Poorly chicken

[pagesguineas]

Hi all, some important advice needed here please....?

 

My mother has owned a pair of rabbits, Cappuccino and Biscuit for nearly 12 months, lovely sweet things that are impeccably toilet trained and never chew a thing. However recently I have noticed the care starting to lapse quite a lot, wheneverI return from university I go out to say hello to them to find a dirty hutch with no bedding, a full toilet and no hay. Obviously I clean them out, feed them and give them cuddles whenever I am home but I am fraught with worry when I go away that they are sitting in the damp and cold unhappy. Whenever I try and broach the subject it turns into a argument where she is very defensive and insists that she cleans them and always remembers to feed them. This holiday however was worse, I returned (in the freezing cold and snow) to find them uncovered with no straw in their bed (they have a double decker hutch with a larger run underneath which they always sit in - this was uncovered) - they were sat huddled together to keep warm. We covered them up with carpet and tarpaulins and stuffed their hutch full of straw, and covered the run floor with sawdust and straw in-case they wanted to sit down there. I am at my wits end now, I am dreading leaving home to go away for 3 months and leaving the poor buns here. I know that she is feeding them and always making sure they have fresh water and the occasional veg but I am doubtful that she cleans them out regularly and I feel that it is unfair to leave rabbits in those conditions as they just won't have a happy life. Obviously I would take them off her hands if I could - but as I am at uni this is not possible. Should I suggest that she re-homes them or should I give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she is just busy at the moment and cannot care for them as much as she used to - and will hopefully get back to the old care routine?

 

I really am at my wits end and would love some advice, I don't know what the best thing to do is!! :( I don't want to take the bunnies off her as that would upset her but it's really upsetting me seeing them out there in the situation. Sorry to sound like i'm spilling my familys problems on here but I am really just thinking of the rabbits and the best thing to do with the little darlings.

 

Many thanks

Catherine, (and Biscuit and Cappa )

[franklyrabbit]

Oh, I'm sorry you are in this dilemma. I think that with more extremely cold days to come, it would be a good idea to think of possibilities for extra care (over and above what your mother is doing at the moment).

 

Is there a neighbour or a relative living nearby who you could confide in, who could drop in daily or as regularly as possible? They could just double-check the bunnies' care while they are there and do whatever might be necessary in the way of cleaning. Or they could offer to share the cleaning out as something they could do together.

 

If not, I would raise the issue of rehoming the bunnies with your mother. She might be struggling to take care of them and be relieved to not have the responsibility of them. I know that you have discussed daily care with your mother but at the risk of upsetting her, I think that you might need to get to the crux of the matter with her.

 

I know that my recent experience is COMPLETELY different to yours but I will tell you about it so that you know that you are not alone. We have bunnies and cats. My neighbour of 84, we now know has dementia but until it was diagnosed, I noticed that her rabbit and guinea pigs were being cared for sporadically. Eventually she went to a care home for a few weeks in the summer while we were away and unable to keep an eye on her then. In this case, I thought that the hutches were clean but when she left the house and I looked closer, she had just been putting new layers of straw/hay over the old stuff. The hutches were infested with maggots and we threw them out and replaced them with new hutches. After that I looked after them each day until they were rehomed (in fact, we have the rabbit with us now and she's thriving). I realise that this is a completely different situation to yours but I also felt it difficult to raise the subject and deal with the situation for fear of upsetting my neighbour.

 

I do hope that you can sit down with your mum and discuss this with her. Please let us know how it goes.

[bigmommasally]

Is your mum living on her own when you're away at uni? I just wondered if she's feeling a bit low with you not there and finding it hard to cope with normal jobs that wouldn't usually bother her.

Have you any friends that could pop round each week to clean the buns out fo her, or a young neighbour who may be willing to do it for a little pocket money each week.

Hope you get it sorted before you go back, not the sort of thing you want to be worrying about when you are trying to study.

[pagesguineas]

Hi, thanks for your replys!

 

She lives with her fiancee, I must say that she is a very busy woman with work and due to her recent promotion - I guess the problem may be that she usually doesn't get in til 7 or 8 at night and after cooking dinner can't face going to clean them bunnies outside. Also she has got a very bad back recently and finds it difficult to bend to clean the hutch. However, it takes 5 minutes to go and empty the toilet, change the water and feed the little cuties and i fear it's more of an effort issue rather than the fact that she doesn't have time (I know she can spare 5 mins!).

 

Re-homing them really is a last resort as we love them and have put a lot of money into a lovely large hutch and toys etc for them - and I have visions of them living in a poky cramped hutch if we rehome them I suppose if I found someone who I know would give them a good life and spoil them with lots of space and mountains of hay I might be happier letting them go! Another resolution that I have been thinking of is to try and change the hutch that they live in so it is easier for mum to clean them out, any suggestions?!

 

Many thanks for your comments, they are much appreciated