We have a 4+ year old eastern cotton tail living with us. He came into our home at about 3 weeks old. I found him on the front lawn, looked like a cat had gotten at him. I brought him in weighed him and guessed at age from that. I was going to release him at dusk, but there were 3 cats waiting where I had found him. Next day, neighbours dog was loose running in our yard. I figured a couple days wouldn't hurt. We fed him wild food from outside - dandelions, clover, alfalfa, weeds, sticks, all the stuff found on various Google sites. We also substituted him with soy milk(organic gmo free) which he just loved. We were also picking soy from farm field down the road for him - which made him go blind. I called a vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife rehab. We decided the soy must have been GMO. Once we stopped with the GMO soy his sight came back (I still give him organic I grow myself). Also - very important, the rehabilitator said give him organic rolled oats(He still eats them every day and loves them - make sure there are no additives or preserves in the bag of rolled oats as it can kill bunny). She also gave us a bag of pellets - which he refused to touch. We even purchased a new bag of pellets just in case - he won't touch pellets. In the winter he ate stored sticks from the fall, oats and dandelions from the grocery store. Another thing, he litter trained himself, from the first week in the house he always went back to his cage to do business. He is always free, rarely caged. We do have another house rabbit, he will have nothing to do with her and sleeps under our bed during the day while our domesticated bunny is out and about (domesticated is in hutch at night). We also have a dog - and this was when we realized we couldn't release our wild bunny. I left the bedroom door open one day when I was folding laundry, the dog was sleeping in the hall. The cotton tail walked over the dog as he went to check to see if the domesticated bunny was out. The dog is fine (although I would never leave them unattended). I then realized living with the dog smell in the house must have been enough to make him not scared of it. Anyways, we now have an eastern cotton tail living with us. He isn't tame per say, we can't hold him or pet him like the domesticated one - we didn't raise him that way as we weren't going to have him stay. He is a house rabbit. He prefers to eat his greens out of my hand. He loves to watch TV - loves it! He does binkies all over my furnature every day. He plays with the domesticated rabbits toys in front of her when she is in her hutch - just to bother her (he also plays with dog toys). He drinks water out of the dog bowl and not his own. He has a favorite chair. And over the last few months I have caught him sleeping on the bed with us at night. He is still very skittish, in a natural sort of way, not scared, but just in case sort of reaction. He is a lot like the domesticated when it comes to playing. If I play with a stick, he wants to play too and does binky bunny jumps. The rehabilitator said he would turn cross and wild at 3 years old, but he didn't. When I researched it, it seemed to be when a rabbit was caged. Again he isn't a pet, he is just part of our home and we respect his preferences. What bunny wants bunny gets... lol.

We have a 4+ year old eastern cotton tail living with us. He came into our home at about 3 weeks old. I found him on the front lawn, looked like a cat had gotten at him. I brought him in, weighed him and guessed at age from that. I was going to release him at dusk, but there were 3 cats waiting where I had found him. 

Next day, the neighbours' dog was loose running in our yard. I figured a couple days wouldn't hurt. We fed him wild food from outside - dandelions, clover, alfalfa, weeds, sticks, all the stuff found on various Google sites. We also substituted him with soy milk(organic GMO free) which he just loved. We were also picking soy from a farm field down the road for him - which made him go blind. I called a vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife rehab. We decided the soy must have been GMO. Once we stopped with the GMO soy his sight came back (I still give him organic I grow myself). Also - very important, the rehabilitator said give him organic rolled oats  (he still eats them every day and loves them - make sure there are no additives or preserves in the bag of rolled oats as it can kill bunny). She also gave us a bag of pellets - which he refused to touch. We even purchased a new bag of pellets just in case - he won't touch pellets. In the winter he ate stored sticks from the fall, oats and dandelions from the grocery store. 

Another thing, he litter trained himself, from the first week in the house he always went back to his cage to do business. He is always free, rarely caged. We do have another house rabbit - he will have nothing to do with her and sleeps under our bed during the day while our domesticated bunny is out and about (domesticated is in hutch at night). We also have a dog - and this was when we realized we couldn't release our wild bunny. I left the bedroom door open one day when I was folding laundry, the dog was sleeping in the hall. The cotton tail walked over the dog as he went to check to see if the domesticated bunny was out. The dog is fine (although I would never leave them unattended). 

I then realized living with the dog smell in the house must have been enough to make him not scared of it. Anyways, we now have an eastern cotton tail living with us. He isn't tame per se, we can't hold him or pet him like the domesticated one - we didn't raise him that way as we weren't going to have him stay. He is a house rabbit. He prefers to eat his greens out of my hand. He loves to watch TV - loves it! He does binkies all over my furniture every day. He plays with the domesticated rabbit's toys in front of her when she is in her hutch - just to bother her (he also plays with dog toys). He drinks water out of the dog bowl and not his own. He has a favorite chair. 

And over the last few months I have caught him sleeping on the bed with us at night. He is still very skittish, in a natural sort of way, not scared, but just in case sort of reaction. He is a lot like the domesticated when it comes to playing. If I play with a stick, he wants to play too and does binky bunny jumps. The rehabilitator said he would turn cross and wild at 3 years old, but he didn't. When I researched it, it seemed to be when a rabbit was caged. Again he isn't a pet, he is just part of our home and we respect his preferences. What bunny wants bunny gets... lol.

We have a 4+ year old eastern cotton tail living with us. He came into our home at about 3 weeks old. I found him on the front lawn, looked like a cat had gotten at him. I brought him in weighed him and guessed at age from that. I was going to release him at dusk, but there were 3 cats waiting where I had found him. Next day, neighbours dog was loose running in our yard. I figured a couple days wouldn't hurt. We fed him wild food from outside - dandelions, clover, alfalfa, weeds, sticks, all the stuff found on various Google sites. We also substituted him with soy milk(organic gmo free) which he just loved. We were also picking soy from farm field down the road for him - which made him go blind. I called a vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife rehab. We decided to get him off the soy (his sight came back) and also - very importantly, give him organic rolled oats. She also gave us a bag of pellets - which he refused to touch. We even purchased a new bag of pellets just in case - he won't touch pellets. In the winter he ate stored sticks from the fall, oats and dandelions from the grocery store. Another thing, he litter trained himself, from the first week in the house he always went back to his cage to do business. He is always free, rarely caged. We do have another house rabbit, he will have nothing to do with her and sleeps under our bed during the day while our domesticated bunny is out and about (domesticated is in hutch at night). We also have a dog - and this was when we realized we couldn't release our wild bunny. I left the bedroom door open one day when I was folding laundry, the dog was sleeping in the hall. The cotton tail walked over the dog as he went to check to see if the domesticated bunny was out. The dog is fine (although I would never leave them unattended). I then realized living with the dog smell in the house must have been enough to make him not scared of it. Anyways, we now have an eastern cotton tail living with us. He isn't tame per say, we can't hold him or pet him like the domesticated one - we didn't raise him that way as we weren't going to have him stay. He is a house rabbit. He prefers to eat his greens out of my hand. He loves to watch TV - loves it! He does binkies all over my furnature every day. He plays with the domesticated rabbits toys in front of her when she is in her hutch - just to bother her (he also plays with dog toys). He drinks water out of the dog bowl and not his own. He has a favorite chair. And over the last few months I have caught him sleeping on the bed with us at night. He is still very skittish, in a natural sort of way, not scared, but just in case sort of reaction. He is a lot like the domesticated when it comes to playing. If I play with a stick, he wants to play too and does binky bunny jumps. The rehabilitator said he would turn cross and wild at 3 years old, but he didn't. When I researched it, it seemed to be when a rabbit was caged. Again he isn't a pet, he is just part of our home and we respect his preferences. What bunny wants bunny gets... lol.

We have a 4+ year old eastern cotton tail living with us. He came into our home at about 3 weeks old. I found him on the front lawn, looked like a cat had gotten at him. I brought him in weighed him and guessed at age from that. I was going to release him at dusk, but there were 3 cats waiting where I had found him. Next day, neighbours dog was loose running in our yard. I figured a couple days wouldn't hurt. We fed him wild food from outside - dandelions, clover, alfalfa, weeds, sticks, all the stuff found on various Google sites. We also substituted him with soy milk(organic gmo free) which he just loved. We were also picking soy from farm field down the road for him - which made him go blind. I called a vet and they put me in touch with a wildlife rehab. We decided the soy must have been GMO. Once we stopped with the GMO soy his sight came back (I still give him organic I grow myself). Also - very important, the rehabilitator said give him organic rolled oats(He still eats them every day and loves them - make sure there are no additives or preserves in the bag of rolled oats as it can kill bunny). She also gave us a bag of pellets - which he refused to touch. We even purchased a new bag of pellets just in case - he won't touch pellets. In the winter he ate stored sticks from the fall, oats and dandelions from the grocery store. Another thing, he litter trained himself, from the first week in the house he always went back to his cage to do business. He is always free, rarely caged. We do have another house rabbit, he will have nothing to do with her and sleeps under our bed during the day while our domesticated bunny is out and about (domesticated is in hutch at night). We also have a dog - and this was when we realized we couldn't release our wild bunny. I left the bedroom door open one day when I was folding laundry, the dog was sleeping in the hall. The cotton tail walked over the dog as he went to check to see if the domesticated bunny was out. The dog is fine (although I would never leave them unattended). I then realized living with the dog smell in the house must have been enough to make him not scared of it. Anyways, we now have an eastern cotton tail living with us. He isn't tame per say, we can't hold him or pet him like the domesticated one - we didn't raise him that way as we weren't going to have him stay. He is a house rabbit. He prefers to eat his greens out of my hand. He loves to watch TV - loves it! He does binkies all over my furnature every day. He plays with the domesticated rabbits toys in front of her when she is in her hutch - just to bother her (he also plays with dog toys). He drinks water out of the dog bowl and not his own. He has a favorite chair. And over the last few months I have caught him sleeping on the bed with us at night. He is still very skittish, in a natural sort of way, not scared, but just in case sort of reaction. He is a lot like the domesticated when it comes to playing. If I play with a stick, he wants to play too and does binky bunny jumps. The rehabilitator said he would turn cross and wild at 3 years old, but he didn't. When I researched it, it seemed to be when a rabbit was caged. Again he isn't a pet, he is just part of our home and we respect his preferences. What bunny wants bunny gets... lol.