Kids Begging for an “Easter Bunny”?

Ask yourself this:

• Are you ready to possibly shell out more than $100 to get bunny neutered or spayed? Bunnies become sexually mature between 4 and 6 months of age. Left intact, they often chew, spray, bite, smell, and make more bunnies.
• Are you looking forward to more potty-training and bunnyproofing? Bunnies suffer horribly in cages and must be litterbox trained so that they can live happily in your home, but if your home isn’t rabbitproof, they will sharpen their teeth on electrical wires, house plants, or your new IKEA chaise or oak table.
• Is your child planning on taking bunny to college? Bunnies can live to be 10 years old, so you’re looking at a commitment that will last for many Easters to come.
• Rabbits must be brushed regularly because they shed like crazy and are susceptible to hairballs; if they get one, they can’t cough it up like cats do. They have to be taken to the vet and treated (possibly even operated on) or they’ll die.
• Do you like playing beauty shop? Clipping nails is no walk in the park, especially when Thumper tries to thump you in the stomach with his powerful back legs!

If you answered, “No way!” to any of these questions, please pass up those cute animals in store windows this Easter and choose stuffed animals instead. Remember, bunnies are not a child’s toy; they are at least a 10-year commitment.

Fascinating Rabbit Facts

Famous for their reproductive abilities, rabbits can have multiple litters of up to nine young, known as “kittens,” each year. Bunnies are born helpless in a shallow hole lined with grass and mamma’s fur, but they grow rapidly and are very social animals who live together as a family.

Although rabbits build nests, the parents do not stick around much during the day after their kids are born since they might attract predators. The youngsters hunker down at the bottom of the nest, hiding until mom shows up for mealtimes.

A rabbit’s teeth never stop growing! Like beavers, they are kept worn down by gnawing on food and wood. But they aren’t rodents! They are called lagomorphs.

Normally, adult rabbits occupy about 2 acres or even more if food is in short supply.

Why Bunnies Aren’t Suitable for Young Children

Rabbits are extremely sensitive, and the enthusiasm of even a gentle toddler is too stressful for bunnies. Rabbits are ground-dwelling animals who become frightened when held and restrained. The result? Children lose interest and the bunny is left alone in a cage or abandoned.

Be Prepared

Spay and Neuter: Rabbits will live healthier and longer lives when altered and won’t contribute to the overpopulation problem. As your companions, they will be calmer, easier to litter train, and able to enjoy the company of other animal friends because they won’t exhibit such aggressive behavior. Surgery can be safe for rabbits, but it is important to choose a knowledgeable and experienced rabbit veterinarian.

Rabbitproof: Since your bunny is happiest being a part of the family, you can provide a safe place for him or her by redirecting electrical wires and moving plants and other furnishings out of the way. Because of their instinct for digging, it is best to provide a large box or basket filled with shredded paper. Your bunny will enjoy lots of toys to play with, such as untreated wood, straw, wire cat balls, keys, paper towel rolls, and hard plastic baby toys.

Caregiving: Rabbits love attention! Groom them at least once a week to control shedding and for quality bonding time. Contrary to the belief that rabbits like to be left alone, bunnies need daily monitoring and space for running, jumping, and using those hind legs. Confining them to a wire hutch without interaction, exercise, or comfort is cruel. A diet of grass, hay, fresh vegetables, and a limited amount of pellets will keep your bunny in shape.

Adopting: Clearly, rabbits aren’t for everyone. Are you a gentle adult living in a quiet household? If you think that you’re someone who would enjoy sharing life with a bunny, please visit your local shelter or rabbit rescue group. Please NEVER buy bunnies from a pet store. These animals often come from rabbit mills, where they are overbred. Dealers and “pet” stores usually request 4-week-old bunnies because they require less space and are “cuter,” but bunnies of this age are ill-prepared to be weaned from their parents. An animal who is purchased at a pet or discount store will be replaced by another one from these rabbit mills, leaving one less home for a bunny already in an animal shelter awaiting adoption.

(Source: helpinganimals.com)

Allergy Fighters

“The old thinking was that if your family had a pet, the children were more likely to become allergic to the pet. And if you came from an allergy-prone family, pets should be avoided,” says researcher James E. Gern, MD, a pediatrician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

However, a growing number of studies have suggested that kids growing up in a home with “furred animals”-whether it’s a pet cat or dog, or on a farm and exposed to large animals-will have less risk of allergies and asthma, he tells WebMD.

In his recent study, Gern analyzed the blood of babies immediately after birth and one year later. He was looking for evidence of an allergic reaction, immunity changes, and for reactions to bacteria in the environment.

If a dog lived in the home, infants were less likely to show evidence of pet allergies-19 percent versus 33 percent. They also were less likely to have eczema, a common allergy skin condition that causes red patches and itching. In addition, they had higher levels of some immune system chemicals-a sign of stronger immune system activation.

“Dogs are dirty animals, and this suggests that babies who have greater exposure to dirt and allergens have a stronger immune system,” Gern says.

Date Magnets

Dogs are great for making love connections. Forget Internet matchmaking-a dog is a natural conversation starter.

This especially helps ease people out of social isolation or shyness, Nadine Kaslow, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, tells WebMD.

“People ask about breed, they watch the dog’s tricks,” Kaslow says. “Sometimes the conversation stays at the ‘dog level,’ sometimes it becomes a real social interchange.”

Dogs for the Aged

“Studies have shown that Alzheimer’s patients have fewer anxious outbursts if there is an animal in the home,” says Lynette Hart, PhD, associate professor at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

“Their caregivers also feel less burdened when there is a pet, particularly if it is a cat, which generally requires less care than a dog,” says Hart.

Walking a dog or just caring for a pet-for elderly people who are able-can provide exercise and companionship. One insurance company, Midland Life Insurance Company of Columbus, Ohio, asks clients over age 75 if they have a pet as part of their medical screening-which often helps tip the scales in their favor.

Good for Mind and Soul

Pet owners with AIDS are far less likely to suffer from depression than those without pets. “The benefit is especially pronounced when people are strongly attached to their pets,” says researcher Judith Siegel, PhD.

In one study, stockbrokers with high blood pressure who adopted a cat or dog had lower blood pressure readings in stressful situations than did people without pets.

People in stress mode get into a “state of dis-ease,” in which harmful chemicals like cortisol and norepinephrine can negatively affect the immune system, says Blair Justice, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health and author of Who Gets Sick: How Beliefs, Moods, and Thoughts Affect Your Health.

Studies show a link between these chemicals and plaque buildup in arteries, the red flag for heart disease, says Justice.

Like any enjoyable activity, playing with a dog can elevate levels of serotonin and dopamine-nerve transmitters that are known to have pleasurable and calming properties, he tells WebMD.

“People take drugs like heroin and cocaine to raise serotonin and dopamine, but the healthy way to do it is to pet your dog, or hug your spouse, watch sunsets, or get around something beautiful in nature,” says Justice, who recently hiked the Colorado Rockies with his wife and two dogs.

Good for the Heart

Heart attack patients who have pets survive longer than those without, according to several studies. Male pet owners have less signs of heart disease-lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels-than non-owners, researchers say.

(Source – Oprah.com)

When school gets too overwhelming, college student Joanna Olsen has a tried-and-true stress reliever: an hour of Frisbee with her dog, Mischka.

“She always seems to know when I’m stressed and comes over and paws at me if I seem out of it,” says Olsen, a senior equine business major at Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., of her beloved rat terrier.

When deadlines loom and homework piles up, a furry friend can be a source of support, companionship and stress relief for college students, finds a recent Ohio State University study. While other research has shown that pets can reduce anxiety and provide comfort for the elderly or the terminally ill, the new study showed the same is true for college students – a demographic dealing with the simultaneous worries over leaving home and the uncertainties of entering the real world.

Chasing the blues away

Researchers found that students who lived with a pet were less likely to report feeling lonely or depressed. They often relied on the animal to help them through stressful times, says lead author Sara Staats, professor emeritus of psychology at OSU’s Newark campus.

“Many students said that their pets fulfill a significant role that is missing in their lives,” Staats says. “The pets are not a substitute for human social interaction and support, but they do provide important interaction for these kids who might otherwise feel isolated from their current environment.”

The study was based on survey responses from 350 pet-owning students at the college campus, as well as nearby community members who had dogs or cats.

Nationwide, just a handful of colleges and universities, including Stephens College, allow students to keep pets on campus. While Lory Arnold, director of residential life at Stephens, has seen the comfort a pet can provide a student, she cautions that caring for a pet while in college could add more pressure to an undergraduate. Finding adequate time and money to keep an animal well-cared for can be difficult for a busy college student.

For Olsen, Mischka’s expenses are covered by money she sets aside from her summer job each year. But when she’s rushing from class to the library to parties, Olsen admits feeling a little guilty over not giving her pooch enough attention.

“Sometimes it’s hard to spend enough time with her. I’d like to take her for walks … more often than I am presently able to,” Olsen says. “Sometimes I worry that she gets bored, but she has her own personal indicator to me that I need to change something: She pulls the stuffing out of her pillow when she has nothing else to do. So unless I want to have a ‘pillow fund,’ I have to make sure she doesn’t get bored.”

Still, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

“My days are usually brimming with activities and at the end of the day it’s nice to just play with my dog or take her for a walk and forget about things for a little while,” says Olsen.

Julie Chappell, a sophomore majoring in communications at DePaul University in Chicago, doesn’t have the family golden retriever, Allie, with her at school, but says there are days when Allie’s presence would be a plus.

Furry stress reliever

“Allie is such a stress relief when I’m at home. If I’m working on an essay or studying and I feel overwhelmed, she always helps me relax,” Chappell says.

But would she want Allie with her at school all the time? Not exactly.

“While I would love to have Allie or a pet living with me, that would be a horrible idea,” she says. “If I’m not busy with school, I’m busy with my social life, which includes going out and sometimes coming home at unnatural hours. I would not be able to devote enough attention to an animal, no matter how hard I wanted to.”

Schools that permit pets typically limit pets to certain floors or buildings. At Stephens, which has allowed pets since 2004, only one residence hall permits pets, and students must abide by rules addressing such issues as noise, grooming and waste disposal. Abandonment between semesters, which is often a concern of humane groups, isn’t really an issue at Stephens, Arnold says.

“A lot of students bring their pets from home,” she says. So, “they take them home with them.”

While a pet can ease loneliness for some students, it could cause others to feel more isolated. “Students will stay in their rooms because they want to spend as much time as possible with their pet because they’ve been in class all day and their pet’s been alone, says Arnold. “So they don’t socialize as much as they probably should when they have a pet in their room.”

The pet policy is sometimes a factor for students who are deciding between Stephens and another college, Arnold says.

That’s not surprising, says Stephen Zawistowski, the executive vice president of programs and science advisor for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“(A) lot of these kids were … the first generation of latchkey kids,” Zawistowski says. “In many cases, the dog and the cat were the family they greeted when they came home. The stresses of school and homework and everything else were shared with that companion animal.”

So while students can’t bring mom or dad or siblings along with them to school, with a pet, “you can have a piece of your household that you remember and enjoy a great deal,”says Zawistowski.

For Mischka, at least, the choice of Stephens was a no-brainer.

“When I couldn’t decide between Stephens and another college,” Olsen says, “one morning I woke up and found that Mischka had gotten sick – on my acceptance letter to another college.”

(Source: msnbc.com – by Kim Campbell Thornton msnbc.com contributor)

• More affectionate pets.
• Helping pets live a longer, happier life.
• Significantly decreasing the odds of your pet developing certain cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer in females and testicular and prostate cancer in males.
• Reducing roaming tendencies so your pet will be less likely to get lost, stolen, injured or killed.
• Helping animal shelters from being overburdened with a surplus of animals.

Taking these small steps can help ensure your pet will live a longer, healthier life!

The Corner Animal Hospital is located in Setauket, New York.

Call 631.941.3500 to make an appointment today to have your pet spayed or neutered.

Click here for directions to our Long Island vet location.

cockatiels, parakeets, and lovebirds can live up to 20 years.