Emily & Babies

Emily and her five babies were brought to a local pet store in Vancouver by a woman in early June 2005. We believe the person bought a pregnant Emily there a few weeks prior and was no longer interested in the mom and especially the babies and wanted to return them. This sadly happens way too often as most pet stores don't know how to sex small animals properly or they simply don't care which results in many unwanted pets.

When the pet store told the woman that they couldn't take them back as they already had restocked the rabbits and hence had no room, the woman said that she was going to throw them in a dumpster. Luckily one of the employees agreed to take them.

The employee eventually called us because she realized that the babies were in trouble as Emily wouldn't nurse them. When we got them in they were in a tin can, severely dehydrated and too weak to even suckle. Two of our members "nursed" them with a Q-tip and some sugar water, to bring their blood sugar levels up. They were able to get them to suckle enough to get a supplement in them. After making a nest for them, the mom realized that she had babies, and started pulling out her hair to add to the nest, and started to nurse them. Unfortunately one of the babies did not survive, but the other four made it!

Katie, Nibs and Teddy all were adopted but unfortunately Nibs and Teddy have since passed away. Vanilla and Emily are still waiting for a forever home.

Unfortunately, pet store rabbits aren't the healthiest as they are often overbred/inbred and the "breeding stock" is kept in terrible conditions. Sadly, as long as people keep buying from pet stores, there will be a constant supply. Some people are making lots of money while the little ones like Emily and her babies suffer....