You ever hire a complete stranger to watch your animals at your house while you are away?

[ironbjorn]

My lady's family lives out of state and I'd trust Putin before my own family. All my friends are in my home state. So we don't really have anyone here to help. We need someone for 4 days.

 

Someone in the community suggested a woman who provides animal care at your home. We specifically need her to take care of the bunny. Rabbits are not easy animals to care for. She needs constant food every day. If there's a slip up in her diet she will die in 24 hours. A rabbit's digestive system has to be constantly flowing or they'll develop GI Stasis. This is what causes so many rabbits to suddenly and unexpectedly die. 

 

I think with my careful instructions this sitter will take care of the bunny just fine. What makes me uneasy is having someone with a key and access to the home for 4 days. Even a professional can be a bad person and make copies of the key and/or steal. We don't really have a choice though. Curious to see if anyone here has done this and how it went.

[VolFan]

We’ve used people off of Rover before to care for our cats/dog. No issues. We have had more fails with people we know than total strangers.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Can't you board a Rabbit with a vet?

 

In the future you ought to join some kind of Rabbit facebook group, make some local friends, and then have them watch your buddy while your gone.  

 

[ironbjorn]

18 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Can't you board a Rabbit with a vet?

 

In the future you ought to join some kind of Rabbit facebook group, make some local friends, and then have them watch your buddy while your gone.  

 

I'm not entirely sure about the vet. I do know that when she needs veterinarian care that we have to travel a considerable distance to an exotic animals specialist. Not that rabbits are entirely exotic, but the average vet doesn't deal with rabbits and they don't even know how. I probably wouldn't want to take her out of her environment anyways. She's got her own room in the house. I mean, she's in a pen for her own safety, but it takes up half the room. I wouldn't want her caged like a classroom play thing.

 

Good idea about Facebook. I didn't even think of that. Too late now, but something to consider in the future. Then again, should this woman be great (and she probably will be, but you just never know anymore), we could hire her again.

 

The cat will be self reliant for the most part. Just needs food and water to be topped off.

 

The dog is coming with us.

 

An unlikely family, but the best of friends. Especially the cat and the rabbit. He's never not in her room laying next to her. When we let her out to free roam they wander around together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

32 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

I'm not entirely sure about the vet. I do know that when she needs veterinarian care that we have to travel a considerable distance to an exotic animals specialist. Not that rabbits are entirely exotic, but the average vet doesn't deal with rabbits and they don't even know how. I probably wouldn't want to take her out of her environment anyways. She's got her own room in the house. I mean, she's in a pen for her own safety, but it takes up half the room. I wouldn't want her caged like a classroom play thing.

 

Good idea about Facebook. I didn't even think of that. Too late now, but something to consider in the future. Then again, should this woman be great (and she probably will be, but you just never know anymore), we could hire her again.

 

The cat will be self reliant for the most part. Just needs food and water to be topped off.

 

The dog is coming with us.

 

An unlikely family, but the best of friends. Especially the cat and the rabbit. He's never not in her room laying next to her. When we let her out to free roam they wander around together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haha that's awesome, animals are better than most people.   

[J Francho]

My dog walker is bonded and has a key to the house. I pay her when we leave the dogs home. The only thing she'd likely steal is my GSD because she loves him so much. 

[casts_by_fly]

We’ve used pet sitters for ages. Every time we move we have to find a new one because we don’t kennel the dogs. Once you find a good one, treat them like gold.  We’ve never had a problem.

 

also, if the key thing is a worry, there are temporary and remote options to let someone in. A garage door opener is one. Sure you could program something to match it but if they are going that far…. You can also put a remote garage door opener that you can personally open on your phone. 

[JackstrawIII]

My home was robbed when I was a child and we were away on vacation. It was fairly traumatic and my answer since then will always be ABSOLUTELY NOT. 

 

But, I realize I’m paranoid and most professionals are totally trustworthy, especially if they come recommended. I just don’t think I could trust someone, personally. 

[padlin]

We have, although it’s been a while, worked fine for us. A young lady getting her masters at one of the local colleges.

[huZZah]

Considering the enormous amount of nanny cams available today, I’d trust a stranger that thinks there’s cameras above my own family…

 

If you’re that worried, there’s plenty of cameras to get that don’t even look like cameras. 

[Susky River Rat]

Well my wife and I like to have some nights out. We used to have my mom stop

over with our dog for an hour. After catching her repeatedly being mean to our dog we do not trust anyone else to be with him. I do also understand he can be very stubborn.

[gim]

On 7/8/2023 at 10:34 AM, ironbjorn said:

Rabbits are not easy animals to care for. She needs constant food every day. If there's a slip up in her diet she will die in 24 hours. A rabbit's digestive system has to be constantly flowing or they'll develop GI Stasis. This is what causes so many rabbits to suddenly and unexpectedly die. 

I had no idea of that on rabbits.  Then again, I don't know anyone who has one either.

[ironbjorn]

Just now, gimruis said:

I had no idea of that on rabbits.  Then again, I don't know anyone who has one either.

It was a shock to us too. We bought her on a whim at the State Fair 2 years ago at the plea of the kids. Luckily we couldn't pick her up (she was 4 months old then) until after the show the next day. This gave me time to research what else to feed her besides carrots. Well it turned out that rabbits and carrots is a myth and they don't go hand in hand. They can have a small piece on occasion, but as a regular diet it's not good and can kill them. Then I learned there's special greens they eat, constant access to hay, a certain amount of pellets each day, etc. Then another shocker: no cages. I didn't know that and we had already bought one. A big pen wasn't a big deal, but we didn't expect it. At that point I called the vets to find out more to make sure I had this right. Found out the regular dog and cat vets will not see rabbits and they all told me I had to find an exotic animals specialist. So I did. She was seen a few weeks later. We managed through those first few weeks before the exotic animals specialist saw us with the help of our friend Google. And she did go into GI Stasis once a year and a half ago. Nobody knows why. That was an emergency vet visit that costed so much money. She would have died. We were given this special concoction called Critical Care that's essentially Narcan for rabbits when this happens. An unbelievable amount of rabbits die suddenly and unexpectedly from this and most people have no idea why. We wouldn't have known either. She's great now and no issues since. Wouldn't take anything back, but I also won't own another rabbit. Won't even go into what it takes to clean up after her regularly. That's a nightmare.

[Skunkmaster-k]

No 

[throttleplate]

My neighbor shoots any rabbit he sees in his garden with a pellet gun. My other neighbor traps them in the winter, last winter she trapped 12 and takes them to the park and lets them go.

This past week a baby bunny squeezed through a tiny opening in our chicken fenced garden right in front of me, it loves to eat the leaves of the green beens and is driving my wife crazy.

I caught it with a fishnet, when i grabbed its back neck area to take it out a patch of its fur came off in my hand and it dropped to the ground and scampered away.

[ironbjorn]

6 hours ago, throttleplate said:

My neighbor shoots any rabbit he sees in his garden with a pellet gun. My other neighbor traps them in the winter, last winter she trapped 12 and takes them to the park and lets them go.

This past week a baby bunny squeezed through a tiny opening in our chicken fenced garden right in front of me, it loves to eat the leaves of the green beens and is driving my wife crazy.

I caught it with a fishnet, when i grabbed its back neck area to take it out a patch of its fur came off in my hand and it dropped to the ground and scampered away.

Domestic rabbits and wild rabbits are very different animals. They can't even breed with each other.

[TOXIC]

My daughter was one of the top sitters on Rover for a long time.  If they are on Rover, they have insurance (provided by Rover) and if you ask, they should be well versed in the care of whatever animal you have.  My daughter was a bit on the advanced level and offered in-home, drop in, medicine care (including injections), aggressive animal and everything from home, farm and exotic.  So, if you want the best I’d give Rover a shot. 

[Darth-Baiter]

rabbit?  when i was in college i worked at a pet store.  a neighborhood pet store.  we would board rabbits (and birds, snakes, etc).  no dogs or cats.

 

we sold rabbits so we had a resident expert that kept them alive.  i would call pets stores that sell rabbits.  they have to feed their own rabbits and care for them..i bet they board rabbits. 

[ironbjorn]

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

rabbit?  when i was in college i worked at a pet store.  a neighborhood pet store.  we would board rabbits (and birds, snakes, etc).  no dogs or cats.

 

we sold rabbits so we had a resident expert that kept them alive.  i would call pets stores that sell rabbits.  they have to feed their own rabbits and care for them..i bet they board rabbits. 

I would never buy a rabbit from a pet store let alone trust them to watch after my rabbit. Other than disease, they don't feed them properly, they regularly die, they're not experts at all, they keep them in cages, hell they could even sell mine by mistake for all I know. They don't even water them correctly. They drink from bowls, not bottles. A rabbit drinking off a bottle is a dehydrated and sick rabbit. I've never seen a rabbit receiving proper care in a pet store in my life. They are avoided like a plague in the rabbit community.

[Darth-Baiter]

8 minutes ago, ironbjorn said:

I would never buy a rabbit from a pet store let alone trust them to watch after my rabbit. Other than disease, they don't feed them properly, they regularly die, they're not experts at all, they keep them in cages, hell they could even sell mine by mistake for all I know. They don't even water them correctly. They drink from bowls, not bottles. A rabbit drinking off a bottle is a dehydrated and sick rabbit. I've never seen a rabbit receiving proper care in a pet store in my life. They are avoided like a plague in the rabbit community.

well.  sorry you paint with such a general wide brush.  

 

my pet store was badass.  top notch and we had a deal with the all animal vet next door to take our emergencies.  i was in the reptile section, but i helped cut veggies everyday for the other groups.  they never helped me with the reptiles.

 

good luck.

[Crappiebasser]

I don’t know about a sitter but if it doesn’t work out I have a great Brunswick stew recipe for rabbits.

[ironbjorn]

3 hours ago, Crappiebasser said:

I don’t know about a sitter but if it doesn’t work out I have a great Brunswick stew recipe for rabbits.

And some cultures eat dogs and cats, but I'm sure you wouldn't want someone making those jokes about your dog or cat (if you have them). Eat all the rabbit you want, man. No problems with it. Eat it myself. Just nobody eats mine.

[gim]

20 hours ago, throttleplate said:

it loves to eat the leaves of the green beens and is driving my wife crazy

I’ve got a rabbit problem here too. They love to eat shrubbery like hostas and rose bushes. Luckily my garden is fully fenced in so they aren’t getting at my cucumbers or rhubarb. My dog tries to chase them, but she has never caught one and probably never will.

[ironbjorn]

18 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ve got a rabbit problem here too. They love to eat shrubbery like hostas and rose bushes. Luckily my garden is fully fenced in so they aren’t getting at my cucumbers or rhubarb. My dog tries to chase them, but she has never caught one and probably never will.

Trap em and eat em. Just check the meat and livers.

7 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

well.  sorry you paint with such a general wide brush.  

 

my pet store was badass.  top notch and we had a deal with the all animal vet next door to take our emergencies.  i was in the reptile section, but i helped cut veggies everyday for the other groups.  they never helped me with the reptiles.

 

good luck.

I didn't want that to come across as aggressively contrarian or anything. Rereading it, I can see it might have.

 

The problem with pet stores is that they're truly - usually - not professionals in anything other than carrying some supplies and legal animal trade. Every pet store with rabbits I've ever seen feeds the rabbits Muesli, which is a grain, seed, nut, and dried fruits mix. Seed and nuts are huge no-nos for rabbits, but it keeps them alive long enough to sell. Fruit should only be given in very small quantities on rare occasions. The high sugar content can cause GI Stasis and bad teeth. A rabbit with bad teeth is a rabbit who struggles to eat and dies. They need daily various greens, something the pet stores don't give. It's expensive. They need CONSTANT access to UNLIMITED hay as their main diet. Again most pet stores give a Muesli mix diet. If they do have hay it's brown, which means it's devoid of nutrients. They all use the cage clipped water bottles. Those things don't allow proper water intake and the rabbits end up dehydrated. Many end up sick from the bacteria build up on the ball of the bottle. They need bowls. They're supposed to have at minimum a 4x4 space per rabbit because they must stretch their legs and hop. Pet stores keep them in cages or tanks. They're supposed to have about 1/4-1/2 of special pellets per day, but again the stores use Muesli. Nothing they do is right. Believing they're experts is like thinking your Walmart electronics employee is a tech specialist. It's just a guy they hired who can do the bare minimum and operate a register. I'd never leave her in that kind of care. The corporations know they are wrong, but the innocent workers often have no clue and do their best. But the best they know isn't right.

[VolFan]

Clearly you care a lot about your rabbit. They are not hearty creatures; it’s just the nature of the beast. Good luck with finding someone who can care for yours to your standards.