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Do older rabbits need more sleep?? a deeper sleep?

maisydaisystar

Alpha Buck
Does anyone know if older rabbits need more sleep, or that they go into a deeper sleep than they used to, Bit confdused at why Tilly is sleeping more deeply than she used to? proper bunny flops and hard to wake up???? This is a new thing?
 
Maybe she's going deaf, I've known deaf bunnies sleep to much more deeply because they don't get disturbed by noises. Is she a lop? Is it something that you've noticed gradually or suddenly?

My rabbits are all around 7 and I can't say I'd noticed that they sleep more. Fewer mad dashes and life at a slightly gentler pace, but not deeper or more sleep.
 
Yes, they do sleep more when they get older. I've found that mine tend to slow down from about 6-7 years (ish).

My oldest bun is about 12, and sometimes I have to prod him just to check that he's still alive :oops:

How old is Tilly?
 
ahhh thankyou, I have no idea how old she is as she is a rescue bun, Maybe that's why she has started sleeping more deeply, and she has two younger buns that keep her more active. i keep thinking she is dead, scaring the life out of me
 
Maybe she's going deaf, I've known deaf bunnies sleep to much more deeply because they don't get disturbed by noises. Is she a lop? Is it something that you've noticed gradually or suddenly?

My rabbits are all around 7 and I can't say I'd noticed that they sleep more. Fewer mad dashes and life at a slightly gentler pace, but not deeper or more sleep.

maybe she could be deaf???, she is a dwarf lop, have noticed this over the last few weeks, but then the weather is better so she may be more comfy stretchin right out, than when we had the cold weather.
Hubby was knocking on the hutch yesterday to try and rouse her and she didn't wake up,not until i touched her.
 
Fred was active until he hit 12 then began to slow right up. His hearing and sight also began to go.
He also used to pull 'dead bunny' when deeply asleep that caused me to nudge his nose more than once. If I was very worried waving a piece of shredded wheat under it would normally wake him up.

However once he did begin to do this I began to take him for more frequent elderly rabbit MOT's at the vets just to make sure it really was simply slowing up from extreme old age.

I also changed his diet as he got fussy over SS so he had SS mature mixed with muesli to pick at, more herbs and fresh veggies to munch at. The last 12 months of his life he lost interest in hay so I took to growing fresh grass for him.
 
Is your bunny a REW lop? I have heard that a lot of them are deaf. My REW lop was almost deaf and it was sometimes quite hard to wake her up when she was asleep and she did seem to sleep more as she got older.
 
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