There are hundreds of animals hoping to find loving homes in Beijing. If you are considering adopting a pet, Doggy/Moggy of the Week will feature animals from volunteer shelters, animal rescue groups, foster care providers, and pet owners needing to rehome animals. This week’s wabbit, Lily, is from ICVS’ Adoptable Pets.
Name: Hi everyone, I’m Lily.
Background: Lily arrived unexpectedly with us when there was a knock on the door one day, and there stood our neighbour with Lily in her arms. She handed Lily to us, and that was that. We introduced her to the rabbit we already had, who we mistakenly thought was also female. They got along very well. A couple of months later, Lily gave birth to a litter of baby rabbits and we realised we had been wrong about the gender of our original rabbit, who was rapidly neutered…
As mother rabbits do in the wild, Lily carefully dug her babies a special hole in the ground and kept them there for a month, visiting them just once a day before dawn to feed them, and then carefully covering the hole with earth in between, to protect them from predators. She was very discreet, so although we were a bit suspicious about all the digging going on, we didn’t even know the babies had been born until they were a month old, when they suddenly appeared from underground.
Since then, Lily’s babies have been adopted, she has been spayed, and she is living a much quieter life.
Now, we are moving to the UK and cannot take her with us. We hope she will find the loving home she deserves in Beijing.
Personality: Lily is used to living in a run outdoors even through the snow of winter and heat of summer, because although she has a hutch she prefers the cosy underground maze she has dug for herself. She would happily live in a cage indoors – and likes watching what everyone’s up to – as long as she is let out to run around, or has some space to move. She loves to explore, whatever her environment. She enjoys human company, always coming over to say hello. She is used to children and is very trusting and sweet-natured. She loves fresh vegetables, especially carrot peelings and other leftovers from our kitchen, the more varied the better.
If a family already has rabbits, and would like to see how Lily gets along with them, we would be happy to bring her along for a trial run.
Ideal home: I am sociable and friendly, used to having company during most of the day and I would make a great companion for other rabbits.
Sex & Age: We think Lily is about 4 or 5 years old, middle-aged in rabbit terms.
Medical notes: She is registered at ICVS and is a healthy and happy rabbit. ICVS are generously offering a 50% discount on her examinations during her first year with a new family. ICVS have always provided our rabbits with an excellent standard of care.
Extras: We will provide Lily’s new family with a couple of weeks supply of the hay and rabbit pellets that she’s used to, so she’ll ease into her new home. We will also provide a cage, water bottle and food bowl.
Contact information: If you have any questions about Lily, or think you can offer Lily a new home, please feel free to contact me, Cathy, at crsampson@usa.net
Please also contact the International Center for Veterinary Services: Tel: 8456-1939/1940 Email: ICVS_CHINA@yahoo.com web site: www.ICVSASIA.com
Photo courtesy of ICVS
