Last week we received a call about a rabbit who had been left abandoned on a couple’s doorstep. The rabbit, who we’ve named Oliver, was left in a very cramped cat carrier but otherwise looked ok at first glance. The couple first checked with all the neighbours to see if anyone knew of the circumstances of the rabbit, in the hope that he’d been left on the wrong doorstep, but unfortunately no-one stepped up to claim the rabbit. The couple found out about us via a Google search and called on us for help.
Thankfully we had just freed up a vacancy with one of our foster carers, and although it meant somebunny else on our waiting list having to be bypassed again, it did allow us to step in and offer some help.
On a further check Oliver was far from “okâ€. We think he may be a Cashmere Lop (or of that strain) with very fine hair. However, Oliver’s was completely matted. His claws were possibly the longest I’ve ever seen and his eating habits haven’t been great. We cleared the worst of the matting, but even at that he’s still very matted. And our foster carer has been working very hard to get his appetite and digestive system back up and running through a series of syringe feeding. Today he’s due to get a series of checks and treatments done, including shaving the remaining matted hair. I’m sure it will take him a wee while to get back to full health but now that he’s in our care we will do everything we can to get him there.
Oliver was fortunate that his abandonment resulted in him getting placed in to care. This week we’ve also managed to successfully rehome one of our previous rescues (Simba) and have rescued Rambo and placed him with one of our foster carers. Many rabbits abandoned and unwanted are not as fortunate, and even most of the rabbits on our adoption list are still placed with their original owner as we are unable to take them all in. We’d really love to be able to help more rabbits. However, we are fully reliant on our network of foster carers and donations from our service users to operate and fund the service.
If you can help us by becoming a foster carer, please get in touch with David.
We recently launched our new e-Funder project, an online project website which allows you to donate funds towards our work. Please consider leaving a donation and spreading the word through your family & friends. Rabbit care is expensive work, and it would be a tragedy for us to have to postpone treatment due to lack of funds.
If you’d be interested in adopting Oliver, once he’s back to full health, he can be reserved in advance: you can contact us for more details.