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Netherland Dwarf average lifespan

B

Ben's mum

Warren Veteran
What is it, anyone got an accurate average? Someone on another forum is saying 4 is a "very respectable age" for one, am I wrong in thinking they normally average twice that? :?
 
When I had one as a child, I was told to expect 3-5 but he lived to nearly 10. And I knew of someone's who made it to about 14!

I suspect that the average age is unfortunately very distorted by all those that receive poor care/nutrition etc:(
 
I agree with you. I think the smaller the breed the longer they live. Someone correct if I am wrong but I thought it was a lot higher to.
 
hurricanhoney said:
I agree with you. I think the smaller the breed the longer they live. Someone correct if I am wrong but I thought it was a lot higher to.
Click to expand...

I took in an 11 year old Nethie. Unspayed, never vaccinated, raised on dried white bread, cabbage and grass and lived free range in the garden 24/7.
At 11 she had a pyometra, she survived a spay. At 12.5 years she survived a cystotomy to remove enormous bladder stones. She was one tough Nethie !!
She was almost 14 when she passed away.

ETA and she had perfect teeth !!
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I took in an 11 year old Nethie. Unspayed, never vaccinated, raised on dried white bread, cabbage and grass and lived free range in the garden 24/7.
At 11 she had a pyometra, she survived a spay. At 12.5 years she survived a cystotomy to remove enormous bladder stones. She was one tough Nethie !!
She was almost 14 when she passed away.

ETA and she had perfect teeth !!
Click to expand...

Blimey!
 
Better not tell my hubby any of this :lol:

My first ever bunnies when I was a child were netherland dwarves and one of them lived to over 8, unspayed, with dental problems, fed on a crappy diet of rabbit mix and toasted bread crusts, in a garden which had foxes, in a 3ft hutch attached to a run made of chicken wire.

Gosh, I'd be among the first to jump on anyone who came on here and said that now :oops:
 
I think the difficulty with average lifespan is around the word average, ie. all the young deaths are usually taken into account when arriving at any sort of figure to make an average. It's the same with humans, which is why we think that years ago no-one lived past the age of 40 - it was mainly the v young deaths that brought the average down so low. So, maybe that's where people get strange ideas from that rabbits don't live v long... :?
 
My nethie, Reggie, only lived to the age of 6. :( My nan used to have one when I was little though - it was in a tiny cage, fed all sorts of rubbish and it lived for at least 10 yrs, probably more. Having said that, it probably had a miserable existence. :(:(
 
Mine is 7ish and I'm hoping he's going to be around for a long time yet!

I've always thought around 8-10yrs like the earlier posts say
 
We had a 6 year old neddie in rescue & he showed no sign of old age at all. With most animals the smaller the breed the longer the life.
 
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