Rabbit and Pocket Pet Adoptions

In 2004, these were the numbers we were asked to help.

Are you trying to find a new home for a rabbit? Please follow this link for advice on placing your rabbit on your own.

Here is the main breakdown showing how many pets we were asked to help each month in 2004! Click on the blue links to see the detailed totals for how many of each were able to come in, how many were adopted out by the rescue, and how many calls or e-mails we received for each type for the entire year.

Monthly stats for 2004! Updated: 11/12/2011 11:11 AM

Pet Type	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rabbit	58	30	27	28	62	45	79	34	61	43	38	31
Hamster	51	17	12	2	0	14	36	1	12	12	18	7
Guinea pig	7	1	2	0	1	1	11	5	2	1	1	7
Rat	7	6	0	11	3	11	0	0	1	2	0	15
Chinchilla	4	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Others	36	6	25	4	103	18	1	10	11	1	3	8

Those above numbers mean that 536 rabbits, 182 hamsters, 39 guinea pigs, 56 rats, 8 chinchillas, 223 others for a total of 1046 pets have needed new homes for various reasons since Jan 1, 2004 and their owners called or emailed us to ask for assistance in placing them!  This count includes the multiple unwanted pets owned by the same families-often they were born to incorrectly sexed parents as a surprise litter, or worse, these are babies born because the parents were allowed to breed to "make more like them" or "have some cute babies" without thinking ahead. There are so many unwanted mixed breed or "pet quality" animals in the world already that even cute babies don't find good homes easily. When they realized how hard it was to place even baby pets in good homes, they called us to help.

Remember, although this count is high, it's only the pets *we* were asked to take. It does not include the pets who were turned over to animal shelters, needed to get into other rescues, given away for free in the paper, dumped at pet stores, or turned loose to fend for themselves that we were not directly asked to help!

The total number of pets needing in is simply the count of how many were needing in, NOT how many we were able to take in!!! We were able to take in only 65 of the 1046 pets we were asked to help. We wish we could have helped them all! Look at the ratio of just rabbits needing in compared to the number of rabbits adopted and you can see how a no-kill rescuer would quickly become overcrowded if we took in every rabbit who needed rescuing. 

We could adopt rabbits or small animals to anyone who asked for one to help the adoption rate go up, but that would mean that many rabbits and small pets would be adopted into impulse homes, only to wind up as a "statistic" again at a later date when the novelty wore off. The majority of rabbits needing in have had an average of two homes before the latest owner contacts us to help them place the rabbit. Rabbits and other pets adopted from us go to people who are prepared to keep them for their entire lifetime, not just a few months. Click here to view our adoption policies.

Here are the unwanted rabbit statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my rabbit" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004=253

Total number of unwanted rabbits from those calls since 1/01/2004=536

Total number of rabbits we have placed since 1/01/2004=23 (including Buttercup, who was a privately owned rabbit)

Total number of rabbits we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=33 (includes rescued litters with mommas plus 1 adopted rabbit who came back into rescue.)

On 1/01/99, we began to keep official track of the unwanted rabbits we were asked to help . Total number of unwanted rabbits from 1/01/99 to 12/31/03=2109 (That averages to be 527 per year that we are asked to take!)

Total number of rabbits we placed in 1999=26 Total number of rabbits we  placed in 2000=23 Total number of rabbits placed in 2001=23 Total number of rabbits we placed in 2002=13 Total number of rabbits placed in 2003=13 (we were able to take 27 rabbits into the rescue in 1999, 34 rabbits in 2000 and 28 in 2001, 15 in 2002, 14 in 2003.)

Here are the unwanted hamster statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my hamster" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004=27

Total number of unwanted hamster from those calls since 1/01/2004=182

Total number of hamsters we have placed since 1/01/2004=12

Total number of hamsters we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=19

Total number of hamsters placed in 2003=14 Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2003= 21

Here are the unwanted rat statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my rat" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004=11

Total number of unwanted rats from those calls since 1/01/2004=56

Total number of rats we have placed since 1/01/2004=4

Total number of rats we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=0 (Currently we have no rat foster homes! If you would like to help by providing temporary foster care, please let us know!)

Total number of rats placed in 2003=2 Total number of rats taken into the rescue in 2003= 6

Here are the unwanted cavy aka guinea pig statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my cavy" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004=22

Total number of unwanted cavies from those calls since 1/01/2004=39

Total number of cavies we have placed since 1/01/2004=5 (counting 4 placed via private party referral)

Total number of cavies we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=7 (pending babies born to 3 pregnant females from the shelter) (Currently there are only two foster homes. Without foster homes, we have to turn cavies away who need help! If you would like to help, please let us know!)

Total number of cavies placed in 2003=1 Total number of cavies taken into the rescue in 2003=0

Here are the unwanted chinchilla statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my chinchilla" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004=4

Total number of unwanted chinchillas from those calls since 1/01/2004=8

Total number of chinchillas we have placed since 1/01/2004=3 (1 placed via referral)

Total number of chinchillas we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=1

Total number of chinchillas placed in 2003=7 Total number of chinchillas taken into the rescue in 2003= 5

Here are the unwanted misc statistics for 2004 year so far.

"Can't keep my other" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2004= 40

Total number of unwanted others from those calls since 1/01/2004= 225

We were asked to help 120 mice, 45 cats, 4 pot bellied pigs, 2 hermit crabs, 12 wild rat orphans <referred to rehabber local to them>, 2 roosters, 8 hens, 1 quail, 1 ferret <referred to out of state rescue>, 2 hedgehogs <referred to out of state rescuer>, 1 orphaned possum <referred to rehabber>, 8 dogs, 3 squirrels <2 referred to rehab, 1 person never returned phone call>, 12 wild rabbits <2 delivered to rehabber, 10 referred to rehabber local to them>

Total number of others we have placed since 1/01/03=9 (2 hermit crabs, 1 kitten, 4 hens, 2 roosters)

Total number of others we have been able to take since 1/01/2004=11 (2 hermit crabs, 1 kitten, 2 roosters, 4 hens, 1 quail)

Total number of others placed in 2003=7 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2003=7

Thank you for looking at these statistics and for caring what happens to rabbits and small animals. These pets are so often "forgotten" at animal shelters because people feel they are "not as important" as dogs or cats.

Copyright by Angela Carrigan 2004. Please do not use these statistics without express written permission from me. I am happy to give permission, but you must ask first. You are welcome to link to these stats without permission. If you would like to copy and use these stats in any way other than a direct link, you must ask permission. (A direct link means you link to this page, you may not cut and paste this onto your own website!)