Manchester & Salford Branch
Charity number 232255
How to have
a happy rabbit
The Basics
Rabbits are possibly the most misunderstood companion animals that have ever
been kept. Whilst they may be the third most popular pet they are also
considered to be the most neglected. This guide is to help you make your rabbit
happy and enrich their world so that they can enjoy a life worth living.
Rabbits are naturally inquisitive, playful and social creatures and as carers we must do all we
can to meet their complex needs. The behaviour of domestic rabbits is very similar to that of
the rabbits we see in the wild. Understanding the behaviours of wild rabbits and knowing how
they live can help us to understand and meet our companion rabbit’s needs better.
Rabbits are a ground dwelling, prey species that are most active at dawn and dusk (making
them 'crepuscular' animals). When caring for a companion rabbit, we have to make sure we
minimise their stress levels, because they are prey creatures so are easily scared. Rabbits that
are stressed are much more likely to become ill. We should also do all we can to allow them to
express a diverse range of their normal behaviours, particularly during the times when they are
most active.
Space
Rabbits value space and an RSPCA-funded study at the University of Lincoln revealed that
rabbits are greatly motivated to seek more space than is available in conventional housing and
that traditional small housing may compromise rabbit welfare. Essentially, when it comes to
housing rabbits there is no such thing as a 'minimum' amount of space.
Rabbits need to be kept in a space that allows them to exhibit their normal behaviours during
the times when they are most active (dawn and dusk). For example, if you place a rabbit in a
hutch with no permanent exercise space attached you are effectively denying them the
opportunity to exhibit fundamental behaviours such as stretching, running and jumping.
Placing a rabbit in an exercise run - rather than having a run permanently attached to their
accommodation, does not fully meet their needs either as you are dictating when they should
enjoy the space provided. It is no different for a house rabbit. Containing them in an indoor
cage, no matter how large, does not allow for them to exercise when they need to.
To meet a rabbit's need for exercise, they must be given the opportunity to exercise regularly
every day. Our branch recommends that this is for a minimum of 5 hours a day, at times
when they are most active.
There are many different indoor & outdoor housing options. To learn more
download our guide 'Rabbit Housing: Indoors & Out'.
Enrichment
Enrichment is all about seeking ways in which to improve the quality of your companion
animal’s environment by providing a greater choice of activity and offering them some degree
of control over their spatial and social environment. After all, a large open space would be scary
for rabbits as they are a prey animal, so it is important to provide places to hide and things to
do. The term ‘enrichment’ applies to everything from companionship to toys and here are some
great ideas to assist you with making your bunny very happy indeed!
1.'Cage Furniture'
Rabbits are intelligent so need toys and an interesting place to live to prevent them from
becoming bored. What we place in our rabbit's living space and how we lay it out makes a huge
difference to their physical and mental well-being (i.e. the quality and well as the quantity of
space is important). The following are items that rabbits may benefit from having access to:
 Partitioned areas act to break up the environment in which your rabbit lives in and
thereby makes it more interesting and complex. Partitioned areas also offers the
additional benefit of allowing a pair or group of rabbits that are housed together a
chance to escape from the others when they want to.
 Providing shelters or hidey holes gives the rabbit somewhere to hide, which is
something they instinctively need to do as ground dwelling, prey creatures. Shelters can
be as simple as a large tunnel/tube, a pet carrier with the door removed or a cardboard
box with entrance and exit holes cut out. Hiding places really help to reduce stress levels
but it is essential to always provide one hiding place per rabbit so they can get away
from one another if they choose. It is also important to ensure that where possible
hiding places have two entrance/exit points, to prevent dominant rabbits becoming
territorial or aggressive to subordinates inside shelters. These refuges are in addition to
the main shelter.
 Platforms offer the opportunity for rabbits to express their natural instinct to observe
the environment from a vantage point. It can also provide great weight bearing exercise
for them, which in turn helps to build bone density. Ensure any platforms are made of
non-slip material and are strong enough to withstand the weight of one or more rabbits
jumping onto them. Platforms can easily be provided by an up turned banana box, up
turned storage boxes, pet carriers or shelving. N.B. If your rabbit has recently been
rescued from poor conditions where he/she was kept in a restricted environment, seek
veterinary advice before introducing platforms to ensure your rabbit does not injure
himself/herself.
 Litter trays have so many benefits - they are a bed area, toilet area, digging place,
container for hay, they make cleaning out your rabbit's space/home an easy job and also
help to increase the 'life' of the accommodation it is placed in. Rabbits are naturally very
clean animals and only tend to go to the toilet in one or two places. This means they can
be easily trained to use a litter tray (assuming they are neutered and are not competing
for territory with lots of other rabbits in their environment). Ideally, litter trays should
be lined with newspaper/shredded paper/wood shavings/wood or paper based litter
then covered with dust-free hay as rabbits like to have eat whilst they toilet. The best
design of litter tray are ones that have one low lip, for ease of access, along with some
high sides such as a plastic dog bed or corner shaped litter trays, as rabbits tend to lift
their bobtails when they urinate therefore the high sides prevent spillage. It is important
to provide one litter tray per rabbit.
2. Dig Boxes
Digging is a fun activity for rabbits and you can create digging boxes to enable your rabbit to
express this behaviour and save your carpet/garden from being dug up. Digging boxes can
include litter trays as detailed above, or be made from open cardboard boxes with shredded
paper placed inside or boxes with soil or child’s play sand inside.
3. Toys
Toys are a great way of providing additional enrichment to your rabbit's living space and should
allow rabbits to perform normal behaviours, such as gnawing and chin marking on objects.
However, toys tend to have a limited attraction time so it is important to rotate them regularly.
Initially offer a variety of toys until you find out what your individual rabbit enjoys, as different
rabbits enjoy different toys. Toys should allow rabbits to perform normal behaviours, such as
gnawing, digging and chin marking on objects.
There are plenty of outlets that sell rabbit friendly toys but cheap/free ones are often just as
effective such as:
 Solid plastic baby toys such as 'key rings', rattles and stacking cups (ensure there are
no small parts that could be swallowed).
 Plastic plant pots
 Balls
 Paper sacks
 Telephone directories with the covers removed
 Toilet roll tubes stuffed with very small quantities of commercial rabbit food,
vegetables and/or hay.
 Tunnels - ask your local carpet store to save you a card tube or you can buy tunnels
from builder's merchants or purchase cat tunnels.
 Branches of pear, apple or willow trees that have not been sprayed with chemicals.
 Anything made from untreated natural materials such as seagrass coasters, coir mats,
wicker baskets etc (check out Pound shops).
Safety Points to Consider About Toys:


Always ensure that toys are safe for your rabbit to play with, e.g. are made of material
that is ‘fit for purpose’, are suitably robust, are non-toxic and have rounded edges to
minimise risk of injury.
Initially toys should be given under supervision, and thereafter with regular observation,
to ensure the rabbit is using it and does not appear stressed by it.




Items should be rotated regularly to provide novel stimulation as toys tend to have a
limited attraction time for rabbits.
Where rabbits are housed in pairs or groups they should be provided with sufficient
items (at least one per rabbit) to avoid aggressive competition and monopolisation of
resources.
If items are large they should be used in a suitable sized environment so that they do
not take up so much space in a rabbit’s housing that they prevent the rabbit from
performing locomotor activities such as hopping, running and jumping.
Check the toys regularly for signs of damage and remove. However, any highly valued
toys must be replaced as soon as possible to avoid causing unnecessary stress.
Dietary Enrichment
A wild rabbit spends 70% of their day above ground eating grass and coarse green matter.
The activity of foraging and eating for so long keeps them both psychologically and physically
healthy. To keep our domestic rabbits in optimum health we must mimic the diet of the wild
rabbit as far as possible.
A rabbit's top front (incisor) teeth will grow approximately 3mm a week; that's over a
centimetre a month! The best way to help rabbits to sufficiently wear their teeth down is by
providing a suitable diet.
1. Hay, hay and more hay
Did you know that a domestic rabbit needs to eat their own body weight in hay every day? Hay
and/or grass should make up the majority of your rabbit's daily diet with the remainder being
made up with a variety of fresh, dark green, leafy vegetables such as spring greens and kale. If
you cannot provide your rabbit with 3 different suitable vegetables a day then an egg cup full of
good quality pellet food is acceptable but never any more. Fresh hay should be given daily and
should never be seen as optional, it is essential to your rabbit’s health and wellbeing.
Dried food does not promote teeth wear and can be detrimental to a rabbit's dental health as
it does not allow the same grinding action as hay and coarse greens provide. Very many
companion rabbits suffer with dental problems, much of which is as a result of being fed too
much dried food and not enough hay.
If your rabbit won't eat hay consider the following:

How palatable is the hay that you feed your rabbit? A lot of shop bought hay has been
placed in a type of 'tumble dryer' to extract the dust, shrink wrapped and then sat in a
warehouse for a long time, turned brown and lost its freshness and inevitably some of
its nutritional value too. Hay should have a fresh sweet, grass-like smell with a rich
variety of different green shades. The freshness and quality of the hay you provide your
rabbit will really determine how much s/he is willing to eat. The most cost effective way
of buying hay is in bales from your local livery or farm shop which can be stored for
several weeks in a damp free environment.

How much do you feed your rabbit? Your rabbit may not eat much hay because he/she
is full from eating too much of other types of food. Try reducing the amount of dried
food your rabbit is fed and introducing good quality hay.

How familiar is your rabbit with hay? It could be that your rabbit doesn't eat much hay
because they aren't familiar with it and have not had unlimited daily access to fresh hay.
Rabbits do learn to eat it but it can take weeks, if not months, for them to adjust. Try
offering a variety of different grasses or hay such as Timothy hay, redigrass or good
quality farm hay. Perseverance is the key but always make sure your rabbit is eating and
passing droppings every day.
2. Gnawing Objects
Another great way to help wear teeth is by providing objects that rabbits can gnaw on. The
cheapest form is twigs and branches from your garden's apple, pear or willow trees (only use
branches from trees that have not been sprayed with chemicals). You can also buy willow chew
sticks, baskets made from untreated grasses/willow and novelty chew items but the latter tend
to be of less interest to your rabbit than fresh materials.
3. Foraging
Rabbits in the wild naturally spend hours searching for food to eat. Foraging for food is a great
way of keeping your rabbit entertained and relieving their boredom. You can create foraging
opportunities for your rabbit simply by taking part of their daily food ration and scattering it in
their surroundings instead of placing it in front of them or in a food in a bowl. You can also hide
commercial food, leafy greens or dried grasses in their bedding, in cardboard tubes stuffed with
hay, under plant pots, in food balls* or in small card boxes. Feeding your rabbits from a bowl is
too easy and it is much better to make them work for their favourite foods!
*Food balls or puzzle balls are designed to provide mental stimulation and encourage rabbits to
exhibit natural foraging behaviour. Please follow the toys safety tips to make sure they are fit
for purpose and are easy clean.
4. Routine
Rabbits thrive on routine and become distressed when their feeding times and environment
change greatly. A predictable routine of being fed in the morning and evening will suit them
best and enable them to settle in their environment, which in turn will help to reduce stress. If
rabbits are given regular access to an exercise area outside of their normal home, then
predictable exercise times will also help reduce stress.
Please do not allow rabbits to play freely outside in the garden unsupervised; they are at risk
from predators whether you live in an urban, suburban or rural location.
Social Enrichment
Keeping rabbits in pairs or groups is the most fundamental way of enriching their lives; rabbits
are highly sociable creatures that greatly benefit from the company of each other. Friendly
(‘bonded’) rabbits will interact with one another on a social basis spending hours sitting
side-by-side, regularly grooming each other and will follow one another around playing and
learning together. A strong pairing can also encourage protective qualities, a strong sense of
loyalty and traits similar to mourning at times of the loss of a 'partner'.
Bonding rabbits can only be successfully achieved if both/all the rabbits are neutered and
introductions are done slowly and on neutral territory. The best match is a neutered male and
neutered female. It is rare that a rabbit will shun all other rabbit company, but where this does
happen the best way to overcome it is by introducing a baby rabbit. Young rabbits are
sometimes deemed less threatening to the older, apprehensive rabbit because they have yet to
sexually mature. If you choose to try this option, as with all bonding, close supervision is
essential to keep baby safe from harm.
Sometimes it is not practical or desirable for there to be more than one rabbit in the home, in
which case a rabbit should never be left to live alone outdoors. In the branch’s opinion, keeping
a single rabbit as house rabbit is the only acceptable option providing there are plenty of
opportunities for the rabbit to interact with humans. To keep a rabbit outdoors alone, or shut
away in a room for hours at a time, is to condemn him/her to a life of isolation and misery and
in no way meets his/her welfare needs.
In many rescue centres every effort is made to ensure that single rabbits get plenty of
'non-contact' with other rabbits by offering the sight, sound and smell of their own kind. Whilst
it is not a long term solution it can greatly increase the happiness of a rabbit whilst it awaits a
new home and is worth bearing in mind if you have rabbits at home and one or more are not
paired up. Rabbits must always be able to escape from other rabbits and get out of sight if they
want to, so rabbits require a hiding place even if housed alone.
To learn more about interacting with you rabbit, download our
'Guide to Getting to Know your Rabbit'.
Sensory Enrichment

Tactile - the simplest way of providing this is by giving your rabbit with the
companionship of another rabbit. There is simply no substitute for a mate but you can
try offering your rabbit a teddy bear, as they sometimes enjoy grooming them and
cuddling up to them, but make sure there are no choking hazards, labels, whiskers or
loose your rabbit might ingest. And if it becomes a highly valued item, you must offer a
replacement when it needs to be removed to minimise stress. You may also like to try
stringing up hay 'cakes', a root vegetable or making vegetable 'kebabs' - they need to be
at a height that makes your rabbit reach up and work for the food. Please note – root
vegetables should only be given as an occasional treat, once or twice a week maximum.

Auditory – this is all about sounds. Low levels of soothing music may help a rabbit to
relax. In our experience, Classic FM is quite a hit!

Olfactory - this involves scents and smells. Rabbits can spend hours rubbing their chins
on objects in the environment, making the space their own/marking the space as their
own. So, if ever you need to dispose of a well worn, highly valued item such as a
cardboard box, make sure you have a replacement lined up before doing so, otherwise
the loss of their valued item could cause stress. It is also a good idea to retain some of
their unsoiled bedding each time you clean their living space out, and put some in their
pet carrier whenever you have to take them to the vets. Another way to promote
olfactory enrichment is to scatter their food, as mentioned above, so they have to use
their sense of smell to search for it.

Visual - believe it or not, a recent study found that mirrors provided single, female,
laboratory rabbits with a source of comfort. However, it can also be quite short lived so
it is only recommended as a temporary measure for alleviating loneliness.
Whenever we hear people say 'rabbits are boring' our first thought is always that
their rabbits are simply bored. By adopting many of the ideas explained in this
document you will go a long way to ensuring your rabbits are never boring or
bored!