Being able to handle and restrain your rabbit safely and as stress free as possible is important as it allows you to be able to check and medicate them at home. If they need veterinary treatment, it will also make examinations less stressful for them.

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Handling can be necessary for a variety of reasons including grooming, health-checking, and medicating your rabbit when required. Health checking at home is important, as it allows you to promptly spot potential signs of injury or ill health. Being prey animals, rabbits will naturally conceal signs of pain and illness for as long as possible, making it hard to identify when there is a problem. By performing a regular physical check on your rabbit, you can become familiar with normal health and more quickly identify when there is a problem that needs attention. Scheduling this into your weekly husbandry activities is strongly advised. Correct handling skills are also important if your rabbit is prescribed medication by your vet. When administering medications at home, you will need to be able to safely handle and restrain the rabbit and ensure the medication is administered correctly. Handling is important for grooming regardless of the type of coat your rabbit has. Short-haired rabbits don’t need frequent brushing except during a molt, but long-haired rabbits will need daily brushing to prevent their coat from becoming matted. Grooming should also always ensure checking the eyes, ears, nails, and hind end are clean and well maintained, and that there are no signs of external parasites. Checking body weight and condition is another reason to handle your rabbit. By becoming familiar with a rabbit body condition score (provided by your vet) you can regularly assess your rabbit’s weight, during routine handling, to ensure it is maintaining a healthy weight.

Rabbits have unique behavioral needs and as prey animals, they are easily scared, and their fear helps them avoid danger. However, if they are frequently put in situations that induce fear, they can become highly stressed, negatively impacting their health and well-being. Most rabbits do not like being picked up and handled. Being handled by a person can trigger instinctual escape responses; panic, and flight to attempt to run away. Natural flight or escape reactions when a rabbit is handled can include running away to evade capture, struggling, kicking, and scratching when they are picked up, and even nibbling or biting at clothes and hands/arms. These behaviors are often fear related, so practicing fear-free handling techniques can be very beneficial to prevent injury and fear in your rabbit. It is important to be aware that holding a squirming rabbit can be difficult leading to injury of both the rabbit and handler. Rabbits can injure themselves, potentially seriously, if they are not handled correctly and can inflict nasty bites, scratches, and kicks when trying to escape. Rabbits have powerful hind legs and can kick so hard that they can dislocate or fracture their spine, or leg. It is also possible for a rabbit to be injured by being dropped suddenly after a struggle.

Handling rabbits must be done in a safe way for both the rabbit and handler and should always aim to minimize stress and fear. Always start by getting prepared with any equipment that you might need. Soft towels, a box, bed, or transport container, and any other equipment you will need should be gathered and ready before you start. Reduce light and noise and move slowly. It is a simple trick that takes advantage of the rabbit’s natural response to bright spaces where they can be easily seen by predators. By dimming the light and moving slowly, and quietly, you become less of a threat to the rabbit. Be calm… if you are stressed, your rabbit will pick up on it. Practice breathing and blinking as if you are calm and relaxed. Your rabbit will notice! Follow a familiar routine so the rabbit gets used to the handling process over time. By conditioning your rabbit to regular handling, it can make the process much easier. Start with short sessions that end on a positive note and work up to longer sessions over time. Even five minutes a day of practice can make a big difference with helping your rabbit to accept routine handling. Become familiar with signs of fear in rabbits such as:

• Running away and/or hiding.
• Freezing/tension – hunched up with ears flat against the body.
• Being jumpy and watchful - bulging eyes.
• Breathing heavily or rapidly.
• Lack of interest or responsiveness (not grooming, moving, or taking treats).
• Defensiveness – unusual stomping, lunging, biting.
• Displacement – expressing stress through repeated activities that don’t have a purpose such as biting items in the enclosure (toys, cage bars), circling, head bobbing.

When handling your rabbit you should follow the following steps... Choose a quiet and calm area that is familiar to the rabbit so as not to cause it undue stress. Allow the rabbit to approach you and avoid standing over it. Try sitting on the floor and allow your rabbit to hop over to you. Start by offering it some healthy and tasty treats from your hand, or if it likes being scratched or stroked offer it a gentle touch. Place your dominant hand at the back of the rabbit’s neck, and your other hand on its rump. Gently rotate the rabbit in place so that it is facing away from you. Ensure the back legs are facing away from you so that the rabbit cannot injure you or itself if it kicks out. When you are ready to lift, gently slide the hand on the rump to roll the back legs under it, toward its belly. Then slide your other hand from the back of the neck around the chest (under the rabbit’s front legs). You should have one hand under the rump and one hand around the chest, with the rabbit’s feet away from you so that it is in a ball, or a C-shape. Gently lift it up and place its back securely against your body. You can hold the rabbit temporarily like this or turn it, so it is held against your abdomen facing your elbow. You can either examine your rabbit with it sitting on your lap, or if you are confident, place it on a table with a towel to sit on. Examinations are best done on the floor or as close to the ground as possible, where rabbits feel safer and if they do attempt to escape, they are closer to the ground. Never pass a rabbit to another person in mid-air. Instead, place the rabbit down, keep a hand on the back of the rabbit’s neck, while the other person gets their hands into position to lift it safely. To set the rabbit down once you are finished holding it, reverse the lifting process. Take care to ensure you use both hands to lower the rabbit to the floor. Release the hind end first to prevent the rabbit kicking out and injuring itself.

Sometimes it may be necessary to restrain your rabbit, especially if you are giving medications. Wrapping your rabbit up in a towel, leaving only their head exposed can help to secure them safely so they are unable to injure themselves. This is known as Low Stress Handling® and is particularly useful if you are giving medication into the mouth, syringe feeding them or applying ear or eye drops. To wrap your rabbit in a towel, place the rabbit on a flat open towel, perpendicular to the long axis of the towel (with the rabbit pointed to the long ends of the towel go out to its sides). Make sure all four of its feet are on the towel. Starting with its face, tuck the closest edge of the towel under its chin, making sure to thoroughly cover its front feet. Follow with the sides and hind end, ensuring it is wrapped up completely with all four feet secured. Make sure the rabbit can breathe and that it is not kept wrapped up too long as it could overheat. Spraying an appeasing spray onto the towel, such as Pet Remedy, can help the rabbit to feel more relaxed.

There are several techniques that used to be popular but are now considered inhumane and should not be used when handling or restraining rabbits. Never ‘trance’ a rabbit. Trancing (tonic immobility) is when rabbits are placed onto their backs and freeze. Whilst some people think a trance is a relaxed state, studies have shown these rabbits are in a highly stressed state and freeze as a prey animal would if they had been caught by a predator. Never drag a rabbit forcefully out of secure hiding place, grab a leg, or lunge after it. This can cause serious injury to the rabbit if it struggles and kicks to get away and it can be traumatic for the rabbit causing fear and panic. Never pick a rabbit up with its ears. Just like with all animals (and humans) ears are extremely sensitive and delicate. Firmly grasping the ears and allowing the rabbit’s bodyweight to pull down causes significant pain and is highly likely to cause injuries and distress. A hanging rabbit will also be prone to kicking out and breaking its legs or back. Never pick a rabbit up with the scruff. Loose skin on the back of the neck is thin and very sensitive. Grabbing a handful of this skin is not only painful for the rabbit, but also not safe for you or the rabbit.

There are several steps to lifting and holding a rabbit safely. Handling and restraint should never hurt, scare, or injure your rabbit when performed in a safe and stress-free way. If your rabbit is getting stressed (increased breathing rate, wide eyes, rapid heartrate, trying to escape), you should stop handling them and place them gently on the floor in their enclosure. Good handling takes a bit of skill, but with practice you, and your rabbit, will be safe and comfortable.