I'm finding it very hard to believe this story. I've heard of rabbits being kept in tiny cages and rabbits being left to free range in a garden but never ever have I heard of a rabbit being left on a lead all day.

Where abouts are you from? Is it common where you are to tie rabbits up?

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sounds as tho the op is in North America as theyve mentioned coyotes.

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"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."
L David Mech

We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself." -Farley Mowat

It could be genuine then! I've seen on those American rescue programmes dogs tied up on chains in yards. I only hope it isn't for that poor rabbits sake.

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yes chaining dogs up does seem to be very common over there

perhaps its same with rabbits aswell then

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"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."
L David Mech

We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself." -Farley Mowat

Guinea Pig/Rabbit run - Tesco.Direct


Leash/Harness Problem solved.



Take her to the vets to get her checked is all I can say.

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Am sorry...actually I am not. Listen to people. You could risk the neck/back/life of your rabbit keeping it on a leash. NO animal LOVER would do this.

For the SAFETY of your rabbit...get a run. Get a 20ft dog kennel if you like...that would be amazing. But not unsupervised on a leash.

Secondly the dogs would prevent rabbits coming near yours.

If your rabbit is pregnant then you have obviously mated it. I have hear a few cover stories in the past...so whether or nto this is true about the leash etc I don't know...but for your rabbit to be pregnant involves you. If you haven't mated her then she is not pregnant.

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MY ZOO-LET
Syrian: Dini
Winter Whites: Alaska, Apollo, Hero and Ares
Bunnies: Saffy, Gus, Cookie and Cream and 5 babies!!
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RIP Tilly, Thom, Tiny, Cassius, Stuart Little, George, Baby Pom (Mice), Melvin (Chameleon) Harry (Cambells Russian) Charlie and Roma (Syrians) Eros (Winter White) Jet, Rainbow and Angel (Rabbits) Neva (Ratty girl)

ok, I stand corrected (wow I really thought this was a joke....)

Right first off just because they sell harnesses it doesn't make them right, a rabbit can easily break it's neck if sent into a blind panic, have you not heard or rabbit runs????

If your dog truly does sit and "guard" your rabbit the likelihood of her being pregnant is even slimmer as a wild rabbit would not have taken that risk.

I suggest you get your poor rabbit a proper run and get her spayed as 80% of does go on to contract uterine cancer by the age of 5 and once she is spayed you won't have any issue with prenancies and you can get her a neutered friend. Do you get your rabbit vaccinated?

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As your dogs are around your rabbit, and wild rabbits are naturally very nervous animals, I would highly doubt that your rabbit is pregnant from a wild rabbit. Therefore I would guess that she's having a phantom pregnancy. Phantom pregnancies have all the symptoms of normal pregnancies, even producing milk. Therefore I would advise going to the vet and getting her spayed to stop her having phantom pregnancies as they are stressful for the rabbit to go through.

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I OWN A CHOCOLATE ROAN COCKER SPANIEL
RIP David xx Run free at the bridge. Love you always xx 19th February 2011
RIP Jack and Mickey xx Run free at the bridge. Love you forever xx 20th June 2011

I am not jumping on the bandwagon. I just find it hard to believe that a wild rabbit would approach yours if there are dogs around. Even rabbits think of their own safety before 'nookie'

I see you mention coyote's, so you are probably not in the uk, maybe that is the done thing there then? I am the uk and it is not the done thing here, I think thats why people have become quite worried for the buns safety.

I think the only advice I can therefore offer is to get her to the vets and they can give you some answers.

Good luck with whatever the outcome is.

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oh my actual god!!! i am finding it very hard to keeep my temper here!!
i dont care if you only came on to ask advice if your rabbit is pregnant, we can not help you with that! the only way to tell is to get an ultra sound or x-ray, if you think she is pregnant then STOP picking her up and poking her, also do not palpate her again

as for keeping her on a leash, is her harness metal too? beacuse if that isnt she can easily chew that.....
also, keeping her on a leash un supervised is idiotic, especially as secure as you say, if she spooks and yes she can spook, rabbits are PREY animals, and can spook at something as simple as a bird flying above them, also happy rabbits binky, which could be worse then if she spooked, if she made 1 sudden movement near the end of that chain, the force of that would be strong enough to snap her spine and kill, if it didnt kill her instantly, you would then be left facing a rabbit screaming in pain, who you needed to take to the vet to be put to sleep
get her a run, you have a big garden, theres no reason why you can get her a HUGE run, but you are obviously just thinking about your pocket

as for the spaying, that is just..... beyond words, just how many rabbits have you had in the past? and just how long did that live? rabbits with the correct care can like to 10 - 15 years
80% of ALL unspayed does will have uterine cancer by the age of just 5, it is a sad, but true fact
RWAF: Uterine Cancer in the doe

as for leaving your german shepherd alone with your rabbit (and dont go all prissy on me saying its a GSD i know full well what they are, i had one) you should NEVER leave any dog alone with a rabbit!! mine have been raised around small furries their whole life, but it is asking for trouble leaving them alone, it only takes one moment of weakness and your rabbit is a nice chew toy

and at this point i think we should all walk away, as its very obvious the OP is right and nothing we can say will change their mind

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