Links

Here are links to some of our favourite rabbit websites, including organisations and companies promoting good rabbit welfare.

Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund

This website is the best place to start if you have just adopted pet rabbits, or if you are considering a choosing a rabbit as a pet. The Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund is the largest organisation devoted to improving the quality of life of the UK's pet rabbits. Despite being one of the most popular pets, rabbits are amongst the most neglected. Through its campaigns and advice, the RWAF aims to change people's perceptions of pet rabbits. 

We became members of the Association in 1998, when searching for advice on housing a rabbit indoors. Over the years, we've learned so much through the RWAF and developed our approach accordingly – before we knew better, our first houserabbit, Lupin, was kept in an indoor hutch when we were at work and overnight… now our bunnies free-roam our living room 24/7, and have access to their outdoor enclosure most days! 

RWAF membership enables your vet to access the RWAF specialist veterinary advice service – in 2016, our vet consulted with RWAF Vet Specialist Adviser Richard Saunders to provide the best treatment plan for Mabel, which enabled her to continue to enjoy a pain-free life, despite an abscess. 

Members receive a quarterly magazine – ‘Rabbiting On’. The Bunnymad bunnies have been fortunate enough to star on the cover a couple of times, and their photos have appeared many times within the magazine! 

 

 

Rabbit Awareness Action Group

This group supports the Good Practice Code for the Welfare of Rabbits and aims to change the law in England, to improve the lives of pet rabbits. The RAAG campaigns through the Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW), an annual event which highlights a different welfare message to rabbit owners each year. The RAAG website is another invaluable source of information on the best way to care for your rabbits.

Burgess

Pellets or nuggets should form only 5% of a rabbit’s diet, and muesli-type food should be avoided, as it encourages selective feeding. See our page on diet to discover what rabbits should eat. Our rabbits eat Burgess Excel nuggets, and we scatter-feed them rather than placing in a bowl, so they enjoy foraging for them. Fortunately for our bunnies, Burgess Excel first became available back in 1998 – just as our first rabbit came to live with us! Apart from making tasty nuggets, Burgess also invests in projects which promote rabbit health and welfare, eg. Rabbit Awareness Week, and webinars for vets. The Burgess website contains plenty of useful information on rabbit care.

 

Pillow Wad

 

Hay (or grass) should form at least 85% of a rabbit’s diet (see our page on diet to find out why it’s so important). Our bunnies have a definite favourite: Pillow Wad, and especially like their Timothy hay. They enjoy this quality dust-extracted hay, and we love that Pillow Wad is a friendly, family-run business, committed to sustainability – and as part of this commitment, their bags are made of potato starch, so we can empty the bunnies’ litter tray into these empty hay bags and throw them straight into our compost! The bunnies also love their range of herbs and forage.

 

Galens Garden

Another small business selling a wonderful range of dried herbs, forage, and treats... and even seeds, for those people considering growing their own! There’s also plenty of advice for rabbit owners.

 

Oolong, the “head performance” bunny

The website featuring Oolong, a Dutch rabbit in Japan, was listed on our original Bunnymad links page, in 2002. The site no longer exists, but you can still view pages, courtesy of the ‘Wayback Machine’ archive. We think this deserves a place on our links page, as apart from being a pioneer in photo blogging, Oolong’s owner, Hironori Akutagawa, inadvertently started one of the first internet discussions about rabbit welfare. Read more about Oolong here.

Bunnymad Buns Instagram

Finally, don’t forget we have an Instagram account! Photos and videos of the bunnies are posted frequently, so you can keep more up to date with their adventures/mischief.