410days since
Easter Rabbit Adoptathon Blog Hop

Welcome to the Help Desk:

This page is designed to offer resources and helpful hints for bloggers joining in the Easter Rabbit Adoptathon Blog Hop on April 16, 2011. The main column is organized as follows:
  1. Petfinder help
  2. Rabbit care information and tips
  3. The decision to adopt a rabbit
  4. Joining the blog hop/linky list on April 16
  5. Badge code
  6. Just for Wordpress.com users 
  7. Locating me on social media

This Blog Hop is dedicated to Robby:
© Carrie Boyko

The Help Desk at All Things Dog Blog:


Petfinder help:

    1.  To highlight adoptable rabbits from Petfinder's website, follow these steps: 
            (a)  On the far left purple column you will see a "Search for a Pet" area with selection boxes. Click the "Animal" drop down menu and select "Rabbit".
           (b) Now enter a zipcode or city, state or province in the "Location" box.
(c) Hit the orange search button just beneath the Location box and you'll get your results in just moments.
(d) As you scroll down, you can look at thumbnail images of the rabbits. To view a particular one, click the link to his name. This is located beside the thumbnail photo.
(e) The detail page you arrive at will have a URL that is specific to this rabbit. Copy the URL and use it as a link to the bunny's name or photo in your own post.
(f) Copy the rabbit's photo to include in your post. To do this, hover your mouse/cursor over the photo and right click. Select "Save image as" and copy it to your hard drive for use until you have tranferred it to  your post. NOTE: If you copy the URL of the photo, your post will have no image once this rabbit is adopted, so I recommend you choose the "Save image as" option.
(g) Finally, details about the rabbit will be found on this same Petfinder page. Often this will include some info from the rabbit's foster parent or rescue workers. This can be very useful when writing your post.
(h) If you have further questions about using Petfinder's search program, feel free to email me at LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. I'll be happy to help.

Rabbit Care Information and Tips

Disclaimer: I don't profess to be a rabbit expert. These tips are largely information given to me by my rabbit's veterinarian. I suggest you get professional advice if you choose to offer more detail.
  1. Rabbits will often overeat if overfed and kept in their kennel too much. They need only a small amount of plain bunny food. In addition, offer them regular green, leafy vegetables--cabbage, spinach, Romaine, Swiss Chard, etc.
  2. Despite their reputation for eating carrots 24/7, this is not a healthy diet for your rabbit--too much sugar. Your rabbit should only get a small slice of banana or a small, baby carrot once a week or so, to assure he does not get too heavy. A dwarf rabbit would get considerably less than these amounts I have mentioned.
  3. My veterinarian recommends Timothy Hay for my rabbit. This and water are the 2 things he is allowed an unlimited amount of. Robby can sometimes eat 2 cups of hay a day!
  4. Rabbit water bottles can sometimes get stuck or sticky. Keep track of your rabbit's water consumption so you will be aware if his water bottle is not working. He needs water just like you and me.
  5. Bunny's kennels/crates/hutches can be lined with wood shavings or other materials for absorption of moisture. Ask your vet about other types of bedding material that are safe and healthy. There are pros and cons to each.
  6. Many rabbits enjoy a raised platform so that they may sleep or relax without being on moist bedding. Their bedding should be removed and replaced about twice a week, in my experience, if one rabbit is living alone in a large crate. It will smell much better if it is cleaned out regularly :)
  7. Rabbits need exercise just like other pets. However, if you allow a rabbit out inside your home, you'll want to do it in small, contained areas until you begin to see him return to his hutch for bathroom matters. This will be your sign that he is "house-trained". Then you can begin to give him more space to explore.
  8. For your rabbit's safety, hide all electrical cords and soft plastic items under rugs or behind furniture--out out of reach. Rabbits enjoy chewing just like puppies, and in my experience, they particularly like plastic or rubbery textured items like your iPod cord.
  9. Rabbits often are uncomfortable with rambunctious, busy households. To get a bunny to warm up to you as a companion, sit still and quite until HE comes to YOU. Most rabbits enjoy a rub between their ears, or having their heads and backs stroked.
  10. Rabbits make wonderful house pets, but they are different than owning a dog or cat. I recommend you visit the House Rabbit Society website, which is a great resource for prospective rabbit owners. I also recommend reading the House Rabbit Handbook by Marinell Harriman.
  11. Bunnies love to dig and chew, so make sure you have appropriate toys! You don't need to buy toys - BJC loves to play with cardboard boxes, paper towel rolls, brown paper bags, tissue paper, phone books, newspaper, etc.
  12. And finally, rabbits are social animals. Your bunny will be very unhappy if constantly left alone. They need daily interaction with you. Take time to get down on the floor and play with your bunny on a daily basis. I also spend time each day combing and brushing BJC, which helps remove excess hair. Unlike cats, rabbits cannot cough up hairballs. An intestinal blockage is extremely dangerous and could result in death.
     

    Once you've learned about the proper care and feeding of house rabbits, make sure you have a safe place to keep your new bunny. You will need a cage big enough for your rabbit to stand up and move around, but bunnies can't constantly be kept in a cage.

The Decision to Adopt a Rabbit

With Easter fast approaching, some families may choose to bring a bunny home to live with them. We love Robby and were successful in integrating him into a 3-dog and 1-cat family with 3 kids--the large breed variety! This may not be the case for all families, though, so we'd like to help you (and your readers) make this choice wisely.

 

Here's a few tips to help with this decision:

  • If you have a dog with a high prey drive, think twice. Ask questions. Consider a rabbit's housing options for his safety as well as the ability to get some exercise.
  • Adopting a rabbit, if you already have a small breed, very young puppy or kitten, may make for a better pack relationship. However, for their safety, I would not recommend the dwarf rabbit breeds if you a puppy or dog, unless you can provide the bunny with complete separation that is assured. In addition, there are certain dog breeds that may never do well with a rabbit. For instance, Terriers and Greyhounds may present a particularly tough challenge. Be sure to tell the adoption group about your other pets and get their input. They will know much more than I.
  • Give your new pack mates separate playtime when you cannot continuously supervise them.
  • Bunny proof your rabbit's play area, placing all cords and cables under rugs and behind furniture. Remove all soft plastic items from access. Our Robby particularly enjoys iPod cords and remote control buttons as chew toys ;) so keep this in mind.

If, after all your research, you're still planning to adopt a rabbit, please use a reputable source such as Petfinder. When you visit this site, check the left side to select "rabbit" from the breed area, and then choose your city or state. You'll be off and running to find just the bunny of your dreams.

 

Before you adopt, be sure to ask questions and describe your home and family to the rescue workers.  Learn as much as you can about the care and health of your new wiggly-nosed friend, BEFORE you adopt.

 

Finally, a note about Easter and rabbit adoptions: Please keep the animal's long-term welfare in consideration when thinking about adopting a bunny for your kids at this time of year. While a bunny can be a low-maintenance pet, they are not all as sociable as your children may like them to be. Some may find active households to be overwhelming. Be sure to ask lots of questions and clearly understand what you're getting into before you adopt. Just as with children, adoption should be a permanent situation. 


Joining the Blog Hop/Linky List on April 16

To add your Adoptathon post to our blog hop or linky list, follow these instructions:
  1. Once you have published your post, copy the specific link to your post onto your clipboard. Do this by hovering your mouse/cursor over the title. Then right click and select "Copy link address".
  2. Visit http://www.AllThingsDogBlog.com on Saturday, April 16 and locate our adoptathon post. It will contain the badge you see at the top of this page.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the post and continue past the thumbnail images of the linky list. Click the link that says "Click here to enter".
  4. You'll be prompted to enter your link, a caption for a photo, and one or two other items like your email (I don't get this; it is for the Linky Tools folks).
  5. You'll be asked if you want to use a photo from your hard drive or the Internet (pictures from your blog). If you choose Internet, you can select the best photo from your post. A closeup profile-style picture works best for the linky list.
  6. After you click on the photo of your choice, you'll get a cropping tool to adjust the visible area of your picture. Click when you're done and your post will be entered into the linky list.
  7. Hit return to go back to the post and get the code at the bottom of the linky list. It says "Get code here".
  8. This code works for Blogger and most other blogs that are not hosted on Wordpress.com. Paste it into your HTML at the bottom of your post. This will allow the linky list to appear on your blog as well as mine.
  9. If your blog is on Wordpress.com, you'll need to use the code below.
Just for Wordpress.com Users

The code given out on my blog will not work for Wordpress.com or blogs that do not allow Javascript. You'll need to use different code if your blog is in one of these categories.

Linky tools, the provider of the software for our Blog Hop, offers this additional information on their website:

"Free blogs hosted on Wordpress.com have to have their Linky Tools lists displayed on a separate page (located at LinkyTools.com) instead of embedded directly in their blog post.

Blogs hosted for free on Wordpress.com do NOT allow JAVASCRIPT which is the technology that allows a blog to pull data from other sources like Linky Tools. This is a limitation set by Wordpress.com and there is nothing we (or a host of other tools) can do about it.

If they ever change this policy, we will immediately make code available to put the linky lists directly on your blog. However, you CAN do something about it...

Get your own hosted Wordpress blog. No, it's not scary but yes, it might cost you about $5 a month. At hosting services like GoDaddy, you can purchase a Wordpress Hosting account and they set the whole thing up for you. By owning your hosted blog, you have much more control and give yourself the ability to use JAVASCRIPT services like Linky Tools directly in your blog posts instead of needing this extra page.

By having your own hosting account, you also control your own content and backup rather than hoping Wordpress.com never decides to go away, take down your blog or otherwise lose your content in some unforeseen event.

If you are even semi-serious about blogging, get your own hosted Wordpress account.

For now, you need to use the code below which works great but does make your list appear on separate page on Linky Tools rather than embedded in your blog post."

<p><b>Powered by Linky Tools</b></p><p><a href="http://www.linkytools.com/wordpress_list.aspx?id=83608&type=thumbnail">Click here</a> to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...</p>

Badge Code

To display the Easter Rabbit Adoptathon badge with code, copy the 
following and paste into your blog or sidebar:

<center><a href="http://s615.photobucket.com/albums/tt235/cboyko/All%20Things%20Dog%20Blog/Badges%20for%20blog/?action=view&amp;current=ae101217-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt235/cboyko/All%20Things%20Dog%20Blog/Badges%20for%20blog/ae101217-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a></center>

You can also copy the badge from the blog. Simply right click over the badge and select "Copy URL" or "Save image as". You can then transfer the image to your own blog.

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Thanks for visiting my Help Page. If there is anything I can do to help you, just drop me an email at LetsAdoptaDogPark@gmail.com. Happy tails!