Will Johnston: Don't pooh-pooh my pet rabbit

Murray, Will's pet rabbit, is very tech-savvy.

What is your initial opinion on a guy who owns a rabbit? Potentially something you haven't pondered before, right?! That, or you think male rabbit owners are a little weird, or 'soft', or another couple of words I'm not allowed to write here.

This week I met a guy who said to me: "Rabbit? That's a bit of a useless pet isn't it?" Why would you say that to a rabbit owner? That's like saying to a parent, "Children? That's a bit of a waste of money isn't it?" Idiot.

Murray (our rabbit) is awesome! Yup, named him Murray because animals should have human names. He's grey and a little elderly for a rabbit, coming up 6 in a couple of months.

Don't worry, this is not one of those diatribes denouncing all your qualms about rabbit ownership. It's just observations of an animal people seem to think aren't great pets.

(Just as an aside, does anyone one else find it off-putting when others shove in your face their blatant love, public affection and dogged determination [pun intended] to prove that their pet is, in fact, the best thing that's happened to humanity, ever?!)

What I will say, to promote rabbits as pets, is that we have some mates who just got a new car ... They spent quite some time showing the car love and affection over the following weeks, which resulted this week in the cat finally displaying its jealousy in an undeniable fashion - by laying a poo on the roof of the new car and walking away. Haha! Brilliant, yet annoying. You wouldn't find a rabbit doing that. Rabbits can't get on cars!

As I write this my rabbit is free-range round the backyard. We put netting over the gaps in the fence and he's not once tried to escape. Why would he?! My partner feeds him better than she feeds me (sorry for the touch of misogyny there, but you get my point)! He's currently trying, with every ounce of his charm, to make friends with the neighbours ginger cat. Who is a complete pussy. I've named their cat Brian. Don't even know if he is actually a he, but it seemed right. Rabbits are clearly more friendly than cats.

We went to Melbourne for 10 days a few years back and left Murray in his hutch with a mountain of food, lots of water and stuff to play with and he was completely fine. Got a mate to come and check on him during that time, no probs. Couldn't do that with a dog.

Goldfish would die. Guinea pig would still look like a furry rat. Cat would fight, go missing and hate you for weeks. Goat would eat your deck. Rat would still be a rat. Rabbit wins.

Buy a rabbit.

Will Johnston is host of The Hits 95FM Day Show. Live and local from 9am-3pm, every weekday in the Bay of Plenty.