Rabbits and children aren’t usually a good combination, but bunnies can be great house pets for families with teens or for adults.  Episode 111: Rethinking The Easter Rabbit covers reasons to rethink getting rabbits for children this Easter, plus suggestions & resources for having a happy house rabbit if you have the right type of household for these sensitive animals.

Click below to play.

You can listen to it here and or on iTunes.  We also have an RSS feed you can subscribe to if you use an RSS reader.

Check out these topics mentioned in the podcast:

• Snow Nose
• CatsWall
• DIY: Cat Wall
• The House Rabbit Society
• Binkies
• Rabbit Hopping
• Agility Training
• DIY: House Rabbit Palace
• Treat Dispensing Toy

And don’t miss these cat stencils and these dog breed stencils. Or you can make a stencil from your own photos of your pets.

Have a fun Halloween and keep your furred & feathered friends safe!

Cats

Rabbit

Dogs

Ferret

Rats

Mice

Birds

Fish

Reptile

Use photos of your own pets to make a nifty stencil for your jack-o-lanterns this year.  These three tutorials show you how to do it.

• Tutorial 1 (photojojo.com)
• Tutorial 2 (photoshoptips.net)
• Tutorial 3 (carvingpumpkins.com)

If that’s too fiddly, there’s a program called Pumpkinshop you can buy that converts your photos into stencils.

If you don’t want to make your own patterns check out these cat stencils and these dog breed stencils.

(via SilhouetteArt)

A reader asked about tutorials for making silhouette pet portraits, so here you go!  You can do this for any pet, so don’t limit yourself to cats and dogs.  A budgie portrait would be really cute!

The video shows 2 techniques—a higher tech version that uses Adobe Illustrator & a robot cutter and lower tech version that uses tracing paper.

Here’s a second tutorial on how to make another version of a silhouette plaque.  Just use your pet’s portrait instead.

More ideas on ways to use pet silhouettes from Martha Stewart.  I think the suggestion to have a custom rubber stamp made of your pet’s silhouette is a great idea.  It would also make a nice gift for a pet lover.

I love this tote bag tutorial—it’d make a cute pillow too!  I think I’d sew the silhouette rather than glue it though.

Larger scale pet silhouettes made from plywood are a unique application.  You’ll need a jigsaw, router, or something similar for this project.

This two-toned silhouette portrait is lovely.  You can use all sorts of colors and patterns to create something really nifty!

An appliquéd onsey or t-shirt is pretty cute.

I have a soft spot for rabbits—they were one of the first animals I got to know.  Rabbits are neat creatures with distinct personalities and can make great pets.  Have you ever seen a rabbit binky?  Did you know they can be trained to run agility courses.  It’s called “rabbit hopping”.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t educate themselves before getting a rabbit and, as a result, there are lots of bunnies who need homes.  If you’re thinking about adopting a bunny, the House Rabbit Society’s site is an amazingly thorough resource for taking care of your rabbit. They cover everything from litterbox training to toys good for stimulating play to rabbit-proofing your home. There is an informative article on what it’s like to live with a rabbit—it’s definitely not for everyone. There’s also a good FAQ on common health issues for rabbits.

After you adopt your rabbit, check out this post on how to build a nice looking DIY rabbit palace. Your bunny will thank you!

Amazon now has a dedicated site for pet products—Wag.com.  I wonder if this will have an effect on the specialty pet sites (like PetExpertise.com) I like for finding progressive training tools and books.  I hope it means more people will have accesses to quality foods, tools, and information!

(Note: I’m not connected in any way to either site, other than having ordered products from PetExpertise and Amazon.)

Check out the article to learn more and keep your receipts for next year’s taxes, if you’re fostering or providing some other service.

The Biggest Tease.  (Thanks Cristine!)

Joe The Easter Bunny gets an ATB (All Terrain Bunny system).  I want to point out that Liam, the boy who designs the terrific ATB, even draws the plans with the correct perspective.  What a neat kiddo!

Einstein, a teeny, tiny horse, loves his big, big ball.

Maru the cat tries out some stylin’ hairdos.

And after all that binkying, a bunnie’s got to rest!  Behold—the bunny flop!

Check out this awesome House Rabbit Palace ! What a great idea.  The tutorial shows the first version and ends with the more sophisticated 2nd edition.  Sweet!  You could easily make this by retrofitting an old bookcase.  You could also make it wide and short instead to narrow and tall.

If you’re thinking about getting a bunny, please don’t buy one!  There are tons available for adoption.  For the Dallas area alone, there are over 5,000 rabbits who need a good home.