About Suzi     About Carol

I have had rabbits all of my life.  As a baby, apparently my two animals of choice were cats and rabbits.  I had rabbits on my wall until, well, I still have pictures and nick knacks of rabbits around my house.

Many, many years ago, I bought a litter of rabbits.  Originally, I started with 8 (the whole litter for $5 per rabbit!), one of whom died from bloat (I learned much later).  The 8 turned into over 50 in a few short months.  There should have been more than 100, however, unbeknownst to me, my Siamese cat, an avid hunter, was eliminating babies as they left the nest.

My Dad never believed, or agreed with cages for animals, thus the rabbits roamed free.  When they left the yard, our trusty Australian Shepherd would herd them all in, or the neighbor would return them, along with the greens they had eaten. I was only 9 when I bought the first rabbits in 1971 (eek!) and the idea of spaying and neutering was not a common one.  I remember taking “Stomper” to the vet for something, and the vet telling us that he was a boy.  Hummm, maybe he was at that time, but several years later when we moved, “he” had babies!
We did learn that rabbits were smart and trainable, as I would sneak them into my room at night and they would never go to the bathroom on the floor!  At that time, I just used a cardboard box for the rabbit, which they used without fail.  My mom never knew – or if she did, I never got into trouble.

When we moved into our own house as an adult, I began to plan for a pet rabbit.  I still thought of having a rabbit outside and tried to convince my husband that it would be “fine”.  Then, we met Pearl.  I had just learned that my Siamese cat of 16 years had inoperable mouth cancer.  I was in Boise, visiting my family when my Mom, Grandma and I went garage saleing.  There, at a sale, was a litter of Jersey Wolleys.  My Grandma told me to hold one and my Mom said “to get her” (unheard of!  My Mom never said “just get it”!)  So I did, for a whole $5.
I drove home to California with this tiny girl in the passenger seat and planned how I would tell my husband.  I called him and told him that he would be mad, so could I take care of dinner?  Adam met Pearl the next day and they were immediate friends.

Adam did the research for house rabbits and bought Pearl a tri-level cage from Leith PetWerks, one that Pearl used for at least one night!  Pearl was soon a free roam rabbit – in the house and slept on our bed.  She was our introduction to house rabbits and led us to the House Rabbit Society, SaveABunny and other rabbit rescue people.

Unfortunately, Pearl died unexpectedly, following a fight with her friend.  As we have learned more, we have learned that Pearl had health problems; we just didn’t know what they were or what we should do.  He friend was the equivalent of a feral rabbit and we surmise that when Pearl became sick, Midnight felt threatened and attempted to drive Pearl for the nest.

Today, we have 5 house rabbits (Gary, Pumpkin, Quincy, Mama and Roos), having just lost Doug, and I am actively involved with Contra Costa County Animal Services as the Rabbit Lady.  We foster, adopt and rescue rabbits from the shelter and adopt them to the public.  I work at mobile adoptions every Saturday and support rabbit rescues, such as SaveABunny. I work extensively with other rabbit people and have created a network of fabulous fosters, who help.  Additionally, we help people with their own rabbits, by trading, giving information or passing them on to a vet.

We are not a formal “rescue”, rather a support for our shelter, with the goal to minimize those rabbits euthanized due to space or correctable behavior.  We foster and raise babies, educate the public and adopt to rabbit friendly people and houses.  I often consider our house an “overflow” of the shelter.  Additionally, we work with other rabbit people, including rescues and stores, to place our rabbits and learn about specific breeds, care and placement options.

I travel to schools, care homes and homes to teach others about these fabulous creatures.  I focus on children, as the majority of our rabbits are adopted to a family with children.  Besides, the children of today are the rescuers of tomorrow.

Our goal in creating this website is to assist our local fosterers, adopters and rabbit people, to learn about the services and help in our area.  In our links section, are those websites which are more extensive and expansive.

Mama, whose babies are pictured above. She cared for them beautifully!

Sammy (right) is a foreclosure rabbit who was left to starve to death in a backyard hutch. His girlfriend Frankie (another foster, turned into the shelter at 2-3 weeks) taught him how to eat greens and hay.

There once was a rabbit
Who developed the habit
Of twitching the end of his nose.
One little bunny said
"That's very funny"
And practiced down by the well.
The rest said,
"If he can do, we can do"
And they did remarkably well.
Now, the world over,
Where bunnies eat clover
And scramble and scratch with their toes,
There isn't a rabbit
Without the habit
Of twitching the end of his nose.