#and stop talking about sex like you're a dog breeder

[abandonedblogignoreit]

Hate that I 100% would have fucked him if he was just a normal guy about it but noooo this guy has to follow me home and try to guilt me into detransitioning and becoming his little housewife

[bunposting]

Should we assume you have issues with the popular pet rabbit YouTube channel “Lennon the Bunny”? I’ve always been fond of rabbits but she’s what got me more interested in them in the first place (I do not have any rabbits, but I did unfortunately write an entire little care guide based mostly off of things like what she says and what the House Rabbit Society and similar sources say) and needless to say, I am concerned. It seems like from what you’re saying rabbits are much easier to care for than that (at least in terms of diet and sociality).

I do have issues with that channel, yes. That being said, I know better than to expect anything more from a pet rabbit channel.

In terms of sociality, even HRS themselves admit that it's extremely dangerous to try to bond two intact rabbits of the same sex because the chances are high that they'll constantly fight or even kill each other. When they talk about bonding rabbits, they talk about at least one or both rabbits being neutered. Rabbits naturally have Raging Hormones(tm) and that can make tensions high between them. In the wild they would mellow this out by having the does being pretty much constantly bred or nursing, but for obvious reasons that's not really good for somebody just trying to have some pet rabbits. So it's much better generally to just let the rabbits have their own space and be on their own. They can get the social interaction they want or need from the humans that care for them.

In terms of diet... let me try to explain it this way:

Imagine if the largest/wealthiest dog advocacy organization tried to say that dogs absolutely need to be fed a varied, raw food diet, and if you don't feed them that, then that's abuse and your dog's guts are going to spontaneously stop working. We know a raw diet for dogs can be great, but the problem is that it means the owner of the dog has to do a lot of research into the exact nutritional content of various things, the nutritional requirement of their specific dog, and all the math that goes into it - not to mention they have to have the money to be able to buy all those things or the time to grow/harvest those things. Most people just aren't able to do that, which is why high quality kibble and wet foods have been created.

HRS is basically exactly like that. They give a (very flawed, mind you - the amount of fruit they recommend is absurd and dangerous from the high sugar content) basic outline of what percent of various things should be in a rabbit's diet. A large portion is hay, the second largest portion is "leafy greens" (which they just all lump together in one category despite different greens having different nutritive contents) and then pellets and fruit are equal in their 'small' percentages. It would take a considerable amount of prior knowledge about the nutritional qualities of rabbit-safe ingredients, and a very good understanding of your rabbit's personal nutritional needs, in order to really make this diet work. Most people just don't have that capability.

Again, just as we know raw feeding can be great for dogs when done properly, feeding your rabbit a varied diet can be fantastic! You just really have to know what you're doing before you get into. If you don't, you're very likely to see GI issues like bloat or GI Stasis.

HRS and followers of them such as "Lennon the Bunny" will claim that complete feed pellets cause bloat or GI Stasis. This is interesting, because the only time I've heard of rabbits having these issues is if they were accidentally fed a bad batch of pellets (which isn't super duper common) - and even then, it's mostly bloat; I've heard of maybe two cases of GI Stasis from breeder rabbits total. Complete feed pellets are not much different than feeding your dog a high quality kibble - they take the guesswork out of feeding your animal, and guarantee your animal is getting exactly the right nutrition they need.

Instead, I've seen way more cases of bloat and GI stasis in pet rabbits, especially those being fed the HRS recommended diet. It's very likely the cause is that they are getting to much of one thing or another (whether that be sugar or something else) because their diet just isn't consistent and isn't actually well formulated.