Are rabbits inherently unhealthy?

I'm new to rabbits - I got my first two at the beginning of this year.

When I was a child in the 70s I kept guinea-pigs and took very good care of them (unlike most children, I liked cleaning them out, because they were very vocal in their appreciation). We bought them from a breeder who lived on the same street as us. They had free-run of the garden during the day, including a small lawn, and were shut up in their hutch at night (with hay). They both lived to be 7-years-old and never ailed a thing, apart from a skin mite (caused by petshop hay - we normally got ours from a farmer), which I successfully treated with weak Tetmasol (which was the recommended treatment in one of the books I owned).

The more I learn about rabbits, the more stunned I am -they seem to be an unhealthy lot compared to guinea-pigs. I read an article from a symposium on rabbit health for vets, which stated that rabbits have evolved to eat grass and most illnesses arise from this lack in their diet. This has made me wonder whether my guinea-pigs remained healthy because they had daily access to grass, and if they would have suffered the same ill health that I keep hearing about rabbits, had it not been for this fact, or whether rabbits have been poorly bred and so are prone to far more health problems than guinea-pigs (like pedigree dogs are less healthy than mongrels).

I can appreciate that all animals get sick and need to be treated by a vet when they do, I'm talking about a higher prevalence. Using the above example of pedigree v mongrel dogs - The Kennel Club's own insurance policy will insure a cross-breed for much less than a pedigree(!), i.e. pedigree dogs are more prone to illness than mongrels. So, are rabbits far more prone to ill-health than guinea-pigs (and if so, is this down to poor breeding, or lack of space/suitable care).

Does anybody know?

Wild rabbits only live for a year or two at best. Domestication and access to health care and protection from predators means that domestic rabbits are living longer than they are 'designed to' as it were. "Live fast die young" I read someone say on here once say - that's absolutely the point sadly. So as buns get older they are more prone to age-related health problems that wild buns would not face as would be picked off in the wild by predators when sick.
Add to this amateur breeding with no regard for genetic abnormalities and congenital conditions and you've got a bunch of very 'prone to illness' domestic buns. Again predators pick these off in the wild - evolution of the species - only the healthy survive to breed.
Finally, they are prey animals, and we keep them in close contact with ourselves and other predators (dogs/cats). Rabbits are very sensitive to stress both physically and emotionally - all prey animals are - which doesn't make me overly surprised that stress in them can cause illness.

Oh and yes - the diet bit - commercial rabbit food - designed to fatten them up quick for breeding/meat, and commercial veggies that have been grown for our consumption - not fibrous enough for rabbits.
Buns eat grass it's a simple as that, it is what they are designed to do. Any additional vegetation they graze on is fibrous - weeds/wild vegetables/bark etc.

A lot of breeds have certain problems I.e lops get a lot of ear problems due to breeding large ears. Rexes get sore hocks due to less padded fur on feet. Lionheads tend to have more teeth problems and so on...
However I think it just depends on the animal really and obv were they fully healthy when they were chose (most health problems dont show untill later, a lot are down to people not knowing enough and following pet shop advice)
Bunnies dont need that much exercise pet shop says ideal pet. Rabbits need a good 6-8 hours a day at least (so the hutch they sold is no good really)
Use our food its so much better full of fibre- Best thing is hay/grass as this aids digestion, keeps guts moving healthy keeps teeth trim which then results in better cleaning of botty etc. Keeps them fitter as they aren't eating loads of fattening food. Obv people listen to petshops and by the time the realise the truth its prob too late. My Angel wasn't fed a proper bunny diet and was left to get huge. She then had to have tummy tuck and has mouth disease which then gives her eye trouble resulting in lots of dentals and she cant eat hay due to bad teeth. Which results in lack of fibre in diet that results in dirty bots you get the picture.
Although Guinea pigs do get a lot of problems too but at present a lot less is known compared to rabbits, although at one time nothing like this was known about rabbits either.
For some rabbit tips/facts etc try our page www.hoppybunnyrabbit.com you may also like the rescue guinea pig stories on there who live at Bunny Burows.

prettylupin said:

Oh and yes - the diet bit - commercial rabbit food - designed to fatten them up quick for breeding/meat, and commercial veggies that have been grown for our consumption - not fibrous enough for rabbits.
Buns eat grass it's a simple as that, it is what they are designed to do. Any additional vegetation they graze on is fibrous - weeds/wild vegetables/bark etc.

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It's funny you should criticise commercial food because although we did feed them the muesli-style food, my mum didn't think much of it. She used to make me go on regular foraging trips for the guinea-pigs - I'd come back with huge handfuls of dandelions which they'd go mad for! I don't know how she knew that commercial feed for guinea-pigs was a poor second to weeds and grass, but she was right!

Furries said:

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It's funny you should criticise commercial food because although we did feed them the muesli-style food, my mum didn't think much of it. She used to make me go on regular foraging trips for the guinea-pigs - I'd come back with huge handfuls of dandelions which they'd go mad for! I don't know how she knew that commercial feed for guinea-pigs was a poor second to weeds and grass, but she was right!

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Oh I didn't mean you personally! I meant people feeding bunnies too much commercial feed in general
We used to feed our buns muesli when we were kids - great bowls of it! I think the only reason they lived so long was because they were always out in their huge runs in the garden being fed tons of weeds and apple leaves etc from my dad's garden as well.

I think poor education is a big deal when it comes to rabbits. When I go and rescue a rabbit, more often than not the rabbit is kept in a hutch 24/7 which is way too small so it is not allowing the rabbit to move freely, grow and exercise. They are fed bowls of dry/mixed food and that is it which can cause all sorts of problems as a rabbits diet should consist of 80-90% fibre (hay/grass) the amount of people who dont realise rabbits can eat grass is quite shocking. Both of these things in itself can cause allot of health problems. People also breed in these conditions, breeders can be similar to the dog world breeders, only bred for the right markings etc...

Lack of exercise/wrong diet is the cause of a lot of health issues.

Breeding has some effect too. Guinea pig breeding is mostly coat changes where are rabbit breeding has changed body shape a lot. When you muck up years of evolution designed to work just right you are bound to get issues.

prettylupin said:

Oh I didn't mean you personally! I meant people feeding bunnies too much commercial feed in general
We used to feed our buns muesli when we were kids - great bowls of it! I think the only reason they lived so long was because they were always out in their huge runs in the garden being fed tons of weeds and apple leaves etc from my dad's garden as well.

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I didn't take it as a personal criticism - I understood that you meant it in general.

Furries said:

I didn't take it as a personal criticism - I understood that you meant it in general.

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I realised that afterwards!! Sorry It's very easy to misinterpret things on forums isn't it without any visuals or sounds to pick up on! I'm terrible at it :lol:

Tamsin said:

Lack of exercise/wrong diet is the cause of a lot of health issues.

Breeding has some effect too. Guinea pig breeding is mostly coat changes where are rabbit breeding has changed body shape a lot. When you muck up years of evolution designed to work just right you are bound to get issues.

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*Light bulb goes off* Of course! I hadn't thought of this: altering their body shape.

Edited for typo and clarity only.

prettylupin said:

Wild rabbits only live for a year or two at best. Domestication and access to health care and protection from predators means that domestic rabbits are living longer than they are 'designed to' as it were. "Live fast die young" I read someone say on here once say - that's absolutely the point sadly. So as buns get older they are more prone to age-related health problems that wild buns would not face as would be picked off in the wild by predators when sick.
Add to this amateur breeding with no regard for genetic abnormalities and congenital conditions and you've got a bunch of very 'prone to illness' domestic buns. Again predators pick these off in the wild - evolution of the species - only the healthy survive to breed.
Finally, they are prey animals, and we keep them in close contact with ourselves and other predators (dogs/cats). Rabbits are very sensitive to stress both physically and emotionally - all prey animals are - which doesn't make me overly surprised that stress in them can cause illness.

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Can't add much more to that... apart of course that the wrong diet often causes problems.

Not all bunnies are unhealthy though. I have a 10 year old rabbit that only ever went to the vet's once for an abscess when he was younger and has had no other problems at all!
Most of my bunnies are very healthy. Out of the 8 I currently have, I have one that has neurological problems (she is 8 years old) and one that had two dentals earlier this year (but has been fine since)... The other 6 have never had any problems of any kind and are between 2 and 5 years old!

So I do agree that diet has a great impact, as have stress levels and the fact that bunnies are just not designed to live as long as they do in captivity.

Also don't forget that a lot more diseases are diagnosed and treatable these days whereas in the older days, a rabbit would have just been left to die or would have been put to sleep without further investigation! Just as in cats and dogs, a lot more can be done these days for them than even just 10 years ago... so it may also look to an extent like they are less healthy...

Vera

Regarding their diet (just a piece of advice) don't buy pre-packed veggies as they are often fillec with pesticides to make them crunchy and for preservation purposes. Instead, by your veggies loose! And bag them yourself!