The Small Animal Ark - Rehoming Your Pet

Giving up an animal for rehoming is one of the hardest decisions a pet owner can possibly make. We want to make that as painless as we possibly can and help you through the decision making process to make sure that you are comfortable and that you are making the right decision for you, your family, and most importantly, the animal. Once you know that you are certain that it's what you want to do, then we'll help take that animal into our care and make sure that they find a new home. Why Rehome An Animal? For some people, it may simple be a case of no longer being able to afford looking after a small pet. It's not just a case of food, but bedding, sawdust, vets bills (as most pet insurance doesn't cover small animals) and it can soon mount up. Others may have other pets that simply don't get along with their smaller pets and are faced with the painful decision of having to rehome one or more of their pets simply to protect them from injury or worse. In other instances, animals may have been bought for young children as pets and they have lost interest or don't want to take on the responsibility of looking after a small animal. Whatever the reason, it's not a decision to be made lightly. You may want to see if there are things that you can do first to try to improve your situation to make looking after your pet better first. If you have a pet that seems to be having trouble settling in or is destructive, maybe they are bored or need companionship from another animal so we'd urge you to consider all of your options in the best interest of the animal before considering rehoming as a last resort. Before you do, we'd ask you to read and think about the following adapted from Bobtail Rescue... Top Ten Reasons to Get Rid of Your Rabbit Over 33,000 rabbits every year are abandoned or sent to rescue centres in the UK. We are a small rescue centre, but we re-homed over 60 animals in our first 10 months alone. We have compiled a list of the most often used reasons and we urge you, if you think you could fall into one of these categories now or in the future, PLEASE, DO NOT GET A RABBIT IN THE FIRST PLACE. Most often reasons given are: Bought for the children, and they are no longer interested. The novelty of a new pet usually wears off in 8 weeks, and very young children should not be expected to take total responsibility for the well being of the animal. If you, as the parent are not prepared to accept the responsibility of caring for the rabbit for maybe 8-10 years. See solution (A). Someone in the family is allergic to it. Before you buy the pet, the whole family should either visit a friend who has a rabbit or guinea pig, or a rescue centre and get covered in fur! See if they sneeze or wheeze. If they do, See solution (A). I have just had a baby and haven’t the time to look after the rabbit. Yes you do. If you organise properly. You don’t get rid of one member of the family just because another one comes along. What happens to number 1 child if number 2 comes along? Do you re-home it? Alternatively, See solution (A) I now work full time and haven’t the time to look after it. Again, yes you do, just prioritise. If you really care for the animal you will find time. Alternatively, See solution (A) We are moving and can’t take it with us. Are you sure you can’t or just don’t want to? But we do appreciate this can sometimes be a problem. Family break up, couples splitting up. Sadly, this is happening more and more. Emigrating. Okay, we cannot argue with that one. But please don’t buy an animal if you are even considering emigrating in the not too distant future. See solution (A) The children cannot handle it. Rabbits are not ideal pets for children, they generally do not like being held and can give a child a nasty scratch when trying to get away. Not the rabbits or child’s fault, just a rabbit being a rabbit. My rabbit is aggressive. Ask for advice. Spaying or neutering often helps, but there are other ways to sort out your pet’s problem and avoid them being rehomed. If you really want to keep them, it’s worth a try. The children have outgrown it, we didn’t know it would live that long! This is the worst one. How can you outgrow a pet if you ever loved it in the first place? But at least they are honest. Solutions A: Buy a cuddly toy rabbit. If the kids outgrow it, are no longer interested or they become allergic, you can sling it in the bin!!! But…if it is too late and one of the above already applies to you, please, please do not neglect your pet. They are totally reliant on you for their well being, please do ask for help. Do not even think about letting it go free in the woods, “it’s a rabbit, it will be okay” is not the answer. It is cruel. Letting your rabbit loose in the woods does not make it free, it makes it fox food. If it is absolutely necessary for you to re-home your pet, we will do all we can to help you. But at certain times of the year we do have to operate a waiting list as our space is limited. Most of all, do your research before you even think of buying or acquiring any living creature, make sure your children understand what a commitment it is and the expected lifespan of it. If your child is around 8-12 years old, in a few years time it will be having more homework, more friends and be wanting to go out more and even going away to college or university. The cute little bundle of fur that they badgered you for in the pet shop or garden centre and you bought on the spur of the moment because they “really wanted it and promised to look after it forever, honest!!” will be on the waiting list of a rescue centre. Thank you. (Taken from Bobtails Rescue) How To Arrange To Rehome Your Pet With Us Simply contact us and we'll arrange to meet you, either at your home or for you to bring your animal to us as long and as long as we have the physical capacity and food/bedding to be able to look after them and they are one of the animals we cater for, then we will take them in and find a new home for them. We'll need to ask you some questions about the animal and get you to sign them over to our care and once that has been done we'll do our best to find them a new home as soon as we can. Please be 100% certain that this is what you want to do before contacting us as we will not be able to return animals once they have been signed over to us. Also, we would ask that you bring any unwanted food, bedding, toys, accessories, cages etc. with you when you bring us your pets as it will not only make it easier for us to be able to take your pet into our care, but will make it more comfortable for your pet in their transition into their new home continuing with their existing food and having their own toys to play with. If you have an animal that you need to rehome, please contact us here or telephone us on 0784 7675572 or Rachael on 0790 6136888.

Site Launched: 13th June 2008 - Updated: 28th August 2009