Welcome to Hazel House!
Hazel house is the building dedicated to caring for our small animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. It was built in the early 2000’s with help from the Jean Sainsbury Animal Welfare Trust, more recently it underwent a refurbishment in 2017.
Throughout the years it has gone through various changes; as animal welfare recommendations improved, so did our level of care and enclosures.
Hazel house has sheltered many small animals throughout its lifetime, giving us the opportunity to help them all find their forever homes with people that are able to care for them properly. In more recent years, we have found ourselves looking after mainly rabbits due to the current influx of rabbits requiring rescue space. Finding the right home for each rabbit or group of rabbits can be difficult; people are often looking to bond their own rabbit with a new friend, meaning that our pairs can often get overlooked and tend to have longer stays.
In the meantime before they find their forever homes, we would love for you to meet some of our current occupants down below!
Storm and Aslan
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances out of anyone’s control, their guardian needed to move to a smaller house, which meant less space and no garden for the pair to explore.
Storm originally came to the sanctuary in late 2020, with her mother and brother and was then adopted and bonded with Aslan to a very loving home.
Upon returning to us, although they definitely preferred the outdoors, they settled in to Hazel House after some time. After trying them in three different runs, we finally found the one that was juuuuust right for them!
Because of this change in environment, they were very unsettled causing their bond to break down, despite their owner’s best efforts. This was very difficult to see and so the decision had to be made for them to come to the sanctuary in 2022.
They have always been a wary pair, but they seemed to be coming more and more out of their shell over time. Although they quickly find their confidence when the treat packets shake!
Storm and Aslan have settled in very well to sanctuary life, and it would be hard to imagine them not being here! Aslan loves hopping around and exploring as much as he can while Storm supervises from a safe distance.
Mary and Josephine
Mary and Josephine arrived to us on the 23rd of December 2022, after a family saw a box on the side of a quiet road. To their surprise, there were rabbits in it!
While they were in isolation, we were able to take them to the vets and have them vaccinated and spayed; during Josephine’s operation, the vets found a uterine tumour and were able to remove it during the procedure. This does require constant monitoring to make sure it does not return.
Not knowing what to do, they found us and fortunately we were able to take them in and care for them; because we had no information about either of them, we had to care for them in isolation from our other rabbits to prevent risk of illnesses/disease spreading.
Shortly after the pair came to us we noticed that Josephine would make sneezing sounds and coughs during the day; after a vet visit, it was identified as pasteurella symptoms and prescribed daily 20 minute sessions with a nebuliser, to keep her respiratory tact as clear and comfortable as possible..
Over time these girls have settled in to sanctuary life quite well. In recent months especially, they have both gotten much more confident with people thanks to caring volunteers taking time to socialise with everyone in Hazel House and improving the bond they have with humans.
Since beginning her treatment, we have definitely noticed an improvement. They have been keeping her comfortable and we monitor her daily so that if we notice any subtle changes, we can contact our vets for advice.
Toffee, Fudge and Caramel
Originally, Toffee came to us in 2018, who was then bonded with another rabbit that unfortunately passed away. After that he was introduced to this terrific twosome!
The three of them lived on site at an Animal Assisted Therapy care home. They didn’t really enjoy being handled there and would often avoid people, preferring to keep to themselves. Due to the organisation having to re-evaluate the size of their operation, they were forced to make the decision to rehome this trio to us.
Over time they all came out of their shell quickly enough, these days it’s hard to keep them in their run! They all just love exploring the whole building and are more than happy to hop back into their run when food is ready for them.
Before coming back to us, Toffee was affected by a condition known as stasis, but this was quickly resolved with proper care and medication to help his gut get back into its routine.
All three of these guys have been relatively healthy, with the occasional dietary change to curb their very healthy eating habits just a little bit!
This trio are looking for a home with a lot of space for them to roam around and make their own, it can be difficult finding homes for pairs, and trios can be even harder, so we’re all hoping their personalities can convince a caring adopter to give them a chance!
Please Sponsor Us
To help us provide the best care that we can for our fluffy occupants.
Giving us more opportunities to give them all as much enrichment to keep their minds as active as possible!
To make it possible for us to continue paying for specialist veterinary treatment and medication for the animals that need it.
And it means we can give our bunnies all the love and attention they deserve!