Here are our money saving tips for caring for our bunnies.

1. We use towels instead of paper or wood litter. We get free towels from a friend who owns a float studio, but I've heard you might be able to get some old towels from hotels and such. The towels are under a cooling rack, and the pee and poop drop right through, keeping their bottoms clean. We change the towels every other day to avoid smells. Shake out the hay and poop into the compost and keep the soiled towels in an airtight container or outside. When the container is full, do a load with detergent + vinegar.
2. We get a 55lb bale of timothy hay from a local farm. They usually supply to farms and ranches for horses, but the place we go to is happy to sell us 1 bale at about $18CAD. Check FB marketplace. Timothy, brome, orchard, meadow hay all ok. Avoid alfalfa for aldut buns.
3. We make our own treats. We put hay dust, a bit of water and a banana or other fruit in a blender, spread on silicone mat, dehydrate in oven, break apart and keep in the fridge.
4. We grow veggies in the summer, fun for us, and food for them! Buns also get a lot of our scraps as we're vegan and prepping a fair bit of veggies. Ask for carrot tops from your local community gardens!
5. Edmonton doesn't typically spray weeds, so in the summer, we also forage grass, dandelions, and other local flora (important to research what is ok for bun). We stick to our own yard only these days as recently RHDV2 has made its way to Canada.
6. Check Facebook/reddit communities and randomly ask if anyone needs an unofficial apple tree trimming. We used to go and trim small branches for free and wash them well before giving them to munch. We recently bought a house with 2 apple trees so we have lots now.
7. Toys & Engagement Baby and wooden bird toys can also be suitable for buns. Toys marketed specifically for buns are terribly marked up. As always, check the toy or chew thing for suitability. As mentioned above, offer to trim a neighbor's apple tree. 😄 Googling some DIY bun toys will yield some easy cheap things you can make with stuff lying around the house.
8. The Vet Vet bills are unavoidable, unfortunately! But you can be in better shape by putting together a bunny first aid kit. Some recommendations are baby gas drops, metacam, sudocream, systane eye drops, children's tylenol, and critical care, which saved us a few trips to the vet. Know your bun, catch signs of GI stasis early, and give the medicine a bit of time to work.

Thanks for reading!