Bringing a new bunny home is fun and exciting, but it's important to realize that this time can be quite intimidating for a rabbit. In order to keep stress to a minimum, prepare by gathering necessary items, arranging a living space and rabbit-proofing the house. Here are a few key steps to help you prepare for your new friend:

1. Gather the necessities
Before bringing a rabbit home, purchase all necessary items and have everything set up in time for your rabbit's arrival. The first shopping trip is not inexpensive, but once you have the basics, only items such as litter, hay and food need to be purchased regularly.

The New-Bunny Shopping List:

• Puppy exercise pen or dog crate (If you do purchase a rabbit cage, make sure it is roomy and has a flat bottom.)
• A cat litter box or large plastic bin
• Sturdy ceramic bowls for food and water
• Toys, which can be as simple as a cardboard roll or phone book or as complex as a bird toy or cat tunnel
• Rabbit-safe litter (Go for a recycled-paper product such as Yesterday's News or Carefresh.)
• Rabbit pellets (Look for a Timothy hay-based pellet for adult rabbits.)
• Cat nail clippers
• Green, leafy vegetables
• Timothy or other quality grass hays

Of the above items, Timothy hay is the most important. A rabbit's diet should be composed of approximately 70% grass hays to ensure sufficient fiber intake. Hay is important not just for proper digestion, but for dental health too, as chewing on the stalks wears down their continuously growing teeth and even has social and psychological benefits. Because hay is so essential for rabbit health, make extra efforts to ensure the hay you purchase is fresh, dust-free and high quality.

When Willow Webster's son brought home a bunny that someone was going to throw off a bridge, she could hardly say the Webster family couldn't keep him.

Eventually, it became clear that the rabbit, whom they named Bun Bun, needed a companion. Webster turned to PetSave Foundation in Hawthorne, CA, and adopted a rabbit named Samantha.

Webster also volunteered to clean cages for the foundation, and eventually adopted two more rabbits, Blake and Angel.

These days, her volunteer work includes posting the organization's rabbits on Petfinder, giving them names and making cage cards. She also lists the adoptable bunnies on her own Facebook and YouTube pages.

When 12-year-old Ernie's bond mate passed away, he was lonely. Laurelin Sitterly of Providence, RI, had adopted Ernie from Sweet Binks Rabbit Rescue in Foster, RI, nine years earlier, so that's where the family turned to find him a new friend.

"Knowing that he has always preferred larger buns -- he weighs in at two pounds -- we tried Ashley, a middle-aged Giant Chinchilla," Laurelin says.

Ashley had spent her entire life as a breeder in an outdoor shed where she had regularly witnessed other rabbits being slaughtered. She herself had narrowly missed being someone's dinner, according to Laurelin. The death of her owner saved her, and she ended up at Sweet Binks, awaiting a loving home. How lucky she was when Laurelin saw her on Petfinder and decided to give this big bun a chance at the good life.

At first it was dicey. "She was traumatized, to say the least," Laurelin says, "and spent the first couple of days with us hiding in her litter box, which was larger than her previous cage."