So yeah this bunny thing was so much harder than I thought it would be.
Like I said: I found a rabbit I'm sort of interested in. She's very cute. But the animal shelter that has her is an hour and a half away from where I live. When I emailed them for more information about other places to find mini lops they said: You shouldn't choose a rabbit by its breed, you should choose a rabbit by it's personality and how it blends with your household. Are you serious?! Basically I need to meet the rabbit before I can adopt it. So I need to travel an hour and a half away TWICE. Once to meet the damn thing and once to pick it up to take it home. And it'll take two weeks to be approved and process the paperwork. It'll probably be a month before I actually get a rabbit. HOWEVER....I pay $75 for the rabbit, a membership to the House Rabbit Society of America and a book about caring for rabbits AND it's already spayed/neutered. Good deal. But it's so far away.
So I've been furiously searching for breeders just so I can compare pricing information. I found one that has the kind of rabbit I want BUT they won't sell to me because they don't sell rabbits as pets. In order to buy from them I have to be intending to either show or breed my rabbit. They won't even give me any info or anything so I don't know where they are located. If I knew that then maybe I'd just tell them I was gonna show it. What are they gonna do if I don't? Take it back from me? They can't repossess a rabbit, right?
The other breeder I found seems like a nice lady. I have no idea what she has because her site is not updated. She was not really specific about where she is located, but from what I do know I know she is about two hours away. So I'll pay less for the rabbit, travel about the same ammount, I'll probably only have to go there once though BUT I'll have to pay to have it nuetered/spayed. Not sure about the quality of the breeder though because her website is one of those geo-shities sites which suggests it may not be the most reputable.
That's it. Two breeders. The petco by me doesn't sell abbits. There was a pet store by me that had rabbits...not the kind I wanted though....but I wouldn't buy animals from it...I don't think it's very reputable (for those of you who know the area...Q Mart is all I'm saying). The little ma and pop pet store by me doesn't advocate buying from breeders so they won't give me any breeder information. The animal shelter, obviously, doesn't advocate buying from breeders either so they won't give me any information either. They say it's because breeders cause over population. I really wanted to ask: Where would you get your rabbits if all the breeders shut down? There'd be no pets to abandon and it'd put you out of business. Real smart.
So.....maybe I'll need to just get another guinea pig....though I think my quest for a guinea pig would be just as trying unless I buy it from a pet store but people always say don't do that.....so I have no idea where to go from here....
Getting pets is always hard.
ReplyDeleteBreeders who provide only for showing/breeding usually make you sign a contract for it, so they could actually repossess the rabbit. Pet stores usually aren't the safest places to buy pets from unless they're local owned and have a good reputation and policies you can live with.
Shelters always make people go through multiple visits. This is to try and prevent "returns" from people who don't want the pet they adopted.
I know it's rough. I'll ask my friend where she got her bunny for you, though.
Yeah, I understand where animal shelters are coming from. It makes sense. But they should have some sort of alternate policy to accommodate people struggling with the other policy. Couldn't they make some sort of deal with an animal shelter closer to me so I can meet an animal I might be interested in? Maybe not for a cat or a dog or something like that...animal shelters around me have plenty of those. But not a lot of animal shelters rescue exotic animals....I mean wouldn't you think that if you were aware of the fact that animals you carry are rare, you'd want to attract more people to adopt them from you? Then, you get more people to buy from you and you spread the word about helping that type of animal that not too many other shelters help.
ReplyDeleteAnyway thanks for the info!! I may end up with a rabbit after all!!