Pet rabbits are hard to care for: woman spends thousands of yuan to save her rabbit's life
On the eve of the Year of the Rabbit, 23-year-old Ms. Qi received a cute pet rabbit from her boyfriend, but unexpectedly, the rabbit began to get sick after being kept for just over a week, and she spent several thousand yuan on treating it alone. In an interview yesterday, the reporter learned that because this year is the Year of the Rabbit in the lunar calendar, a craze for keeping pet rabbits has emerged among the public. However, compared with traditional pets such as cats and dogs, pet rabbits are actually not that easy to raise. When buying or gifting small rabbits among residents, they must consider the future feeding issues.
Pet rabbits are hard to raise, spending a thousand yuan to save their lives
The reporter saw in some pet shops near Zhongshan Park in Dalian that rabbits have become the stars among pets. Many young people are keen to buy small rabbits as pets, and even give pet rabbits to their loved ones. Girls born in the Year of the Rabbit especially favor rabbits. Before the festival, ordinary young domestic rabbits could sell for 25 yuan to 35 yuan each, while pet rabbits with relatively beautiful fur were even priced at 300 yuan to 500 yuan.
However, while pet rabbits are popular, a different scene has appeared in some pet hospitals. Ms. Qi was treating her pet rabbit at Dalian Baokang Pet Hospital. She told the reporter that she had already taken her pet rabbit to several pet hospitals, and the medical expenses had already cost several thousand yuan, but the rabbit's condition had not improved, and she came to this pet hospital only after being recommended by someone. "As long as the illness can be cured, it doesn't matter if I spend a bit more money. The rabbit was a gift from my boyfriend. During the Chinese New Year, if anything goes wrong with the rabbit, it would be too unlucky." Ms. Qi told the reporter helplessly that several of her friends had also run into problems while keeping rabbits. Some rabbits were frightened to death by firecrackers, and some started having diarrhea as soon as they got home... Many unexpected situations had not been considered at the time of purchase.
"This year, the number of residents coming to pet hospitals to treat rabbits has increased noticeably. Judging from the rabbits' conditions, many owners simply do not know how to raise rabbits and bought rabbits as pets impulsively just to satisfy curiosity and follow the trend," Jiang Jingtao, a bachelor of animal medicine at Dalian Baokang Pet Hospital, told the reporter. In fact, raising rabbits is very particular, but residents have many misunderstandings when keeping pet rabbits. Improper feeding methods can easily cause the rabbits' death. At this pet hospital, someone was even found feeding rabbits large amounts of meat, which the rabbits' digestive systems could not accept, leading to diarrhea. In addition, many residents misunderstand rabbits and think they are very docile and suitable for keeping at home. In fact, although rabbits are cute, they are not necessarily easy to raise and require great care. When one resident brought a pet rabbit to the hospital, the rabbit had already become dehydrated due to severe diarrhea and there was no chance to save it. "In fact, if the owner had discovered it earlier, the rabbit could have been effectively treated." In addition, rabbit droppings are relatively smelly, the body has a fairly strong odor, and rabbits tend to shed fur in spring. Many residents had not considered these troublesome aspects of care, and some, no longer wanting to keep them, even wanted to quietly abandon them at pet hospitals.
At the same time, doctors also remind residents that although pet rabbits are adorable, they are still animals and inevitably carry germs. During keeping, residents should not frequently touch the rabbit's body. If accidentally bitten by a rabbit, they should seek medical treatment in time, and for safety, they also need to receive the rabies vaccine. Reporter Yang Xu