He really wasn't too thrilled with those PJ's I stuck on him...

Today, one of the cooks at work gave me the ends of all the romaine lettuce he had used to make salads today rather than throw them away. Since Hannibal is pellet free his food can get expensive. This brought on a conversation about how no one at work has seen a rabbit do anything but sit and stare. Valerie, who has been over a few times and met Hannibal, started talking about how cute he is and how he runs around and jumps and has so much personality. I started explaining how he's basically like a cat and just runs around all day and is litter box trained.Everyone was so amazed and it made me so sad.
There are so many people that just get a pet throw it in a cage for it's whole life. Then get upset that the animal doesn't do anything. Or that is rattles it's cage bars and bites and is afraid of you.Well no shit Sherlock! Even when my bunnies had to be kept in hutches when I was younger my dad and I built them with lots of room and place for them to hide and then put the hutch inside a run that took up half the yard so they could run around and play. Plus, I had an Xtra large dog crate in my room for the times it was too cold/hot for them to be outside.
Rabbits are some of the best pets I've ever owned and I could never understand just leaving them in a tiny cage and thinking that was all right.
I think it also helped that I wasn't allowed to have a pet until I was old enough to take care of it myself. Even then my parents kept after me to take care of him. Reminding me to do things or making sure I had done them. Buying me a million books on rabbits and taking my buns to the vet when they needed to go. Even paying hundreds of dollars when my first bun developed an abscess in his cheek. They did that with every dog, cat, fish and rabbit I ever owned. I never realized that, compared to others, I've owned few animals because they lived a lot longer than most and we weren't allowed to get bored with them and give them away. Two dogs, four rabbits, three cats. Three betta and three angel fish.
Thinking back on it, I'm so grateful they taught me that animals are not a novelty or a toy or something to get rid of when I get bored. They're living, breathing, feeling creatures and need to be treated well.
I wish more people realized that.
TL;DR Watching Kris roll a bottle to Hannibal or toss a jingle ball to him and watching him binky in happiness is the greatest thing in the world to my little goffy heart.