Books on Animals

Rabbits

If you want to buy a book, clicking on the book cover will take you directly to that book on the Amazon.co.uk web site.

See also:
Books about rodents
Advice on rabbits: General care
Advice on rabbits: House rabbits

A House Rabbit Primer: Understanding and Caring for Your Companion Rabbit

Lucile C. Moore
Santa Monica Press; illustrated edition(2005)
ISBN-10: 1891661507
ISBN-13: 978-1891661501

This is an enjoyable book on house rabbits, which can help owners learn to understand how rabbits communicate, and get a lot more pleasure from living with their rabbits. There is information on feeding and health, though the book is perhaps strongest on learning to 'read' rabbits. It doesn't cover everything you need to know to care for a rabbit, and it would be enlivened with a few more illustrations, but it is a fun and useful book for anyone who has just taken on a rabbit.

Rabbits for Dummies

Connie Isbell and Audrey Pavia
John Wiley & Sons; 2nd Edition (2009)
ISBN-10: 0470430648
ISBN-13: 978-0470430644

This is really a book designed for people who keep house rabbits, rather than for rabbit keepers with a hutch or two in the garden. There is plenty about interacting with your house rabbit, but not enough on keeping hutch rabbits happy and safe, indeed, if you followed the recommendations in this book, you could end up with some pretty miserable rabbits. In the old days, rabbits were often kept alone in small hutches, not much fun for a social animal which needs exercise. Today there is far more understanding of rabits' needs, and this understanding is not reflected in 'Rabbits for Dummies'. If you want a good, general book on rabbits, then Rabbitlopaedia is a much better offering. There is a fair bit in Rabbits for Dummies on understanding rabbit behaviour, and learning to interact with your rabbit. 'Living with a House Rabbit' is perhaps more useful for understanding the joys and challenges of sharing your home with a bunny.

Rabbit Health in the 21st Century Second Edition:A Guide for Bunny Parents

Kathy Smith
iUniverse; 2nd edition (2003)
ISBN-10: 0595281370
ISBN-13: 978-0595281374

This is a very useful book for people with a few rabbits who want a quick-reference health guide that is easy to understand. It's American, and you might find the reference to 'bunny parents' a bit twee (after all, we are different species). Some health threats to rabbits are more of a problem in the UK than in the US. However, this is probably the best guide to rabbit health care designed for the general reader. It's not only easy to read, with plenty of anecdotes, it's also well-researched, and can help save your rabbits' lives by letting you know when you need to call the vet.

Rabbits: Health, Husbandry and Diseases

Virginia C. G. Richardson MA VetMB MRCVS (Author)
Wiley-Blackwell (2000)
ISBN-10: 063205221X
ISBN-13: 978-0632052219

This guide to rabbit health and husbandry is especially useful for people with a lot of rabbits, who have some understanding of veterinary science. It's clearly written for a serious veterinary book, but if you don't have a vet background, you may need to be patient enough to check the meaning of some of the technical terms. The book is also quite pricey, so is only worth investing in if you have several rabbits, or are caring for a lot of bunnies, for example if you work in rescue. On the plus side, this is about the most comprehensive guide to rabbit health and husbandry around, so if you care for a lot of rabbits, or plan on doing so, the investment of time and money is well worth it.

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Living with a Houserabbit

Linda Dykes and Helen Flack
Ringpress Books
ISBN1 86054 207 7

This is a gem of a book about keeping pet rabbits, focusing on the particular needs of the house rabbit. House rabbits are increasingly popular and can very easily become part of family life in the same way as a cat or a dog, even down to training them to use a litter tray! There are detailed chapters about everyday care such as feeding, grooming, health, training and behaviour, as well as good ideas on rabbit proofing your home – essential before bunny is let loose in the living room! These are interspersed with real-life case histories throughout, which are fascinating. The book is written by two of the founder members of the British Houserabbit Association (BHRA), now the Rabbit Welfare Association (RWA), and will appeal to both new and experienced rabbit keepers.

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Training your Pet Rabbit

Patricia Bartlett
Barron’s
ISBN 0 7641 2092 1

This book is much more comprehensive that the title suggests and doesn’t just cover training, but all aspects of rabbit keeping, including housing, feeding and healthcare, making it a great buy for the novice rabbit owner. The chapter on understanding rabbit behaviour gives a great insight into rabbit sounds and signs and also provides helpful advice on how to introduce your rabbit to other pets, how to train it to understand simple commands and how to eliminate bad behaviours.

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Rabbitlopaedia

Meg Brown and Virginia Richardson
Ringpress Books
ISBN 1-86054-182-8

This book is an absolute ‘must have’ for any rabbit owner, experienced or not. It covers the principles of rabbit keeping in great detail, including feeding, housing and breeding, with lots of practical advice for novices. There is a section on caring for a house rabbit, which is becoming a popular way to keep rabbits now; and it offers invaluable advice on rabbit-proofing your home, exercise and house training. The health care section is full of fascinating information, even the anatomy and physiology section, which, let´s face it, a lot of us gloss over to get to the more interesting bits, is presented in a way that it is never boring.. There is an A-Z of rabbit diseases, which may seem a bit daunting at first, but each disease or ailment is explained in easy to understand terms. Rabbit breeds and exhibiting are also covered, and there is an important section on poisonous plants, with illustrations. Meg Brown is a lifelong rabbit owner and breeder, while vet Virginia Richardson runs a rabbit clinic within her veterinary practice. I cannot praise this book highly enough, and sincerely wish it had been available when I kept rabbits myself.

Review by Gillian Harvey

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RSPCA Pet Guide - Care for Your Rabbit

Collins; New edition (2004)
ISBN-10: 0007182708
ISBN-13: 978-0007182701

The official RSPCA guide to rabbit care, updated with new illustrations and sections. Tina Hearne writes well, and the book is well-illustrated. The key topics are covered, such as choosing a rabbit, feeding, housing, grooming, exercise, health care and breeding rabbits. This is a short, but informative book. It is an excellent introduction for children, though owners of house rabbits are likely to want more help with influencing their rabbit's behaviour, and experienced rabbit-keepers are likely to find little they do not already know.

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Guide to Owning a Rabbit

Anne Lindsay
TFH Publications
ISBN 0 7838 2156 8

This book is very well illustrated with glossy photos, and is likely to appeal to children in particular. It is a slim volume (64 pages) and is a basic guide to choosing and caring for a rabbit, set out in short chapters. The book is geared to the US market, and there are photos of US pet products. Adults are likely to want more information, but this book is likely to be treasured by children for its numerous pictures of bunnies of all shapes and sizes, and the short chapters are likely to encourage them to read.

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Why Does My Rabbit...?

Anne McBride
Souvenir Press
ISBN 0285635506

A useful book for any rabbit keeper who does more than keep their bunny in an outside hutch. There is a general section on behaviour counselling for rabbits, which explains influences on rabbit behaviour, and a second section on wild rabbits, showing how the behaviour of domestic rabbits is influenced by their behaviour in the wild. The bulk of the book consists of some 80 pages with questions and answers on rabbit behaviour, arranged according to topics, such as 'digging' in alphabetical order. There are also three appendices, on plants poisonous to rabbits, how to teach dogs to leave rabbits alone, and how to build a run for a rabbit. Help on relations between rabbits and other pets, such as cats, is also provided in the alphabetical section. This book is accessible to older children, and helps them to understand rabbits' needs, such as the need for a safe place to hide.

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