We boarded our rabbit Luna with SS Boarding Boarding for 3 weeks in Nov 2023. Our regular boarder was out of town & Alice (SS Boarding) was listed on the rabbit rescue's site where we adopted Luna. She markets herself as a rabbit expert & can even board special needs rabbits. I am trying to be objective as there are no other reviews for Alice, even though she put our rabbit & family through a lot.
Pros:
- Fast with email communication prior to the boarding
- Many detailed forms to fill out about rabbit's behavior/condition
- Requires RHVD vaccinations
- Rate is reasonable (about $25/day) if nothing happens to your rabbit
- Does the basic minimum: feeding, giving water, checking poop
Cons:
- Slow updates once rabbit is in boarding. You can only get updates if you text her, w/ no reply for hours, some replies the next day
- Will not check up on your rabbit's general wellbeing. Ignores common sense issues short of an emergency. In her words, unless you specifically request every, single thing she should look out for, she will not check on anything else.
- No accountability or responsibility if there are any issues. She will argue with you over text & not express any remorse or even empathy.
My experience:
Our rabbit Luna was fully groomed, healthy, & just had her annual check up at the vet when we dropped her off. She has a sensitive stomach & was on a hay only + 1 digestive biscuit for the past few months. Her health & weight were stable & the vet gave her a clean bill of health. She also has a quirk of drinking water weird & getting her face wet. We requested that Alice continue this diet, wipe her face & paid an extra $5 per day to check on her 2x/ day to give her the biscuit (a "medication" fee). Luna is a short hair & not a special needs rabbit.
On vacation, we didn't want to hound her, so we texted every few days. She was slow to reply. A week in, she asked if she could shave a part of Luna's face because it was "matted & discolored". We agreed as she's a "rabbit expert", even though Luna never got so bad at our other boarder's. She continued to slowly give updates & everything seemed ok even if Luna looked a bit ragged in the face. We finished our trip & came to pick her up.
Upon pickup, I immediately noticed that Luna weighed a lot less. She also had dreaded tufts of fur hanging off her back, which made me wonder if she had been touched recently. After examining her, we discovered multiple mats all over her body: in the corners of her mouth, her sides, the base of her ears, her neck, a giant mat the size of a quarter under her tail, a filthy sanitary area, & smelly wheals & bald patches on both sides of her face. These mats were so bad that it felt like she had rocks or pebbles under her fur. Luna is a short hair & has never had these issues before, even while molting at other boarders.
I texted Alice & she replied very defensively that "we generally do not pick up or thoroughly examine rabbits unless the owners explicitly ask us to check." She then immediately contradicted herself by adding when she picked up Luna to shave her, Alice was so focused on her mouth, she didn't pay attention to the rest of her body. After I expressed my dismay, she wrote back long defensive replies detailing basic tasks (feeding, giving water, & monitoring poop), & requested tasks (wiping her mouth, giving her a treat).
She said that since I "did not specify any special grooming or brushing requirements," I had no ground to stand on. She kept avoiding the question when I asked if this was the expected level of care at her business. When I pressed her about Luna's mouth (she repeatedly said she checked on it) & why that part had smelly, flaking, bald wheals that were possibly a skin infection, she stopped responding.
We took Luna to the vet & found out that she lost over a quarter of her weight & was now in a health emergency. She became very GI stasis-prone & we had to rush her into the ER twice. Our vet ran multiple tests that all came back negative & concluded that it was stress-induced from the boarding experience. Luna continues to have GI issues, occasional diarrhea & we thought she would not make it many times. It's 5 months later & after spending almost $3k on her care, she's finally gained the weight back & is relatively normal again.
I would never recommend SS Bunny Boarding. She took a healthy rabbit & neglected her into so many health issues that we are still struggling to deal with. She never gave me a sincere apology or even expressed regret over her actions which greatly hurt my pet, my finances & my family. Providing basic pet care should be pre-empting issues or at least returning the pet in the same condition unless otherwise communicated. Despite her long replies, she refused to answer the question on whether this was the expected level of care at her business because she knows it should not be. Please do not give her your business or you risk this happening to you. read more