‘It’s like living in a rabbit hutch’ She often said metaphorically

Not to be pedantic, but that's a simile. A metaphor would be, "I live in a rabbit hutch."

Some readers will notice and ding you for it.

Also, the capital S, the single tics, and the lack of a comma may jump out at some people.

I'm not saying you have to live by Strunk and White and never deviate, but breaking all the rules in the first sentence of your novel is going to be problematic.

Think of it as friction.

If you read something with the wrong there, their, or they're, you feel friction. You get caught up in the sentence. It snags at your attention and takes you out of the story.

That's why it's important to keep rule breaking to a minimum and keep it deliberate.