According to a new survey conducted by veterinarians in Britain, 1 in 3 pet rabbits are obese. Sources of the problem include feeding bunnies sugary foods like toast with honey, carrots, and rich processed rabbit pellets.
On the plus side, the survey found an increasing number of pet rabbits living as house pets as opposed to living in an outdoor hutch.
I quickly learned that putting the treats in the same cabinet as the paper towels used for litterbox cleaning was not a good idea. Now, every time Cosette hears the cabinet door opening, she bounds over with a crazed look in her eye. And since Cosette is excited, Coco will come running over so that he doesn’t miss out. (Even though he has no idea what’s going on.) So after I cleaned their litterboxes last night, I decided that I didn’t have the heart to withhold a treat from them since they were so excited. However, I thought that maybe I could at least make them work for it and learn some tricks.
So, I thought I’d teach them the command, “Up!” I didn’t think it would be that difficult since they enjoy jumping onto tables, boxes, beds, chairs, shelves, etc. And they usually come over if I tap my finger on the ground (only to leave immediately if they see I don’t have food.)
So, I said, “Up!” and tapped the top of the box. After about fifteen minutes of this and Cosette running around and inside the box frantically with Coco chasing her, I settled for the command, “Walk!” which entailed me holding the treat in front of them so they had to stand on their hind feet and walk. Not quite as impressive as I would have hoped…
Especially when compared to these clicker trained bunnies:
It makes me want to buy a clicker, but on the other hand, I kind of find Cosette’s sometimes surly attitude endearing.
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