Giant Rabbit Couple Decides They're In Charge Of New Baby Sister

[catbyte]

"She is always their center of attention ... it is like they have their own little language."

By Kristen Warfield

Adding a new baby to the family can always be nerve-wracking when pets are involved — but when Jenn Eckert had her daughter, Bailey, last June, she never could have dreamed how quickly her rabbits, Alfie and Amelia, would fall in love with her.

Upon their first meeting, there was no denying Alfie and Amelia loved their new baby sister. They stood tall next to the infant in her carrier at the hospital, with their large ears nearly as big as her.



“Alfie tried to jump into the carseat, and Amelia just sniffed,” Eckert told The Dodo. “They were both so gentle, though, so I knew they would be best friends.”

Eckert was right. Though rabbits can sometimes be aloof, Alfie and Amelia, who live free-roam in the Wisconsin family’s home, made it clear right away that, when Bailey was in the room, nothing else mattered.



“She is always their center of attention,” Eckert said. “They will lay by her when she is sleeping. They tend to hover a bit, like they immediately saw her as their responsibility to protect.”

Since Bailey has been around rabbits her whole life, she loves them right back. She’ll often roll over to watch Alfie and Amelia when they come into the room, and also loves feeding them treats. The rabbits are both Flemish giants, who can weigh upwards of 20 pounds, so they’re the perfect sized friend for her.

As Bailey gets older, she’ll have her family and the rabbits there every step of the way to teach her about the world. It seems Alfie and Amelia are teaching her a lot about kindness and respect already.

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https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/giant-rabbits-love-baby-sister

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. The Bunny Whisperer!!!

[blm]

2. In love.

[sprinkleeninow]

3. I have never! Just touches a body's soul. 💓 Thanks.

[dawnie51]

4. Off the chart cuteness.......

I needed this tonight! Thanks!

[Marie Marie]

5. Those are some big bunnies.

[PatSeg]

6. Good lord, those are big bunnies!!!

We've had house rabbits, but nothing a big as these two! They are gorgeous.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. I love bunnies!

I want one so bad but when I went to check them out I couldn't stop itching and sneezing.

Caption:

Meet the parents.

[calimary]

8. Awwwwwww...

So sweet! Love this stuff!

[Honeycombe8]

9. They're beautiful. They won't bite the baby or anything?

Rabbits are vegetarian, aren't they? They won't try to nibble her fingers or anything?

Are the rabbits potty trained?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Rabbits have been known to bite, and they have very sharp teeth.

Last edited Tue Feb 26, 2019, 03:15 PM - Edit history (1)

I still have a scar on a finger from a rabbit, but the one in question wasn't as tame is it might have been. I think these two are probably completely gentle.

I do know rabbits can be litterbox trained.

[Honeycombe8]

16. Thanks. The reason I ask....

is there was a horrible story in the news about a year ago, I think it was. About a pet ferret and an infant in the house. I won't relay the story, but you can imagine. Horrible.

Extreme care must be taken when animals and babies live together.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Ferrets are a completely different species

and have not been domesticated. It's important to keep that in mind.

Rabbits, cats, and dogs are domesticated which makes a giant difference. Despite urban legends about cats smothering babies, that does not seem to happen, but dogs have been known to attack and kill babies. Also adults. Just a day or two ago a woman playing with her own dogs in her own front yard was killed when they suddenly started attacking her. Here's a link to that story: https://people.com/crime/sc-woman-mauled-death-dogs-playing-her-yard/ My guess is that there's a lot more to that story than what appears.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Oh, no. Another dog attack. I can't read it.....

I find those stories so hard to hear about.

Some people don't understand that dogs act on instinct. They don't sit back and reason, "Well, I wonder if she meant to hit me with that ball? Yes? No?" No, they just react, in accordance with a number of things. Temperament being one. Even little fluffy is an animal that acts on instinct.

Glad to know that rabbits aren't like ferrets. That story was so horrible that I can't bear to even link to it. You might be able to find it, though. Pet ferret ate parts of the infant in her/his crib at night. That parents woke up to a horror.

It's not a good idea to leave any animal free roaming and able to get to an infant or young child, when the parents aren't present and awake. (The ferret was caged but got out.)

[forgotmylogin]

22. I was going to ask about that.

Makes sense they'd use a litterbox. I've never seen people with pet rabbits that free-roamed outside of a hutch.

[Honeycombe8]

29. I've seen them only in large playpens, or areas cordoned off. nt

[ailsagirl]

10. The rabbits are ADORABLE!!

It freaks me out that they're a popular item on an Italian restaurant near me. I went to dinner there once and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw it listed on the menu. A woman who was part of our group actually ordered it, but
was told they were "all out."

UGH!!!!

[MLAA]

13. I know what you mean

I had to stop eating all animals because of how adorable they all are 🙂

[Honeycombe8]

18. I've given up all meats but poultry.

And fish, if you count that.

I have not been able to give up poultry. I plan on making that a focus in the near future. Maybe I can do that.

A good surprising side effect has been that giving up meats (except poultry) has made me healthier, and stayed that way for decades! Low blood pressure, normal cholesterol, same body weight, etc. While acquaintances have all had deteriorating health as they aged. Is it because I gave up meats years ago? I don't know for sure, but I think so. I do feel better about the ethics of eating those meats.

I also don't buy leather purses or shoes, anymore. But I still use the existing ones I had. And to be fair, I'm retired, so no longer need high quality work shoes.

My exercise shoes I still buy, though...I don't buy any with any leather on them. A perk is that they cost less without leather.

I don't know how to replace the protein and iron I get in poultry. I don't like imitation meats made out of soy.

[MLAA]

19. Glad your health has improved!

You don’t need to worry about getting enough protein. This concern about enough protein is driven by the meat and dairy industry. I haven’t eaten any animal products in last 5 years (vegetarian for 10) and I make no effort to ‘get’ protein. My protein levels are great without trying just from fruits and vegetables. I have about 10 close vegan friends and they too have excellent levels of protein with no effort needed. The only supplement we all take is vitamin B12. 😉

Not eating any animal products at all (including eggs, cheese etc) can prevent or repair most heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, many cancers (including breast cancer) and alleviate symptoms from some chronic illnesses like MS and Chrohns (these May also require strict adherence to no added salt/sugar/oil).

Good luck, you can do it!

[Honeycombe8]

20. Well, my health was fine to begin with.

It has just stayed that way, and gotten even better in some ways over the years.

I have no ethical problem with eggs and cheese.

I periodically count the grams/mg of various things I get from food, by keeping a meticulous food diary for a while. I do have a problem with consuming the recommended amount of protein, even eating chicken. I eat a LOT of fruit. Fruit contains almost no protein, and sometimes no protein at all.

I also have an issue with consuming enough fat, so I have to make an effort to eat some fats.

So I would need to replace poultry with a high protein/high iron food. Soy is the obvious choice, but so far, I find it distasteful to the point that I spit it out.

Legumes come to mind, so maybe that's one source. But you have to eat carbs with it to make it a complete protein...and eating lots of carbs (which I already get a lot of from fruit and breads and cereal) isn't good for health and weight.

I need to research more.

[Honeycombe8]

17. Yuk. Country people have eaten rabbits for eons.

And squirrel. Poor people in rural areas have a history of hunting for little varmints like that to eat.

But beyond the horrible act of eating cute furry little creatures, they are members of the rodent family. Both rabbits and squirrels. I think. Yuk.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. That's amazing!

We all know how wonderful dogs or cats can be with babies (except for those times they are not, but we'll try not to think about that), but rabbits? Who'da thunk it?

[LakeArenal]

14. So sweet.

I had a big black and white rabbit named Maggie. She was sweet and trained. ❣️

[Bayard]

15. Those are some HUGE Wabbits!

Bigger than the baby. And all 3 are pretty cute.

[Peachhead22]

21. That is absolutely adorable!

[SpankMe]

23. Those are some big-ass bunnies! n/t

[jls4561]

25. Well chosen godparents!

[trueblue2007]

26. WHAT A WONDERFUL STORY. thank you so much for posting it and all the pictures.

[3catwoman3]

27. The rabbit version of...

...Maine coon cats. What sweet pictures.

[ellie]

30. Are the rabbits

wearing clothes in that first picture? I like it when animals wear people clothes.

[hunter]

31. We had a rabbit when our kids were born.

She was a cranky old lady, and not to be trusted around children without close supervision.

I think she was jealous of the kids when she went from being the baby of the house to just one of the babies of the house.

When she passed away from cancer everyone was sad. We got another rabbit who was the sweetest animal. He had a great deal of tolerance for children and loved to play. He'd run up to our kids begging to be chased and they'd chase him. Then he'd chase them. We later got a puppy and they were lifetime friends.

[lark]

32. Thanks for the sweets high.

This is just so adorable.

[Blue_Tires]

33. What kind of Godless witchcraft breeds hyperintelligent mutant hares?

[Mendocino]

34. Night of the Lepus!

The Citizen Kane of killer bunny flicks.

[link:

[47of74]

35. Meanwhile my feline niece will go to ridiculous lengths

In her quest to not be in the same room as her human sister.