Baby Lionhead Crosses. Urgent Appeal. UD Too late

Bunnies are based in Middlesbrough, but transport can be arranged.

A friend of a friend got in touch with me asking if I could help to find homes for 6, 4 and 5 month old rabbits. Its the usual, complex story that doesnt seem to add up; distant friend or relative had 30 rabbits (no doubt these need rescuing too, but were still working on getting an address) and was threatening to pts 7 of them. After a chat, I said we would come and have a look and see if there is anything we can do to help find them rescue spaces or improve things for them etc.

Immediately we noticed that they werent 4 months old, and looked very small. One or two were wrongly sexed, but too young to be pregnant. Apart from scabby skin and being on the small side, most looked ok and are around 9 weeks old. Two of the smallest bunnies didnt look so good. A male had a slight head tilt and nystagmus and just looked unsteady and weak, a little female also looked very subdued. We took these two straight to a vet. They are now with me, have been treated for mites and are on treatment for ec.

The girl wants to keep one of the remaining 5, but has no intention of pairing him/her up or possibly even getting it neutered. She doesnt seem that clued up, but has tried to do her best for the bunnies with limited knowledge and resources and has now had them seen by a vet. All have had mite treatmetn and are on 28day course of panacur. I dont feel there will be any follow up checks, as the parents seemed reluctant to pay for vet bills.

The remaining buns are being housed in 3 cages; a zoozone, a hamster cage and an 80cm cage, all 5 of them. No doubt if they are not homed to knowledgeable, responsible homes they wont survive and the ec will not be controlled. They are high priority for rescue/fosters. Unfortunately, any private individuals offering to foster them must take full responsibility for any costs, as they are not supported by a rescue or charity.

These buns really are a high priority for rescue spaces, imo. The little male that is with me unfortunately seems to have now gone blind. While id have been happy to keep them long term, i feel he would be best suited to an indoor home with his sister once neutered, as she really seems to look after him and both are brighter when they are together. This is something I cant provide, im afraid.

ETA: This may be in the wrong section!! Apologies mods!!

This is awful...

I really wish I could help. I am sending loads of vibes that the poor things find safe homes

Good luck Sophia ! Feel free to post on HH Fbk page and I will share

We were just waiting on 2/3 potential homes/fosters to get back to us. We had told the girl not to rehome any of those rabbits until they had been on Panacur for a few weeks. I contacted her to confirm sexes again and got a message saying that a man has taken them all. The message didnt make much sense, her stories change all of the time, and something most certainly isnt right, but we're too late. Goodness knows where those little rabbits have gone, or what is going to happen to them now.

Speechless    

Oh no

Thank you for trying your best for them Sophia

I really hope beyond all odds they are ok, or at least not suffering...

We honestly think that they have either been given to a pet shop, another byb or have been pts.

This may sound horrible, but pts would be the "kindest"option as they would not suffer. Very sad  

c.bolduan wrote:This may sound horrible, but pts would be the "kindest"option as they would not suffer. Very sad  

I agree, and I did have to explain this to the owners. I didnt feel it was necessary, but its been drummed into me in my training to give all of the options, much to poor Lauren's horror.

What concerns me is the excuses we were given and how they started to become defensive. We now doubt whether the other rabbits saw a vet at all. Im unable to say much at the moment as there could be potential for RSPCA involvement. I personally don't want anything more to do with said person, we gave up an awful lot of my now non existant free time and a lot of peoples time has been wasted. Those rabbits could have been saved.