easier with white or light-colored nails, but even in dark nails you can see the demarcation line.
  • Trim off the nail past where the quick is. Don’t forget the dewclaw on the front feet!
  • If you cut too close to the quick, the nail will bleed – don’t freak out! Nails bleed easily and every rabbit owner does it at one point or another
  • Use a product like Kwik-Stop and a q-tip to stop the bleeding or, if you don’t have Kwik-Stop, corn starch works fine too.

• Basic Health Inspection – Being able to conduct a basic health inspection is very important to keep on top of any potential health issues with your rabbit and should also be done before you bring home a new rabbit.  If you can ask an experienced rabbit owner, or a 4H or FFA rabbit group to teach you how to do that.
  • Teeth –Proper teeth alignment is critical to rabbit health. The top two teeth should overlap the bottom teeth slightly. The condition of misaligned teeth is called “malocclusion” and can result in horribly growing and misshapen teeth that result in the rabbit needing to be put down.
  • Check genitals. Sexing rabbits (especially young rabbits) can be confusing, best to ask for expert help with this. However, rabbits can also have injuries or diseases of their genitalia.
  • Check eyes and noses.  Eyes and noses should always be clear and NO fluids and especially ‘snotty’ noses.  That can be sign of very contagious disease. NEVER purchase a rabbit with snotty nose or eyes.
  • Check for lumps and tumors.  Firmly palpitate around the rabbit’s neck, along sides and ideally, flip rabbit over and press on stomach for lumps or tumors which are fairly common in rabbits.

Basic Rabbit Care – Knowing What to Watch for and Basic Emergency Kit

One of the sayings about rabbits is “By the time you realize it needs to go to the vet, it’s dead.”

Because rabbits are prey animals, they hide pain, injury or illness until it is too late to do anything.  As a rabbit owner it is important to be very aware of your rabbit’s normal behavior and observe when it acts different. And then be prepared to react.

Also, keep in mind that rabbit vets are not available in many areas, or by the time you can get the rabbit into a vet it might be too late. For owners with many rabbits, the cost of a visit to a vet may not be affordable. The best plan is prevention, observation and ability to treat most common issues at home and then depend on a vet for issues outside of your comfort zone. 

Common Health Issues With Rabbits

• Mites: Common issue, not life-threatening unless allowed to get REALLY bad.
  • Ear mites. The inside of the rabbit’s ear will look gunky and waxy and worst-case scenario be scabbed over. 
  • Fur mites. Especially with wool breeds, fur mites are common. They look like dandruff and typically are found on the neck behind the ears.
    • Treatment – Ivermectin or a brand version of it can be easily purchased online via ‘horse wormer.’  You can treat with a small, pea-size amount behind the ears. 

• GT Distress: Common issue – life threatening and probably the main reason rabbits ‘suddenly’ die. Emergency situation.
  • Bloating/Gas.  Can be caused for many reasons, but often based on improper diet or eating something new. Rabbit will not seem active, not ‘moving’ and not be interested in food. Sometimes you will hear rabbit ‘grinding’ its teeth (that means they are in pain). 
    • Treatment
      • Pull all food except hay
      • Baby Gas Drops – Give several drops every few hours
      • Massage rabbit’s belly, working from front back. This can help to loosen up gas bubbles and allow them to pass
      • Make your rabbit move around, hopping around and moving can also encourage gas to pass.
      • Try and get your rabbit eating but only safe food like ‘hay’. Dandelion greens or blackberry leaves are also very good and help to stimulate their digestive system and will often be the only thing a rabbit will eat when in GI distress.
      • Consider giving Critical Care – a special supplement for rabbits in health distress. Sometimes they will eat it on their own, sometimes you have to syringe it.
  • Blockages – Sometimes rabbits will get blockages, usually from fur in their intestine. This is more common with wool breeds. You can typically tell by their behavior — not moving, off feed or refused to eat all together ­­—and by looking at their feces they will be malformed. Oftentimes you can see hair in them.
    • Treatment
      • Pull all pellets and just offer hay
      • Encourage liquids.
      • Give a syringe of olive or vegetable oil or ‘wool block’
      • Fresh papaya or pineapple (not canned) can help provide good enzymes to break down blockages

• Pasturellaaka “Snuffles.”Pasturella is very common in rabbits and though it is not necessarily ‘fatal’ it is not curable. A rabbit suffering from Pasturella often has symptoms come and go and will be more susceptible if weak or stressed.  You will notice yellow snot and oftentimes lots of sneezing.
  • Treatment
    • Prevention – Avoid purchasing a rabbit with Pasturella and if you do get a new rabbit ALWAYS quarantine it from your other rabbits for 30 days before introducing them to your other rabbits rather than risk spreading it (or other things)
    • If you have a rabbit with Pasturella symptoms immediately remove from other rabbits and get your vet to culture a sample it to find out for sure.
    • Pet rabbits can live for many years with Pasturella just with very good nutrition and general supportive care, however you will never want to expose that rabbit to others.

Basic Rabbit Emergency Kit

When something does go wrong with your rabbit it is typically never at a good time. Best to have on hand basic emergency supplies you are prepared. The following is a good list for most common rabbit emergencies that can be dealt with at home:

• Kwik-Stop (for bleeding nails)
  • Gas Drops (for GI distress)
  • Ivermectin (for mites)
  • Tweezers and Scissors – For injuries or wounds
  • Wound Care – for small cuts
  • Betadine – for small cuts
  • Critical Care – to support rabbits otherwise in poor health
  • Probiotics – to help rabbits recover from health issues

The homesteaders at MorningHomestead hope you found this Beginners Guide to Basic Rabbit Care helpful. Remember, whether you are keeping your rabbits as pets or for other purposes, basic animal husbandry practices apply. The ultimate goal is always a healthy rabbit living a humane life.

To learn more about raising rabbits for homestead living, including a break-down of homestead-appropriate breeds, selecting and caring for breeding stock, breeding, kit care, growing out and humane processing techniques please read our “Raising Rabbits for the Homestead.”