There is one thing I can’t stand at shows is to see dirty or smelly carriers that I know have not been cleaned in ages. This is a big pet peeve of mine. My other pet peeve is when people do not have appropriately sized transport pens for their rabbits. It’s one thing if the show is a day show and the rabbit is in a smaller pen than normal. We’ve all done it. However, to see large rabbits like the Flemish Giants, Giant Chinchillas, and other large breeds of rabbits put into small pens that I would NEVER put any of my angoras in clipped down. Was heart breaking to say the least! I saw many dirty feeders that have not been washed down or cleaned out in months. Dirty moldy water bottles, come on folk’s! This is why people give rabbit shows a bad name.
I can honestly say that the Wool people do much job at providing for their rabbits. Our angora cages are large enough for the rabbit to lay any way its wants to, the rabbit can also move around. Many angora people provided their rabbit’s with some sort of toy and toilet paper rolls of hay to chew on. Walking through the wool room on Saturday night, I don’t think I saw too many cages that were nasty or smelly. Not to mention dirty feeders or water bottles. Great Job Wool people!
With this being said, I’m off my high horse now. I’ll tell you a little bit about how we freshen our travel cages before and during the show.
1. 1. All travel carriers before we leave for the show are sprayed with a water bottle full of water and bleach (with the correct ratio).
2. 2. All cages are left to air dry.
3. 3.All pans are hand scrubbed with Lime Away then rinsed with water and gone over again with soap and water and a scrubber pad.
4. 4. Again the pans are rinsed and left to air dry.
5. 5..Next I spray everything down with a mixture of mouth wash and water (I like the smell).
6. 6. After all pans and cages are dry we place a puppy pee pad in the bottom of the pan. Then we line the pan with newspaper.
7. 7. All of our cages have toys attached to the top of the cages hanging down. Our rabbits also have toys to play with.
8. 8. We attach clean feeders, and water bottles (that are labeled with each rabbit’s name).
8. 8. We attach clean feeders, and water bottles (that are labeled with each rabbit’s name).
When we get to the show sight, we again empty the trays and spray mouth wash in the pans to “freshen” them up. Then we place another pee pad and newspaper in the pan. We do this the morning of the show and the evening of the show or the ride home.
Real quick another pet peeve of mine is how people pick up their rabbits, and why owners do not cut their rabbits toenails. This will be another post in the future.
I agree with the nasty carriers, bottles and feeders. We do not tend to put the rabbits in carriers that are big enough for them to lay however they want. Firstly we don't have enough space for that. Secondly, if the cage is too big the rabbit can get thrown around and hurt during the drive. Even though it is expensive, we coop everything except last minute adds and any sale animals, but we move them into the bigger carriers when the rabbits in those are in the coops. We use pine bedding as the puppy pads are expensive and don't absorb as much as urine as the bedding.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest pet peeve is those who scruff their animals, then don't understand why they lose based on flesh condition. I am FIRMLY against scruffing an animal...I don't even scruff when flipping them. I cradle them like a baby. I hate it because scruffing them ruins the flesh condition, makes them flabby.
Well, off my soap box :)
Your right! I guess some people don't mind loosing points on condition in their breeds.
ReplyDelete