06/21/2026
Meet Aspen, originally Goldie, the English Lop.
She originally came to us to board for about 2 weeks.
We asked a few questions after having her for a few days and realized a few things were off.
Now, this post isn't to shame the family or anyone at all, it's actually to help educate families.
She lived outdoors. We believe she had some kind of hutch she slept in at night, but was normally left outdoors to graze on grass. She was given hay, but was only fed pellets every other day or so.
If you know English Lops, you know that their long ears are highly prone to issues, reason - Because their ear canals are narrow and their pinnae (ear flaps) are so large, they are highly susceptible to ear infections (otitis externa), wax buildup, mites, and trauma.
As with any boarder, we check them over, no we aren't asked to do this, we just do it, because we care.
We stated some of our concerns to the owner, like her boney structure, some ear scratching and build up, along with keeping bunnies out doors.
Sometimes, this gets us in trouble with the owners, not many like to hear that we have concerns and that they may be doing something incorrectly. We of course word this gently but we ALWAYS express the concerns, because we have an obligation to, because we genuinely care for any creature that comes our way.
When we asked how often she gets her pellets, because we like to mimic the routine the critter normally gets at home, we were told every other day or so, but to just follow the bag's recommendations..
Well.. we weighed Aspen who weighed about 11lbs at the time, meaning she needed about 6-10oz of food (per the bag, this was Purina Complete)..
Fast forward.. after the 2 weeks were up, the family decided it is best to re-home her. We expressed our concern with rehoming her to just any random person due to breeding her and keeping her in poor conditions again, they agreed and surrendered her to us.
Aspen will be visiting the vet in a few days and is scheduled to be spayed. We will further discuss diet, flea/mite medicine, ear care and everything in between.
Until then, Aspen is incredibly loved by us all here at the rescue. We're thankful to the family who intrusted us with her care and well being and are lucky to have crossed paths with such a beauty 😍
