Author Topic: Care & Feeding: Pet rabbit plus small child  (Read 132 times)

Offline Lynn2000

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Care & Feeding: Pet rabbit plus small child
« on: April 05, 2019, 12:56:30 pm »
https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/04/pet-rabbits-children-care-and-feeding.html
The writer has a pet rabbit, and her partner's 4-year-old really loves it, but is too roughly with it, despite being told many times in different ways how to treat the rabbit gently. The writer wants further suggestions.

The adviser suggests getting a childproof cage for the rabbit (like with a padlock if necessary) and that all interaction between the child and rabbit should be supervised until the child is more mature and responsible.

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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Care & Feeding: Pet rabbit plus small child
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2019, 01:30:41 pm »
My thoughts:
The writer says that her partner "tried" to give his son a timeout for mishandling the rabbit, which "just resulted in a lot of very loud screaming," suggesting the timeout wasn't actually enforced. I am wondering if there is an overall discipline issue? I can understand a small child getting overexcited and not realizing their own strength, or forgetting some nuances of animal handling, but I guess I don't know why someone had to write to an advice columnist to learn, "Keep the rabbit and child physically separated until the child is more responsible." Isn't that the next logical step? It makes me wonder what other basic things the writer and her partner haven't thought of, and there's a lot the letter doesn't explain.

For example, it's implied the writer, partner, child, and rabbit all live together. Is this a new situation? In what order did beings move in? Like, did the writer have this pet rabbit and then decided to move in with her partner and child (or vice versa), or were the three humans living together and one decided to get a pet rabbit? Before bringing a delicate pet and small child together I would think long and hard about how to avoid injury to both--it's not exactly inconceivable that a small child might get overexcited by a small animal. If from the start they had been able to stay, "This is the rabbit room. You will not enter the rabbit room alone," that would be a lot clearer to a kid than nuances about being gentle. And you could put a lock on the door easily enough.

The writer describes the child as "chasing the rabbit around the house," which implies more of a free-range situation, like you would have with a dog or a cat. I don't know why anyone would think that was a good idea in a house where a small child was also free-range (cats and dogs are usually better at escaping inside a house than rabbits are, though I admit I don't know much about rabbits). If the child was too rough with the cat or dog, yeah, you'd have to find a way to physically separate them, but that would also take away a big part of the enjoyment that people get from their cats and dogs, to just have them in a room or large cage all the time except when you could actively supervise. The writer also says they "found him" holding the rabbit by the ears (again!) like both adults were in a different room from the kid and rabbit, which suggests that proper supervision is NOT happening in the first place.

So, the vibe I kind of get is that the adults didn't think about the consequences of introducing a delicate pet and a small child to the same space, haven't been supervising the two together properly, don't know how to discipline the child effectively, are shocked that the child can't follow directions, and have now completely run out of ideas. Maybe she SHOULD give that rabbit away, I'm beginning to think she's not a good caregiver no matter what...
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Offline Crispycritter

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Re: Care & Feeding: Pet rabbit plus small child
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2019, 10:21:06 am »
Oh wow - that poor rabbit!!  Having had little ones, I'll say that not every 4 year old is the same (of course!) and for this particular child - the protection of the rabbit must be taken charge of immediately.  If that means rehoming, or a locked cage, then that must be done.  Free time for the rabbit outside the cage must be supervised by an adult and petting is with the "two finger rule" that some childrens' museums do.  Where only two fingers, like a peace sign, touch the animal.

Four is usually old enough to understand a little bit about delicate animals, but not enough to be left alone with one.  I'd suggest trying the two finger pet, and then hand the four year old a stuffed bunny to actually hold.   I'm no expert on rabbits, but I don't think that most like to be held and have read this about them as something to keep in mind if you are thinking about getting one as a pet.

Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Care & Feeding: Pet rabbit plus small child
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2019, 10:15:31 pm »
Yeah, I don't know much about pet rabbits myself. The wild ones I've seen in the yard are certainly adept at racing away under a bush at top speed; but in a house there's not as much room to maneuver or stuff to hide under that a small child couldn't also reach. Dogs and cats, being domesticated more thoroughly, tend to be good about going vertical to escape attention, or finding a larger human to help, but I don't think rabbits have that ability or understanding.

I just don't get it. You see the kid chasing the rabbit around the house, you physically pick the kid up and remove him from the situation. I mean, he's 4, you can still do that and I think it's appropriate if he's not responding to verbal commands. And the kid and the rabbit should never have been left alone together at all. It might even have devolved into an attention-getting situation, where the kid knows he can rile the adults if he does this or that, so he's being taught all the wrong lessons while also be given the opportunity to repeat them. Like, how hard is it, really? You abuse a privilege, you don't get the opportunity to do so again for a while. That's kind of the bedrock of child discipline, isn't it? I know the practice is always harder to carry about than the theory, but this situation seems much more clearcut to me than others. Like if you have two small siblings who are always fighting, that's a lot harder to deal with, because you can't feasibly keep them in different rooms at all times. But rabbit here, kid there, they shall not meet.