Rabbits tend to breed indiscriminately. We learned that the hard way. Two male rabbits fight dirty. A couple of times, they more or less castrated each other. They also broke each other's hind legs.

Your vet might tell you that a rabbit with a broken leg can't be saved. We were lucky that one vet was willing to experiment a little. He put a cast on mom's angora rabbit. This male was so gentle he was never in a fight. He somehow got stuck in the door as it closed. It happened while we were on vacation, and the petsitter never made it quite clear to us how that happened.

After that, we learned how to fix a broken leg ourselves, so we didn't need to fight the vet. If you can keep your rabbit from moving about too much, the leg should heal fine. This is not a wild rabbit we're talking about. It won't need to fend for itself. A (very) slight limp won't make a difference to a pet. Ours didn't seem to be in any pain. And believe me, if a rabbit is in pain, you'll know.

One of the rabbits I have now, I got for my birthday. Well, almost. We weren't supposed to buy her, but that's how it is with animals - you fall for them and can't help wanting them. I also have a younger rabbit, a male, who was going to be put down if I didn't get him. When I'd picked him up, I found out that they'd changed their minds about having the baby rabbits put down. Rabbits are so incredibly cute. Especially when they're washing their ears. And their paws. Ok, maybe that's enough. :)

I really don't think a rabbit is a pet for a very young child. Before the age of 7 or 8 a child won't understand how to hold a fragile pet securely but not too tightly. Even at that age, you can't let a child be responsible for an animal's care. I don't know exactly what age is right. It depends on how mature the child is. My sister and I were about 10 when we got our first dogs, but mom always took the main responsibility back then.

There are hundreds of rabbit breeds, but pet rabbits tend to be quite small. I guess that might be because you need plenty of room for a larger cage. A larger rabbit seems like an adorable pet though. Whatever size your rabbit is, you'll need to let it out of the cage every day, to get exercise.

Some people keep their rabbits in the garden. It might be safe. Personally, I'd prefer to keep them indoors, in the basement, the garage or some other building. You can keep a rabbit inside your house, but you'll have to be prepared for some odor, even if you clean out the cage very often. But if you love pets, you probably prefer their friendship over a perfect apartment.