Hey guys, Rat owner here. Against my advice my mom is buying my younger sister a rabbit in two weeks. My sister wants me to help her prepare for the rabbit and go with her to get all the things. How does one care for a rabbit?

This is going to get long so i am warning you now. I am going to give a small backstory, state what I know about rabbits (if I am wrong please tell me) and ask questions about things I do not know. If you have any links with detailed rabbit care info please post it.

1. Back story. I really would prefer my sister not to get this rabbit. She is eleven years old and my family is not very good with pets. They have a dog who is very sweet but not trained at all, he will chew stuff up, be aggressive, jump on you, snatch food off the table and is a general annoyance. I do not live at home anymore however, my parents frequently go out of town and my fiancee and I care for the house. I get a lot of alone time with the dog and work with him and train him to behave better. He definitely views me as the alpha even when my family is home. When it is just my fiancee, me and the dog he is perfectly behaved. He is not rowdy and not aggressive but when the family is there it is like I don't even train him. My parents live on a farm and they pretty much just let him wander outside all day. I am generally not okay with this because he is a golden retriever, that is not an outside dog. They are bred to be a very family orientated dog and even though he is tough and smart I don't like him being outside where there are coyotes and snakes. While this isn't exactly the worst treatment of a pet my family has done, it is just an example to show that they are kind of negligent with pets and often get pets that they really shouldn't have in my opinion. My sister has had several pets that were neglected in my opinion and treated improperly. However, she is a decent amount older now and I feel she deserves a fair chance. She got her first pet when she was five or so. THAT was a sad disaster. I won't talk about it here.

My parents have had several "family pets" that were not cared for properly in my opinion. I have had several pets and I always go out of my way to become informed on their needs and care. I had three rats and unfortunately the last of the group died a couple weeks ago. The vet said that he was the oldest rat she had ever seen and that I did a very good job with him.

Anyways, that was just a little background to show how my family is not very good with pets but I am very good with animals and strive to learn their necessities. As far as what I know about rabbits here it goes, a lot of this is based on what i know about rats.

A. Rabbits are kind of assholes. You have to make sure you get a good breed (I believe it is the floppy eared?) and train them much like one trains a dog because they are in fact intelligent animals and have their won personalities.

B. Rabbits need a mineral block to lick/chew on. Rats do not need this but I believe rabbits do. Along those lines, rabbits teeth like other rodents grow very rapidly. They must have lots of things to chew on and a rabbit owner must watch out for conditions like Mal occusion and if the case is bad enough the owner must be prepared to go to several tooth trimmings that are painful for the owner and the rabbit.

C. As with rats rabbits should not have a cage with a wire bottom, this can cause things like bumble foot and IMHO it makes the cage a lot more of a pain to clean.

Those are just a few things that I am fairly certain of. If I am wrong, please don't bash me. I am going to be reading more and more over the next two weeks so i can educate my sister on proper care. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Questions.

What kind of bedding is best? I know that rats and mice are allergic to pine and cedar and in their case, aspen is best. is this the same for a rabbit? I prefer a wood bedding but if another type is better then please let me know.

What food is best? With my rats I ordered special food that was specifically designed for laboratory rats to fufill most of their dietary needs. things like no corn, 10-16% protein (depending on sex and pregnancy etc etc).

Are there any foods that are dangerous for rabbits? Rats can have any citrus fruits or chocolates. They can't eat a small number of vegetables. They can't eat anything sticky like peanut butter or they will choke.

How big does a rabbit cage need to be? my rat cage was huge. Five feet tall and four feet wide. I felt that this was a bare minimum requirement really. After my first rat died a couple months ago, i realized my boys were getting much older so I got them a smaller cage with a single level so there wasn't a falling hazard.

On the topic of cages my sister already has the cage at her house... I hate it. It has wire floors, not very big and a poor use of space. The petshop owner said that we can return the cage and get a different one so we are going to do that. I want to try to get a cage that has a very large base with about one level with a ramp on it so the rabbit can hide underneath. I don't think a rabbit needs two levels and an excercise wheel, but that's just me (I might be wrong).

What is timothy hay? is it just a snack for the rabbit or does it provide some type of nutrition for the rabbits? Should they only have a limited amount?

How do you pick a rabbit with a friendly disposistion? The pet shop has rooms to play with the animals. my plan as of now is to go to the shop with my sis and view all the rabbits at one time and look for ones that seem friendly and easy going then take them to the play rooms one at a time.

What diseases do rabbits get most often? With rats it was respiratory infections and tumors.

Anything else I should know?

ALSO! Before I even hear it I would just like to reiterate the fact that the dog is not a concern to the rabbit. He is aggressive towards people when they have food and things like that but he would not hurt a smaller creature. They have a VERY old cat that the dog does not bother. Sometimes he bugs her when she hisses and claws at him but he is not aggressive towards her like he can be with people. She is very small and does not have claws. At the dogs very worst he will just chase the cat but he has not harmed her in anyway in the two years he has been there. I will make sure to take the time and explain to my sister that if the rabbit is out of the cage it will receive constant supervision and the dog will not be anywhere nearby.

Don't be mad at me about this I am just trying to make the best of this situation. As I said above, if it were up to me this would not be happening. However, I can't do anything about it and my sister getting a rabbit is inevitable. I am just going to do my part to make sure it is cared for properly.