Foster
Want to help a rescue bunny but not sure yet if adoption is the right fit for you? Have some space available in your home (and your heart) for just a few weeks or months?
Considering fostering! Sunshine offers 2 foster programs. Both help find loving homes for rescue buns. Read this page to figure out which is right for you…
Note: For the safety of our bunnies and the humans in their homes, foster households must meet the same criteria as the households of our adopters. Fosterers must:
Keep their bunny in a safe, roomy, indoor environment, such as an exercise pen or a bunny-proofed room, not in a cage or an outdoor hutch.
Provide appropriate daily food (hay, pellets, leafy greens, and water) and opportunities for enrichment (such as toys and socializing with humans).
Keep their bunny separate from other animals, such as dogs and cats, but also other rabbits. Rabbits who haven’t been bonded can hurt each other!
Make sure that an adult is the bunny’s primary caretaker, and that all young children who interact with the bunny are carefully supervised.
For more information about safe housing for a rabbit, visit this page.
Option #1: Foster-to-adopt
Length: one month
Who it’s for: individuals and families who are planning to adopt, but need time to make sure bunny parenting is right for them
Provided by Sunshine: exercise pen (loan), litter box (loan), most medical costs
Foster family provides: safe and ample space, daily care items, weekly photo updates, transportation
Our foster-to-adopt program is a gentle on-ramp to bunny parenting. It’s designed for individuals and families who are serious about adopting, but who may not have had bunnies before, and need time to live with a bunny in their home before officially deciding to adopt.
The foster-to-adopt period is one month. After one month, families decide whether to adopt or bring their bunny back to Sunshine. Sunshine loans foster-to-adopt families exercise pens and litter boxes and covers most medical expenses. Families are responsible for all other rabbit supplies and for transportation of the rabbit to/from Sunshine and the vet.
Option #2: Foster (behavioral, medical, or “home for the holidays”)
Length: TBD, typically 2 weeks - 3 months
Who it’s for: experienced bunny parents who aren’t planning to adopt but want to help
Provided by Sunshine: exercise pen, litter box, flooring, toys (when available), first bag of hay, first bag of pellets, medical costs
Foster family provides: safe and ample space, additional daily care items, weekly photo updates, transportation, individualized care
Our foster program is designed for individuals and families who have experience caring for bunnies but who are not currently looking to adopt. Bunnies enter this sort of foster because of a specific need that has been identified by the Sunshine staff - such as at-home medical care or assistance with behavioral issues, like cage aggression.
The goal of foster is to help bunnies become more adoptable by other families, or to help them live in a safe, healthy way as they prepare for the next leg of their rescue journey. For medical and behavioral cases, Sunshine typically asks for a foster commitment of 1-3 months.
During busy boarding seasons, such as the winter holidays, Sunshine staff may also contact community members about our “Home for the Holidays” program - where adoptable rabbits who do not have medical or behavioral issues stay in a home for approximately two weeks to help make space in the rescue.