“”They’re just in this for the money””
Believe it not, this is what one of our service users had been told about Fairly Beloved Rabbit Care by someone who was angry to discover that she was rehoming rabbits via our service. Thankfully, our service user didn’t pay any heed to the comments, and we actually had quite a good laugh about it.
We can see why outsiders to the organisation, and rabbit rescue in general, might think that rabbit rescue is profitable. After all you can pick up a rabbit free via classifieds, for £10 from a breeder or £25 from a ‘reputable’ pet shop, and here we are asking for up to £50 minimum donation per rabbit.
To top it all, we never stop banging on about fundraising, donations and more.
Surely we must be making a whole load of money out of this game, right?
Sadly, its quite the opposite!
If we take a typical rabbit that may have been rescued in a reasonable condition. 90% of the time such “”healthy”” rabbits will still need a myxomatosis vaccination (around £15-20), a VHD vaccination (around £15-20) and neutering (anything from £50 to £100 depending on gender and the level of drugs each individual rabbit required to recover).
We aim to have every rabbit fully vaccinated & neutered prior to rehoming. So in most cases each rabbit will cost us £80-140 to prepare for rehoming, and we only ask for a donation of £50 – a potential loss of £30-90!
Of course, not every rabbit we take in is healthy, as so many have come from a neglected background to start with, so we often have emergency vet care to cover, or additional treatment for conditions such as malocclusion or tooth spurs, or digestive issues, or even severe hair matting in longer haired rabbits (some get so bad they need sedated to shave the painful matted hair off).
That’s just the vet fees! To run an organisation such as ours requires a great deal of administration, most of which is not charged to the charity but covered out of the pockets of our volunteers and trustees.
We are also heavily indebted to our foster carers and volunteers who offer all their time for free to the organisation, as well as providing all the day-to-day care costs (food, bedding, toys, etc) for the rabbits in their care.
An important reminder though: adopting a rabbit from a rescue service may be cheaper for you in the long run!
RESCUE RABBITS ARE CHEAPER THAN PET STORES OR BREEDERS
You might be put off initially by our minimum donations. But consider this:
PET SHOP OR BREEDER RABBIT
Initial Cost £25 – £50
Myxo RHD Annual Vacc £20 – £35
Neutering £60 – £90
TOTAL £105- £175
FAIRLY BELOVED RESCUED RABBIT
Suggested Donation £Donation
Myxo RHD Annual Vacc £Often incl.
Neutering £Often incl.
Total £Donation
We also offer 4 WEEKS FREE PET INSURANCE with every rabbit you adopt from us.
PLUS you get free ongoing advice & support from us via email, txt, telephone or face-to-face visits, to answer any of your questions about looking after your rabbit correctly.