If your roses have been damaged more than usual this year, you may not be aware of the need for more than usual protection this Spring. If you have had to cut them to the ground, they are far more vulnerable to damage from rabbits than if they have a few feet of cane. I've now protected the roses with vinyl covered hardware cloth.

You also need to more vigilant about other pests that eat the leaves of the plant--without a lot of cane your roses don't have as much in reserve to grow more leaves.