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Do you think rabbits have more illness or are we just more aware?

DDD

Mama Doe
I have always keps rabbits, apart from when I was at uni. Before I went to uni, all the rabbits i had were perfectly healthy and died of old age at 6plus. when im reading on here, alot of rabbits seem to have problems which is making me constantly worry about my new ones!!!

what are your views on this? Do you think it is due to more research in rabbit care or because of new strains of virus's? just wanted to know what you all think
 
I think there's probably a higher concentration of good bunny mums (and dads) on here who share their stresses and experiences, so it looks as if there's more problems in one place whereas there isn't really. I think there is also an element of better care and diagnostics these days, so whereas previously a bun may have simply been a bit quiet one day and dead the next, we are more aware of things like stasis and are more aware that a quiet bun needs to go to the vets - so I think things where the rabbit has suffered and died without medical intervention in the past, they are now living through better care - but again because we all wear our hearts on our sleeves here, we are more likely to hear about these incidents.

Not sure if that makes sense; it makes sense in my head but that could be an entirely different thing :lol:
 
I actually think the modern way of keeping rabbits puts them under a lot of stress, which leads to more illness - unneccessary trips to the vets, bonding, spaying etc. all put a strain on an animal that responds badly to stress.
 
I actually think the modern way of keeping rabbits puts them under a lot of stress, which leads to more illness - unneccessary trips to the vets, bonding, spaying etc. all put a strain on an animal that responds badly to stress.

I don't agree with that elve, I don't see that Pippa and MJ are very stressed at being bonded and spayed, in fact they are a lot happier than they were before bonding. Pippa's a laid back happy bunny now she has MJ, as far as I can tell.

However I do see that people on RU tend to be very aware, perhaps too aware sometimes, of every slight off day their rabbit has, in contrast to people who keep their rabbits in a hutch at the bottom of the garden and don't have a clue when they're seriously ill and need a vet. So you have two very contrasting situations, one of almost neglect and one of constant vigilence. I like to think I try to strike the happy medium. MJ has occasionally had a day when he doesn't rush to eat but I don't panic and take him to the vets as this upsets him even more, I keep an eye on him and touchwood he's been fine - whether that's by luck or judgement I don't know!

Also on RU you get individuals who choose to adopt either elderly or sick rabbits which can seem their rabbits are ill (thinking of Jane amongst others here), but they are no more so than any other rabbit who have special needs due to age or existing conditions but I can see that might make a newbie think rabbits are always sick.

Rabbits are more 'needy' though than the vast general population seem to think though. I saw an article today in a magazine about keeping chickens that said they are 'only require a bit more care than a pet rabbit' suggesting rabbits require very little which as you can see from RU isn't quite the case.
 
Another aspect which needs to be considered is when I was young and had rabbits, they either were obtained from small local pet shops or small time breeders (including people who had bought rabbits and bred them themselves). In those days there were few large breeders to supply large national pet chains as these did not exist. Many of the problems associated with large breeders would not have existed to the extent they do now, if a rabbit had bad teeth they would have been euthanased and people. Vetinary medicine would have not been so advanced, neutereing would not have happened.

Over time people have learnt more about rabbits and more conditions are being treated than previously, resulting in more trips to the vet. Rabbits would potentially live longer. Changes in society and the introduction of extensive road networks has allowed for the setting up of large breeders who supply extensive areas of the country, many of these rabbits will become ill due to the stress of travelling and also the method of transportaion and storage soon after, which increases the amount of young rabbits who require vetinary treatment. Increased knowledge of owners have also meant more vet trips, some necessary whilst others were just in case ...

I don't think that rabbits are necessarily more ill apart from some very young ones with 'stress related problems' following being purchased, just we are more aware of certain problems and pick up problems which previously would not have been noticed.
 
I don't agree with that elve, I don't see that Pippa and MJ are very stressed at being bonded and spayed, in fact they are a lot happier than they were before bonding. Pippa's a laid back happy bunny now she has MJ, as far as I can tell.

However I do see that people on RU tend to be very aware, perhaps too aware sometimes, of every slight off day their rabbit has, in contrast to people who keep their rabbits in a hutch at the bottom of the garden and don't have a clue when they're seriously ill and need a vet. So you have two very contrasting situations, one of almost neglect and one of constant vigilence. I like to think I try to strike the happy medium. MJ has occasionally had a day when he doesn't rush to eat but I don't panic and take him to the vets as this upsets him even more, I keep an eye on him and touchwood he's been fine - whether that's by luck or judgement I don't know!

Also on RU you get individuals who choose to adopt either elderly or sick rabbits which can seem their rabbits are ill (thinking of Jane amongst others here), but they are no more so than any other rabbit who have special needs due to age or existing conditions but I can see that might make a newbie think rabbits are always sick.

Rabbits are more 'needy' though than the vast general population seem to think though. I saw an article today in a magazine about keeping chickens that said they are 'only require a bit more care than a pet rabbit' suggesting rabbits require very little which as you can see from RU isn't quite the case.

Well said! I agree entirely!

Nicola
 
Interesting thread, I've been wondering the same. I think its a fine line between awareness and paranoia - on my part anyway. I worry more but I also believe I am now more equipped to know if there is a problem, I had a statis scare with Daisy, the advice I got on here was brilliant and she was fine, on the other hand tonight I decided Nushka wasn't herself and started being paranoid about bloat, I started scanning the forum for symptoms etc but when i turned round she was scoffing her greens without a care in the world !!!
 
It is an interestng thread and I agree with Kayjay and Janice, they both put forward valid points.

We did have a pet rabbit when I was a lass but it's so long ago, I can't even remember how old Fred reached.
 
I have always keps rabbits, apart from when I was at uni. Before I went to uni, all the rabbits i had were perfectly healthy and died of old age at 6plus. when im reading on here, alot of rabbits seem to have problems which is making me constantly worry about my new ones!!!

what are your views on this? Do you think it is due to more research in rabbit care or because of new strains of virus's? just wanted to know what you all think

I have always had rabbits too, and like yours, most of them died of old age. I've counted, and I had 7 during the course of my childhood. I had one bun die of myxi when I was very little, but since then they have always been up to date with their jabs. Although they have always had loads of space (my dad built fab hutches), i must admit they had a pretty poor diet - rabbit muesli, loads of veg and hay only as bedding, we didn't know any different, and they still lived to a ripe old age with few health problems. I didn't know about bonding / neutering before Evo, but my last 4 bunnies always had a neighbour, separated by wire only, and they always lived the longest. :)

Now, I hope I am doing everything right for Evo, and he has been poorly more than my other bunnies put together, although he is my first house bun and my first lop, don't know if that is significant at all???
 
I don't understand it, I lose bunnies and yet people say to me, "oh we had a rabbit, never bothered with it, kept waiting for it to die and it lived til it was 12"?????:roll:
 
I don't understand it, I lose bunnies and yet people say to me, "oh we had a rabbit, never bothered with it, kept waiting for it to die and it lived til it was 12"?????:roll:

Sometimes I would question whether the actually do remember when they got it and do know its correct age.

A while back I was offered some 4 year old guinea pigs, when they arrived her daughter was with her, she filled in the form which included its age, mum wrote 4 years old, the daughter then argued with her and after a bit of working out they finally agreed the piggies were only about 15 months old. I think for mum she has had them a lifetime as she didnt want the cleaning out and responsiblity etc.
 
I definatley think that we are more aware! I recently adopted an 18 month old bun and found out the other day she has a urinary infection. She was straining and leaving little droplets everytime she urinated so we took her to the vets, he put her on a course of antibiotics and now shes not straining and the happiest i've ever seen her! We thought she was quite a quiet bun but she isn't!! Cheeky little thing!:lol: The vet said that she could have had this from a baby and being a rescue bun no one would have notice. Probably just neglected down the bottom of the garden!

Nows she's pain free and much happier! :D
 
Sometimes I would question whether the actually do remember when they got it and do know its correct age.

A while back I was offered some 4 year old guinea pigs, when they arrived her daughter was with her, she filled in the form which included its age, mum wrote 4 years old, the daughter then argued with her and after a bit of working out they finally agreed the piggies were only about 15 months old. I think for mum she has had them a lifetime as she didnt want the cleaning out and responsiblity etc.

My vet once asked my Dad (in front of me) if my rabbit had been 'substituted' as they couldnt find the vet card when he was about 8 because they'd thrown it away thinking he was long dead. Given that he was an English and I knew where every spot was, that would have been a impressive feat.

But like others on here during the 80s, he was fed on museli, potato :shock: and carrot peelings, and other veggie offcuts from the family meals (thinking back I must have been fed a lot of brussel sprouts, as I seem to remember giving him lots of peelings). He went to the vets a couple of times for broken toenails, once with a touch of diarrehea and heat exhaustion one very hot summer, and then when he was finally diagnosed with a stomach tumour age 11. He had the run of the garden most days with all those poisonous plants(beware any cats which came in), was never vaccinated or neutered, and happily attacked my Mum's ankles whenever he got chance, occaisonally escaped but was always found by a neighbour or in my Dad's veg plot. So I can understand why MrsDavies posed the question - its one I'd been wondering.
 
I've also heard this a lot with guinea pigs - they are just left with a big bowl of dried food and the odd carrot thrown in, yet they live to a ripe old age. Neutering and vaccinating doesn't tend to be a factor on the whole here. I have had huge health problems turn up in guinea pigs, and haven't yet had any live long (still hoping!) It really does make you wonder how this all works, but I'm starting to think it is a form of 'natural selection' - survival of the fittest.

eg. If a non-observant owner who did go to the vets had had a pig with the problems that my previous guinea pigs have had, or a bunny that went into stasis, they wouldn't have spotted them or wouldn't have had them treated, and the pigs and bunnies would have just dropped down dead. Whereas, if they have been lucky enough for them to have no problems, they would have lived to a good age - therefore probably without a middle of the road age range in between.

Just a theory!
 
A very important factor, which no-one can do anything about is luck or chance :)

I would agree with you there!

I know that I was just unlucky when Floss died, she had a genetic problem that no one could have anticipated.

I think a lot of it is that people(or should I say responsible rabbit owners) are more aware of what can go wrong and that many things can now be treated. Whereas people would have a rabbit die and just say 'oh it died, I don't know why', now we tend to know.

I also think interbreeding and irresponsible breeding cause illness but I don't really have any proof on that!
 
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