By Catie Bolze, secretary@americanrabbits.org
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Convention time! I have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that we have another fabulous time in Louisville with our fellow American breeders. How can you make Convention go smoothly for your breed, you ask? Here are some tips from your American show committee:
- Keep your cages and your immediate area clean. Don’t toss your used shavings, trash, or zip ties on the floor. Use a dustpan and find a trash can. Jim and I are ultimately responsible for keeping our aisles clean for the duration of the show, but the first responsibility is with each exhibitor. At the end of the show, please remove all your tags, puppy pads, decorations, cage dividers, etc. and put them in the provided trash cans. Last year, Courtney and I spent three hours after the checkout closed cleaning out the American coops. We can do better this year. Please note that any decorations or signs are limited to 4×6 inches. Anything larger must be removed per the host club’s rules. Our aisles are a reflection of our breed, and we are all responsible for the upkeep. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
- Keep your rabbits appropriately fed and watered. I know this goes without saying, but if you get caught up in all of the fun and none of the responsibility, I have to come find you. Rabbit coops should be checked every morning and every evening before the showroom closes in order to ensure your rabbits have enough food and water. Convention officials are NOT providing the tin cups this year and the exhibitors will need to provide two coop cups per cage for food and water that will hang on the side of the coops. Spicy rabbits are known to knock their coop cups down, and if you aren’t checking on them, they could be going without. If you are sending your rabbits with someone or paying someone to take care of your rabbits for the week, check in with them. Ask for pictures of your rabbits if you deem it necessary to ensure they are getting the care that you paid for. The last thing you expect is your trusted transporter to forget to feed your rabbits or clean cages (see No. 1) for a few days, but I have seen it happen.
- DO NOT BRING SICK RABBITS. Convention is a conflagration of germs. Coccidia. E. Cuniculi. Pasteurella. Ear mites. “Snuffles.” Every rabbit disease will make an appearance at this large national show and those rabbits will be taken to sick bay. If you have a rabbit that has exhibited symptoms in the past, examine your conscience thoroughly before you decide to bring it to Louisville and stress their immune system. Surprises happen. That’s not what is being discussed here. Leave rabbits with pre-existing conditions at home for the benefit of your herd and everyone else’s as asymptomatic animals can still transmit disease. If one of your rabbits does end up going to the sick bay, there is an extremely high likelihood that it will pick up something else and infect the rest of show entries in your car on the way home. The best way to avoid that is to bring only your healthiest rabbits to Louisville. If you see a rabbit exhibiting nasal discharge or other symptoms that need to be addressed, please text me immediately at 804-386-2902 with the coop number so that I can assess the rabbit and have it removed, if necessary
- Have FUN. This is a once-a-year celebration of our hobby that we all look forward to. Make sure you visit the booths of other breeds as well to support their raffles, visit with old friends, and make some new ones. Ask questions and learn new things. Attend your breed club meeting. Participate in discussion at the meeting to promulgate the breed. Our meeting is Monday, October 28, 2024, at 9:30AM in room W6. See you there!
Our banquet this year is scheduled for Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 7:30PM at Noche Mexican BBQ, located at 1838 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Kentucky, 40205. This is the same restaurant where it was last year, and a good time was had by all. Please email me if you would like to be included in the count. The club will be providing appetizers for the group, and each attendant will be responsible for their own bill as we will be ordering off the menu. Unfortunately, we are not a starting breed this year, so this date and time is now tentative. I will make a post on our Facebook page and have information at our booth if there is a need to change the banquet date and/or time based on the time we are called to the table to show. Please contact me if you have any questions regarding this event.