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Small Mammals · Records & Organization

What handover notes matter when my house rabbit goes to stay with family who have never kept rabbits?

Published October 26, 2026

The short answer

Write the notes for a complete beginner: unlimited hay and water at all times, how his litter setup works, how to handle him with his hindquarters supported and why he must never be picked up carelessly, and which cables, doors, and houseplants need managing before he explores. Give the daily routine in order, name the foods he must never be given, and put your vet's number and the not-eating warning on the first page, not the last. Walk the family through one full evening routine before you leave so the notes confirm what they have already seen once. Sent ahead through KinsLe's Care Pass, those handover notes give rabbit-naive family the whole routine in their hands from the moment he arrives.

Lead with the three rules that keep him safe

Family who have never kept rabbits will remember three clear rules better than ten pages of detail, so the first page carries exactly those. One: his hay and water are never allowed to run out, day or night, because a rabbit's digestion depends on constant grazing. Two: he is never picked up by his ears or scruff and never lifted without a hand supporting his hindquarters, because a kicking rabbit can seriously hurt his own back — and if they are not confident picking him up, the note should say plainly that he is happier staying on the floor. Three: doors, cables, and escape routes get managed before he explores, not after. Write these as friendly certainties, not warnings, and everything else in the notes hangs off them.

Write the daily routine in the order it happens

Walk through his day as a numbered sequence a beginner can follow top to bottom: morning hay top-up and fresh water, his measured pellet portion and when it is given, which fresh greens he is used to and in what rough quantity, how the litter tray is spot-cleaned and where soiled litter goes, and the evening routine of exercise time, a final hay check, and settling him for the night. Include the house rules that are specific to him — the room he sleeps in, the furniture he is allowed on, the signs he uses when he wants attention or wants to be left alone. Rabbits are creatures of routine and a house rabbit will be unsettled enough by a new home; a routine that matches his own, at his usual times, is the kindest thing your notes can give him.

List the foods and situations that are never safe

Beginners guess, so remove the guessing. Name the foods he must never be offered — chocolate, biscuits and human snacks generally, raw potato, onion, and iceberg lettuce among them — and say that if it is not on his list, it does not go in his bowl, however hopeful he looks. Cover situations, too: he is never carried outside loose in arms, never left unsupervised with a dog however gentle the dog seems, and never shut in a room with trailing cables he can reach. Add the houseplants he will meet by name if you know them, and a simple instruction to move any plant onto a high shelf rather than checking whether it is safe. A short, definite list protects him from kindness as much as from carelessness.

Put the emergency page on top, and rehearse once

The page the family reaches for at midnight should sit at the front of the folder, not buried at the back: your number, your vet's number including the out-of-hours arrangement, and the one urgent picture written in plain words — a rabbit who stops eating, or produces no droppings, needs a vet the same day, because his gut cannot wait until you are home. Before the stay, spend one evening at their house or yours running the whole routine together with the notes in their hands, so they have held the hay, cleaned the tray, and seen how he likes to be approached. Shared through KinsLe's Care Pass, the notes travel with his routine rather than as a loose printout, and the family covering his care can check any step in the moment they need it.

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