In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of pet owners who have adopted the practice of free-roaming their rabbits. Essentially, free-roaming is the practice of letting a pet rabbit have free range of an entire house. While this practice is touted by many pet rabbit owners as the only humane way of housing rabbits, unfortunately, this practice comes with significant drawbacks. In this article, we will be discussing the pros and cons of this housing practice.
The primary reason why free-roaming is advocated is because of the notion that cages are inherently cruel. This is due to a misapplication of human emotion. Furthermore, many pet owners attempt to compare rabbits to dogs in order to justify the practice of free-roaming. This is a deliberate misunderstanding of the basic differences between two entirely different species. When considering care practices for a pet animal, it is vital that we separate our own emotions from the best interests of the animal in question. We have to consider that the biological needs of a rabbit are different to the biological needs of a human or a dog.
Simply put, a quality cage is inherently safer than a free-roam environment. A rabbit lacks the complex cognitive ability of a dog or a human. They do not have a strong understanding of cause and effect. As a prey species, rabbits operate on instinct more than reasoning. They cannot be 'trained' to the same extent as a dog. To a rabbit, any wire, fabric, baseboard, carpet, or piece of furniture is fair game. You cannot effectively train a rabbit to react differently when their core instincts tell them to dig, scratch, bite, and chew. Do not forget that rabbits have only been domesticated for approximately ???? years. In contrast, dogs have been domesticated for ????. Rabbits are not far removed from their wild cousins. To pretend that a rabbit is the same thing as a small dog is willful ignorance.
While it is common for many owners to laugh off a chewed wire, ruined sofa, or destroyed carpet as just "something that rabbits do," in reality, this type of animal husbandry is not funny - it is a hazard to the very life of a rabbit. Rabbits are a unique species in their exceptionally sensitive digestive systems. They are physically unable to vomit, and are additionally prone to myriad other digestive issues, including bloat, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal stasis. When a rabbit ingests a foreign material, if they are lucky enough to not be poisoned or sent into GI stasis, they will now have a foreign body in their digestive system that they are unable to expel. This blockage will require surgical removal. Rabbits are extremely sensitive to anesthesia, with ???? dying while on the operating table. Out of those who survive surgery, approximately ???% die during post-op from GI stasis, ripped stitches, and other complications. The mortality rate for rabbits is ???? higher than dogs. A dog will probably survive a gastric obstruction surgery after ingesting a foreign body. A rabbit likely will not.
Is "spicy hay" supposed to be funny? I think I may have missed the joke.
Many of these free-roam rabbits are expected to happily coexist with the owner's pet dog or cat. These pet owners fail to grasp the significant danger of a predator-prey relationship. One cannot simply wish away a cat or dog's basic predatory instincts by choosing to ignore them. Life just isn't a Disney movie. To allow a prey animal to coexist unsupervised with a predator 24/7 is irresponsible animal husbandry.
Think about the number of people who said "my dog would never" or "my cat would never" and then the rabbit died?????.
While the ideal of ????? might be nice, in practice, very few owners understand the necessity of supervising their rabbit.
Unless an owner is actively supervising their rabbit every waking moment that it is out of its cage, free-roaming is a dangerous practice.
This means that the owner cannot be watching television. They cannot be on their phone. They cannot be in the other room. If the owner is not actively looking at the rabbit when it is free-roaming, they are putting their animal's safety at stake. The rabbit must be supervised to prevent possible injury
Slippery floors
Large expanses of space stressful
Aggression/fear issues
The primary reason why free-roaming is advocated is because of the notion that cages are inherently cruel. This is due to a misapplication of human emotion. Furthermore, many pet owners attempt to compare rabbits to dogs in order to justify the practice of free-roaming. This is a deliberate misunderstanding of the basic differences between two entirely different species. When considering care practices for a pet animal, it is vital that we separate our own emotions from the best interests of the animal in question. We have to consider that the biological needs of a rabbit are different to the biological needs of a human or a dog.
Simply put, a quality cage is inherently safer than a free-roam environment. A rabbit lacks the complex cognitive ability of a dog or a human. They do not have a strong understanding of cause and effect. As a prey species, rabbits operate on instinct more than reasoning. They cannot be 'trained' to the same extent as a dog. To a rabbit, any wire, fabric, baseboard, carpet, or piece of furniture is fair game. You cannot effectively train a rabbit to react differently when their core instincts tell them to dig, scratch, bite, and chew. Do not forget that rabbits have only been domesticated for approximately ???? years. In contrast, dogs have been domesticated for ????. Rabbits are not far removed from their wild cousins. To pretend that a rabbit is the same thing as a small dog is willful ignorance.
While it is common for many owners to laugh off a chewed wire, ruined sofa, or destroyed carpet as just "something that rabbits do," in reality, this type of animal husbandry is not funny - it is a hazard to the very life of a rabbit. Rabbits are a unique species in their exceptionally sensitive digestive systems. They are physically unable to vomit, and are additionally prone to myriad other digestive issues, including bloat, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal stasis. When a rabbit ingests a foreign material, if they are lucky enough to not be poisoned or sent into GI stasis, they will now have a foreign body in their digestive system that they are unable to expel. This blockage will require surgical removal. Rabbits are extremely sensitive to anesthesia, with ???? dying while on the operating table. Out of those who survive surgery, approximately ???% die during post-op from GI stasis, ripped stitches, and other complications. The mortality rate for rabbits is ???? higher than dogs. A dog will probably survive a gastric obstruction surgery after ingesting a foreign body. A rabbit likely will not.
Is "spicy hay" supposed to be funny? I think I may have missed the joke.
Many of these free-roam rabbits are expected to happily coexist with the owner's pet dog or cat. These pet owners fail to grasp the significant danger of a predator-prey relationship. One cannot simply wish away a cat or dog's basic predatory instincts by choosing to ignore them. Life just isn't a Disney movie. To allow a prey animal to coexist unsupervised with a predator 24/7 is irresponsible animal husbandry.
Think about the number of people who said "my dog would never" or "my cat would never" and then the rabbit died?????.
While the ideal of ????? might be nice, in practice, very few owners understand the necessity of supervising their rabbit.
Unless an owner is actively supervising their rabbit every waking moment that it is out of its cage, free-roaming is a dangerous practice.
This means that the owner cannot be watching television. They cannot be on their phone. They cannot be in the other room. If the owner is not actively looking at the rabbit when it is free-roaming, they are putting their animal's safety at stake. The rabbit must be supervised to prevent possible injury
Slippery floors
Large expanses of space stressful
Aggression/fear issues