Rabbit and Pocket Pet Adoptions

As we start the new Century, please take time to consider that rabbits and small pets die daily because there are too few "forever homes" to accommodate them all. 

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

Please think about the unwanted rabbits already in the world before you decide to breed more just "to show the kids" or to "make one just like this one". Rabbits can live to be over 10 years old. Sadly, many pet rabbits don't live to see a year old! They are discarded at 8-12 months old when the family gets tired of them. (This is the average age of rabbits needing in here) Time is running out on a minute by minute basis for rabbits in shelters, in homes where they are unwanted, on the streets, etc. Why are there unwanted rabbits in need of rescue? Even small pets like hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, chinchillas, and misc, are in need of new homes frequently, as shown by the following statistics.

Here is the main breakdown showing how many pets we were asked to help each month in 2005! 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. Looking for stats for 2003 or 2004?

Monthly stats for 2005! Updated: 08/08/2011 01:15 PM

Pet Type	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rabbit	55	43	36	50	38	53	78	62	36	39	24	17
Hamster	12	54	2	3	1	0	5	1	8	1	0	13
Guinea pig	10	11	7	0	11	3	2	20	2	8	3	6
Rat	1	1	20	0	1	52	34	0	8	2	0	2
Chinchilla	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	2
Others	0	4	4	10	41	14	1	9	1	8	0	0

Those above numbers mean that 531 rabbits, 100 hamsters, 96 guinea pigs, 123 rats, 7 chinchillas, 92 others for a total of 948 pets have needed new homes for various reasons since Jan 1, 2005 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 44 of the 948 pets we were asked to help. We wish we could have helped them all!

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 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my rabbit" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005=107

Total number of unwanted rabbits from those calls since 1/01/2005= 531

This count does NOT include the aprox 2,500 rabbits we were asked to help who are owned by one person. These rabbits are owned by one person and we were asked to help find a rescue group who could assist. (This large number of rabbits was helped by Best Friends!) It also does not include the 300 rabbits a Kern County animal control officer contacted us about to ask if we could help by taking any of them.

Total number of rabbits we have placed since 1/01/2005= 11 (plus 1 we listed on our petfinder.com website for a private party)

Total number of rabbits we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 15 (includes Lacey's litter)

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 12/31/04=2645 (That averages out to be 529 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 Total number of rabbits placed in 2004= 23 (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, 33 in 2004.)

Here are the unwanted hamster statistics for 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my hamster" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005=14

Total number of unwanted hamster from those calls since 1/01/2005= 100

Total number of hamsters we have placed since 1/01/2005= 3

Total number of hamsters we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 3

Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2003= 21 Total number of hamsters taken into the rescue in 2004= 19

Here are the unwanted rat statistics for 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my rat" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005= 14

Total number of unwanted rats from those calls since 1/01/2005= 123

Total number of rats we have placed since 1/01/2005= 0

Total number of rats we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 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 2004=4 Total number of rats taken into the rescue in 2004=0

Here are the unwanted cavy aka guinea pig statistics for 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my cavy" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005= 26

Total number of unwanted cavies from those calls since 1/01/2005= 96

Total number of cavies we have placed since 1/01/2005= 15 (2 we placed by putting two private parties together, plus 2 we placed for a private party through our Petfinder.com website)

Total number of cavies we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 12 (5 born, 1 died soon after birth<not counted>, to Moppet pregnant when rescued in 2004, 5 born <plus 2 stillborn not counted> born to Louise pregnant when rescued in 2004, 3 born to Sandy pregnant when rescued in 2004. All were rescued from the Lancaster, CA 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 2004=5 Total number of cavies taken into the rescue in 2004=7

Here are the unwanted chinchilla statistics for 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my chinchilla" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005= 5

Total number of unwanted chinchillas from those calls since 1/01/2005= 7

Total number of chinchillas we have placed since 1/01/2005= 2

Total number of chinchillas we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 4

Total number of chinchillas placed in 2004=3 Total number of chinchillas taken into the rescue in 2004=1

Here are the unwanted misc statistics for 2005 year so far.

"Can't keep my other" calls/e-mails we have received since 1/01/2005= 21

Total number of unwanted others from those calls since 1/01/2005= 84

We were asked to help 27 mice, 2 dogs, 6 puppies, 1 pot belly pig orphan, 4 cats, 1 wild mouse, 6 wild rats, 8 wild rabbit babies, 1 wild baby bird & 1 squirrel baby (all wildlife calls were referred to rehab, or instructed to put animals back where found), 11 gerbils (referred to out of state rescue), 1 ferret (referred to out of state rescue), 13 kittens, 2 small red eared slider turtles

Total number of others we have placed since 1/01/05= 13 (1 mouse, 10 kittens fostered until transfer to another rescue was arranged, 1 pot bellied pig orphan, 1 baby rabbit picked up before we realized it was a wild orphan, driven straight to rehab)

Total number of others we have been able to take since 1/01/2005= 13

Total number of others placed in 2004=10 Total number of others taken into the rescue in 2004=10

We do not rescue or find homes for illegal exotics such as ferrets, hedgehogs or sugar gliders. We are also unable to rescue wild rabbits, wild mice, wild rats, gophers, etc, orphaned or otherwise. However we do get phone calls for these animals so we note them here. Mice, dogs and cats as well as other misc pets that we don't get many calls for are noted here as well.

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 2005. 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!)