# Online Abuse



## buzzwizz619 (May 31, 2015)

Im just looking for your opinions on a situation i found myself in on-line recently.

For a little while now ive been considering having a rabbit (well 2 eventually, but generally you have to start off with 1 until you find a suitable friend!) so i posted on a local pets for sale fb page (this was probably my first error, sale pages probably arent the way to go) to see if people have older rabbits looking for a home, because most up for sale seem to be 1-2 years when the novelty wears off. 

My reasons for wanting a older bun (5 years+) is because really live for a really long time, like 10 years or more and that is a huge commitment, especially when such alot can change within 10 years. I firmly believe animals are for life, and i would never what to re-home any animal of mine but at the moment im 25, live alone and work great hours that let me spend all evening with my pets. 

Realistically within the next 10 years i would like to be married with kids and would probably be in a different job with different hours. Also any bunnys i had would be house bunnys so they would like in the spare room, which if kids came along would mean the bunnys would have to live elsewhere in the house (which probably wouldnt be practical with kids) or move to a shed which would be really mean for bunnys used to being inside. 

For the next 5 years or so my life wont change that dramatically so i know without a shaddow of a doubt that i could give a older bun a loving forever home with everything it needed, but life between being 30-35 is just a complete mystery to me and i cant imagine how life will be by then. 

When i put this online i got completed SLATED, quite literally i have never recieved so much verbal abuse in my life, i got called every name under the sun and they started accusing me of getting rid of animals when im bored of them. Normal the stuff that random online idiots say wouldnt bother me, but to attack my love of animals and accuse me of getting rid of them when im bored made be both angry and hurt 

This is a page dedicated to people who are selling their pets with lame excuses like "my landlord wont allow it", "i dont have time for it" "my kids got bored" and all the usual crap and none of them got any abuse! All the BYB too they dont get any abuse, all the people keeping there bunnys in a 4ft hutch with no run also dont get any crap! Yet they way they were talking to me youd think i was a animal abuser!

Am i missing something? Am i wrong in my logic that its better to rehome a older animal that you know you can TC of for the rest of its life that to rehome a baby when your not sure where life will be in 10 years? or are these people just peed off that by not buying babies im not funding their BYB?

All options welcome (but please dont attack me  )


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Not sure I got you right. If you were to get 1 or 2 older rabbits, will you keep them no matter what or still rehome them or put them outside if you get married or have kids?


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## buzzwizz619 (May 31, 2015)

I would keep them, thats the whole point of having older rabbits because i know where by life would be in that time. I would keep them no matter what happened but circumstances change, the amount of free time and money you have change and when you have children your priorities change and i just cant plan that part of my life right now xxx


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

I think they might have just misunderstood you. If someone didn't read the above post carefully, they could interpret it as you saying that if you have kids while the rabbits are still alive, you'll put them in a shed outside. I read the whole post, so I know what you meant, and understand that what you're saying is that you want older rabbits because they won't be around as long, and you can dedicate yourself to caring for them for the remainder of their lives, and it seems like you're even willing to put off having children until the rabbits passed away. This is a good thing! Not that it's impossible to have kids and rabbits at the same time, but if you don't think you can handle both it sounds like you're doing the best thing for the rabbits.

With online posts in big communities, it's best to keep things short and sweet. xP Lots of people don't take the time to read through an entire post if it's especially long, so if you wrote a big long thing on the Facebook page, a lot of people probably skimmed it, picked out trigger words like 'kids' and 'shed' and 'rehome', and flipped. :/


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

It is very hard to get a good understanding from just words written online. They are easily read how we perceive things. 

Ill be honest reading your post I too felt alittle pause on how you were saying things. I think it is really smart to think ahead. But honestly we can never know what tomorrow is gonna bring us. You can't plan for everything 
I also think, while no fault of your own, everyone sees a ton of posts that go along the lines of... I've had this pet for its whole life and love it but now I have kids so I gotta get rid of it. And while you didn't say that, it brings about those same feelings and reminds people of those posts enough to be upsetting. Not fair, but true. 

I do think less said is better. Mentioning the bunnies would have to live elsewhere in the home, & then saying it wouldnt work with kids (which I am not sure why, tons of people have pets in the house with kids of all ages) and then saying you would put them in the shed.... yeah if you said that...

Not everyone is going to agree on things but everyone will have an opinion. It is none of their business really why. Keep it short and simple. I'd leave everything else out except that you are looking for an older bunny,.

Maybe try rescues.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

You don't have to justify why you want older rabbits. 90% of your post is about justifying your choices to people you don't know and will never meet. Keep it simple. Just say you want to give a great home to older bunnies. I would try the House Rabbit Society. .


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

I'm sorry you received a lot of harassment. Like others here have said they misunderstood what you were saying, and probably already responded without reading or understanding what you said entirely. 

It's good to get into the habit of editing your writing. In the case of social media and forums you have to read your writing as if you're a stranger who doesn't know you. This will help trim the fat by keeping everything down to key details. I just know this about myself when I write, and boy I have to re-write things many times to make sure it's correct (including now).


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

So often I see people read and respond to the first sentence of a post. They don't read any further. They don't try to understand all of what a poster says. They just read the first sentence and react. I definitely understand what you're saying and what you mean. I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. At 66, I have to think of what will happen to my animals when I am no longer here. It's one of the reasons I am having rats now. I already have dogs and cats and I don't like the idea that at some point someone else may have to take over their care because I might not be there, so I have decided not to get any more of those pets, but with rats as long as I am capable of caring for them when I adopt them, the chances are very good that I will still be the one caring for them when they pass on, but if not I will not be leaving a 10+ year commitment to someone else. Whatever age we may be, it's smart to consider what the future might bring and how that may change our ability to fulfill our commitments particularly to our pets.


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## buzzwizz619 (May 31, 2015)

Thanks guys i think your right, i dont have to justify myself to anyone apart from those wanting to adopt to me. I know what i mean and i know that i am a good person who would always put my animals first. Im just thinking of the long term plan instead of what fits in with my situations right now 

I do have a tendency to ramble on, sometimes i confuse myself!

Im looking into rescues but the main problems im finding atm is that a majority of rabbits a single rabbits that needs to be adopted out to live with an existing rabbit, rescues rarely seem to have bonded pairs in, especially larger rabbits (which i think would be better as house buns) as most people buy them as singles. So i either need to find somewhere which will rehome a lone rabbit on the understanding i will get it a friend or who will liase with other rescues or something to bond a pair to rehome. 

Thanks

Amy


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If you live within a few hours of a House Rabbit Society Chapter, most of their rabbits are already bonded making it much easier than introducing two rabbits yourself. I would go on a rabbit forum such as BunSpace and see if there are rabbits who need a new home. Or just google "rabbit rescue + your state or city", most rabbit rescue will have bonded rabbits for adoption.


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