For all the animal lovers, rabbits would be one of the most enjoyable animal to be pet. Who doesn’t like to see baby bunny jump around happily? Yes, rabbit as a pet is a very good option for people who had limited space inside their house. Another reasons for people who like to accompany by rabbits because of rabbit’s friendly characteristics. Rabbits are totally safe animal for all ages; so, no need to afraid that your rabbit would bit or attack your children, parents.
Another fun thing about rabbit is that they were available in many species. The Holland Lop, Flemish Giant rabbit, Pygmy rabbit, American rabbit, and many more; the short hair, the long hair? Everything was there! However, ordinarily, people allowed taking baby rabbits that have been reach eight weeks or more. Under the eight weeks, baby rabbits must get breastfeed by the mother, and this case is period (unless the baby is an orphan). This was basic regulation obeyed by all the breeders of pet stores.
In many states, any party who break the regulation and sell baby rabbits under eight weeks would be ensnared by the law. However, before you take your bunny into your house, don’t forget to purchase her basic equipment such as rabbit cage, toys, water and food containers, and the last but not least, the food supplies. These matters must be fulfilled due to ensure the rabbit would live a happy life under your supervision.
Well, imagining all the fun and excitement you would spend with your adorable bunny must triggered your impatient to bring this animal home. But, all the excitement are disappears when it turned out, that you have an allergy to rabbits. Today, let me cheer you up again my dear friends, because now, we would discuss about how to pet rabbit if you have allergic on it.
Allergic to Rabbit
It was very unpleasant experience when you know that you have an allergic for the animal you want to pet. Allergic form in many shapes, it could be form as sneezing or skin rash, and even respiratory problems. What is allergic, a specialist from California called Dr. Dorothy Calebrese explained that allergy is an abnormal reaction of body to any substance that ordinarily is tolerated. A research reviled that almost fifteen percent of American is allergic to animals.
Furthermore, the immune system of each individual is played an important role to the effect of substances. The genetic was influenced and made some people become more or less sensitive to substances. So, what was actually happened to people who allergic to rabbit? It might surprise you, most of the time people believed that it was the fur that become the culprit – guess what, it’s not. Mostly, the main culprit of the allergy is a protein that contained in rabbit’s saliva and dander.
When rabbit grooming themselves, the proteins was spread to their whole bodies – and you touch it and baaamm! You got the allergy. A research noticed, among five people who have allergies, only one person who actually give up to the pet. So, the good news is you could still keep you beloved rabbit under the threat of allergy. But, if you noticed an extreme allergic reaction happened to you, for your own good, let your pet go is the only option you could take.
Here are several examples of extreme allergy reaction that happened on some people: skin rashes, bronchitis, chronic fatigue, and asthma; if these happened, unfortunately it’s time for you to let your rabbit go. If likely the symptoms are not exhibited some dangerous situation, you could continue to keep your animal inside your house, but in certain conditions, of course.
Prevention to Reduce The Allergy
Living with rabbit under the allergy certainly requires extra works, mostly to you. So, how to pet rabbit if you have allergic on it? You should do some prevention to protect yourself and minimized the allergy to happen.
- Restrict Rabbit’s Territory
The first thing you should do is restrict rabbit’s territory inside your house (it would be better if you keep her outside). If you let your rabbit stay inside you must keep them into certain room or area, and do not let her roam every room. This method help you to reduce the distribution of allergens in the house. Besides choosing particular room as the playground, you could also use baby gets to prevent her to enter another area.
- Minimize Direct Contact with your Rabbit
As we learned previously, allergens was contaminated with direct contact to rabbit. So, you could minimize the touch you commonly did. There are particular areas on human body that are sensitive than others, for the example is the face, eyes, and nose. Therefore, avoid touching these areas if you previously touched your rabbit, don’t forget to wash your have every time you had direct contact with rabbit.
Moreover, it would be so much better if you use protection while having contact with your pet, such as eyeglasses and gloves. Due your allergy, it was the best hiring people to clean your rabbit’s room and cage. If, you had no choice but do it by yourself, make sure you wear the protection (mask, gloves, and eyeglasses).
Frequent clean is needed especially because you are more sensitive than normal people. Get rid the dust and vacuum your house frequently, not just the floor, but everything: doors, windows, furniture, curtains, and etc. Don’t forget to damp mop the wooden floors, reach all the area that was under the cover: under the bed, sofas and chairs, tables, and etc. Furthermore, make sure that the hay was stand still in the tub.
There’s a method that believed reduce the dust made by hays: you should misting the hays with water. Then place it (the hays) on a room that infrequently visited. Another thing you could try is allergy neutralizers. Allergy neutralizers commonly form as a spray or liquid which applied to the rabbit’s body. But, I must warn you that this formula is quite expensive.