What to Expect When Adopting a Rabbit

Other than cats and dogs, rabbits are the most common animal that is surrendered to animal shelters. There are many, many rabbits in the adoption and foster care system that are looking for loving new homes. As someone who volunteers with rabbits and other small animals at my local animal shelter, I love seeing these sweet bunnies find their forever homes.

When choosing to adopt a rabbit, you’ll want to first meet your rabbit and learn about their personality from the staff and volunteers at the animal shelter. Most shelters will also have an application and interview process where they make sure you have information about rabbit care and the health history of your new bunny.

Step 1: Where to find animal shelters that have rabbits

Many animal shelters and rescue organizations will only have cats and dogs up for adoption. This can make the first step of finding rabbits to adopt a bit more difficult. Despite that, there are many, many shelters that do take in a wide variety of other animals (I’ve seen everything from turtles to chinchillas).

The first place to look is on the websites of any local animal shelters. They will often have all available animals listed on their website to help potential adopters find their new pets. If your local shelter is owned by the state or local municipality, they are more likely to have a wide variety of animals for adoption.

You can also use online resources to help you. Many rescue organizations will list their available animals on places such as Petfinder.com, where it is a lot easier to search for animals based on species. If you are living in the US, you may also be able to find available rabbits through the House Rabbit Society. They are the number one association in the United States for rabbit rescue and education.

Step 2: Meeting the rabbit

After you find a place where rabbits are available for adoption, you’ll want to go and meet the rabbit. This is a chance for you to get an idea of the rabbit’s personality so that you can see if they’ll be a good fit for your lifestyle. You can see how shy the rabbit is if they have any tendency toward aggression, or how active (and likely to get into mischief) they are.

Remember, it’s not all about what the rabbit looks like. Many rabbits that end up in the shelter system have come from negligent homes. Some rabbits that have newly arrived have have dirt and urine stains on their fur, giving them a more disheveled appearance. This doesn’t mean they are a dirty rabbit. Over time, the stained fur will shed off and a new shiny coat will grow.

When meeting a rabbit for such a short amount of time, it’s impossible to get a complete idea of their personality. You’ll also want to ask the staff, volunteers, or foster parents about their experiences with the rabbit. This is often the best source of information you can get about your potential new pet.

For example, as a volunteer, I am able to tell potential adopters that a rabbit who is shy at first will be an absolute lovebug once you sit with them for five minutes. You’ll also be able to get information on which rabbits have already been litter trained and even what kind of treats are their favorites.

Step 3: The adoption application and interview 

The process for adopting a pet rabbit will be different depending on where you go. Some places make it easier than others to bring a rabbit home, but almost all animal shelters and rescue organizations will have some sort of application process that you’ll need to go through.

The organizations that I have worked with try to make the process easy for potential adopters. They have the philosophy that people want the best for their pets and will take good care of their rabbits if they are given the information and resources that they need. For these organizations, there is a simple interview process where they give you information about rabbit care, resources for help that are available in the community, and the history of the specific animal you are adopting.

Other organizations have different models for adopting animals. These rescue centers focus first and foremost on making sure the animal is going to a caring and responsible home. They may ask for photos of the enclosure you intend to keep your rabbit in, to make sure you have the proper supplies. Some may even insist on a home visit to ensure you have everything set up for success. 

Many organizations will also check into any prior pet history. They’ll ask for the contact information of your veterinarian so the rescue can confirm that you’ve taken good care of pets in the past. You’ll want to check the application procedures of whatever organization you are getting your rabbit from so that you can be prepared with any information that you need.

Adoption fees

Most organizations will have a small adoption fee as part of their adoption procedures. This fee helps to cover the expenses of the animals while they are living in the shelter. It also helps to cover the cost of any spaying and neutering surgery or other medical expenses.

Usually, this fee is very small, especially for small animals like rabbits. When I brought my last rabbit home, the fee was only $35, and I wouldn’t expect it to be more than about $50 from your average animal shelter.

Spaying and neutering

It is very important for rabbits to be spayed or neutered. This can prevent a number of behavioral issues and some severe health problems. The good news is that many animal shelters and rescue organizations will have already neutered the animals that they are adopting out. This will save you a lot of money since you won’t have to pay for the surgery yourself.

It’s important to ask to make sure that your shelter spays and neuters their rabbits though. Shelters that don’t specialize in rabbits might not be able to perform this procedure, so you will need to consider it into your expenses when adopting a rabbit.

Step 4: Find a rabbit veterinarian

Rabbit anatomy and health are very different from cats and dogs. For this reason, you’ll need to find a veterinarian that specializes in rabbits. These veterinarians may be listed as Small Animal Veterinarians or Exotic Animal Veterinarians. If you need help finding a veterinarian in your area, check out my resources page where I have links to some rabbit care resources in the US and the UK.

Once you find a veterinarian, you’ll want to make sure you bring your rabbit in for an initial check-up. This will help to check for any health problems that may have arisen from your rabbit’s previous life and give you a chance to get a baseline for your rabbit’s general health.

Afterward, you’ll want to make a visit to the vet every year for an annual checkup to help make sure your rabbit stays in good health. It’s also good to have a relationship with a veterinarian, so you can have their office on call if you ever do run into an emergency situation.