When I owned a bunny about 20 years ago...

... he didn't visit the vet once and lived until the ripe old age of 11!

He didn't have any jabs, need worming or anything. I wasn't that gened up on all the info about bunnies then either. I suppose now there is the internet and you have all the info you need at the touch of a button!

It's like those medical internet sites - when you've read them you think you've got every ailment under the sun!

I just wonder the more information you have the more paranoid you get?! :roll:

That might be the case,however I wouldn't think diseases like Myxi and VHD were nearly as common back then as they are now.
I might be mistaken though. I'm only 16 after all. What do I know about them old times :roll:

VHD wasn't reported in the UK until 1992, myxi has been particularly bad the last couple of years as we had mild winters and wet summers.

I don't know what you fed him but there were less commercial foods around 20 yrs ago so a healthy diet of grass & weeds was more common. So possibly diet related illnesses were less prevelant.

I'm sure plenty of rabbits did get ill and die or live short lives. After all people still have buns that live to 11+ that doesn't mean they all do though

I personally don't believe that rabbits are the robust animals that they used to be - I had a bunny when I was a kid that went on for years, despite a bad diet, no vaccinations etc too. I think there is a lot of inbreeding now, and also lots of horrible diseases. The positive side is that these days vets are able to help more than they would have been able to previously.

some people smoke 20 cigarettes a day and live to 90 - it's never a good idea to generalise from one example.

as people say there are alot more things now that bunnys can get. without the vacination chelsea would have died of myxi...and she is the first rabbit ive ever had get it. so yes im pleased i do always vaccinate.i am worming for the first time ever at the moment i think there were a lot of deaths before of rabbits where people didnt know why the rabbit at botem of garden had died in the past and nnow we know al ot more we can protect against it. chelsea is 10years now btw. i also think that the climate change has not helped as mozzis and other flys etc used to die in the cold winters.. this is no longer the case. fox attacks are mor ecommen now as there are more urban foxes who are getting bolder.

I never used to vac against Myxi years ago when i had first got buns and they lived to a fair old age but with my new bunch which i got about 6-7 years ago i vac'd but the 2 of my buns were not vac'd properly s(o much behind the ear so much in the skin i think) and they caught Myxi got unbelievably ill and i had to PTS as i couldnt watch them suffering any more (i still stand by my decision now) this was about 2 years ago they others never caught anything and are still here today i have to have 6 monthly jabs as we are a high risk area with Myxi still her in fact it took a buns life only sunday (not my own)

Sometimes you can take a chance not have the jabs and buns live to an old age or not and sometimes you can still have the jabs and they still get it and live or die. I am not going to take a chance and not have mine not vac'd as it was so painful to ewatch my 2 babies die bit by bit each day

as said before VHD wasn't around then & there are new strains of mixi about now I think after they were release in Australia about 3- 5 years ago & have spread. This means that wild buns who had developed immunity are now catching it again so pet buns are more likely to be catching it too. As said before it is also warmer so you get more biting insects and for longer periods during the year....all increasing the chances of mixi spread.

Also 20 or more years ago, many of the rabbits around were still relatively healthy from our history of meat production. Now breeding is much more about looks and less about health so I don't think that domestic rabbits have the same constitution as they had then.

Thirdly as also said, my mother in law can remember having rabbits and they were fed from the hedgrow, with some extra veg thrown in. They weren't packed full of processed food that they get now. This can lead to obesity problems and slow digestive tract as they don't get the fibre they need.

Forthly, twenty years ago there were no computer games and much less other distractions and parents were a lot tougher on their kids so if they had a pet it probably got more attention, love and was looked after properly...rather than left to languish in a cage...which usually leads to one sick bunny. I know that if I hadn't cleaned out my gerbils when I was supposed to I would have been put over my parents knee and my gerbils were better off for it.

Finally I think, 20 years ago people were much more likely to right off a rabbit.....they wouldn't investigate why it had died or if they could have done something to stop it. There was much more of an "oh well we can always get another one" attitude. I personally would prefer us to be more like many of the people on this forum are which is to find out whats wrong, learn and prevent it happening again.

ps....I too can't read NHS direct without thinking I'm going down with the plauge.

My grandad used to breed rabbits when he was younger and thought I was mad taking my Lola to the vet to get vaccinated and have a health check.

He told me that his rabbits used to get grass, whatever hay was left from the horses and potato peelings and that they would live for ages and never needed to see a vet - couldn't believe it!

I totally agree that rabbits were probably alot more robust in those days and also that there was alot less risk from myxi infection and thats exactly what I told him

I had a rabbit 13 years ago and she lived to be only 4 because of uterine cancer.

I had my first bun 14 years ago. A little black netherland dwarf. He disappeared(presumed escaped as this was way in a town) from the garden (was free range)at the age of 8. I do sometimes cringe when I think that he lived on his tod mostly, had the company of the occasional guinea and his hutch was only three foot.

There were loads of computer games about 20 years ago! Minor point, obviously! I am 35 and my friend had a computer with games when I was about 10. I had an Atari the same time and was always playing Pacman, Space Invaders etc!