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Average age for a rabbit to live :S

S

samantha m

Warren Scout
Hiya
What is the average age a healthy rabbit could live for? Roo the bunny I adopted I was told she was old - around 6, but I have now been told today that she is about 14 :shock: could this be right?
 
The bunny off of Disappointing Rabbits - Cinnamon - is 14. It's quite possible I suppose.
 
This is a pic of her, I think she is a netherland dwarf, but im not to sure, im not good with breeds

DSCF0120.jpg
 
Most rabbits are neglected and so rarely live past 5. Most people don't neuter their rabbits, so most females get cancer.

I consider 6 to be the start of 'middle-age' for a rabbit. Anything 10+ is definately old :)
 
She doesn't look like a nethie in that picture, but pictures dont show the whole story, but at 14, she's a very mature lady if thats true!
 
I have had/ got a few 11 year olds. Some of them look pretty good for their age, no tell tale signs unless you really know them :)
 
It's an interesting topic. I have heard of rabbits living to a good old age in the days when vaccination, feeding hay and the correct veg etc were not generally known about, and when most rabbits were stuck in a tiny hutch at the bottom of the garden. I sometimes wonder if we over-pamper our buns nowadays...
 
Hugo's There said:
I have had/ got a few 11 year olds. Some of them look pretty good for their age, no tell tale signs unless you really know them :)
Click to expand...

Ye, we've had these too. Sweep reached 9 and looked like a young adult. Tubby was nearly 12 when he died and he did look like an old, old man (but had done since about 6 :lol:). Badger is currently 4 and looks like an old, old man. :lol:

14 is a possibility, but I don't think she is a nethie. Probably a cross breed, and its worked in her favour, however old she is.
 
susie bun said:
It's an interesting topic. I have heard of rabbits living to a good old age in the days when vaccination, feeding hay and the correct veg etc were not generally known about, and when most rabbits were stuck in a tiny hutch at the bottom of the garden. I sometimes wonder if we over-pamper our buns nowadays...
Click to expand...

I don't think we pamper our buns too much.
Think we do try to give them better care (food, vaccinations, accommodation etc) as we've become more aware of the importance.
I wouldn't have thought that the traditional hutch-at-the-the-bottom-of-the-garden rabbits would have had long lives (although they may have lingered on in pain/illhealth) but have no experience to base this on.
Interesting topic.
 
susie bun said:
It's an interesting topic. I have heard of rabbits living to a good old age in the days when vaccination, feeding hay and the correct veg etc were not generally known about, and when most rabbits were stuck in a tiny hutch at the bottom of the garden. I sometimes wonder if we over-pamper our buns nowadays...
Click to expand...

To have an accurate view of that you would need to look at a wide variety of rabbits, their age ranges, conditions, etc, and age they died. Isolated facts are of not of much relevance because there will always be exceptions and whatever, to any rule. So you would need a large sample size of bunnies from the past to look at before even considering anything like us 'over pampering'.
 
my uncles little nethie cross was a few days short of his 14th birthday when he passed away. so yes, it is possible. :) she is lovely :love:
 
Sky-O said:
To have an accurate view of that you would need to look at a wide variety of rabbits, their age ranges, conditions, etc, and age they died. Isolated facts are of not of much relevance because there will always be exceptions and whatever, to any rule. So you would need a large sample size of bunnies from the past to look at before even considering anything like us 'over pampering'.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I think it's a bit like the whole smoking thing. A few hardy souls will live to a ripe old age after a lifetime of smoking and poor diet. However, they are lucky and it doesn't mean that everyone would be okay to smoke 30 a day! Same with poor forgotten about back garden buns I guess.

I hope my girls live to ripe old ages. I wonder how much I will have spent by then! :shock: :love::love::love:
 
Aww shes a lovely wabbit. :love: I have heard of rabbits living to 14 and one I'm sure was 17! My oldest is 8 and he is really good and agile for his age. :)
 
As i said im not sure with breeds, so I probably am totally wrong on that lol

Ok, glad to hear it is possable then, I didnt realise they could live so long and was shocked when they said that age. She doesnt act old, she still hops around all lively :love:

Thanks for your help though
 
susie bun said:
It's an interesting topic. I have heard of rabbits living to a good old age in the days when vaccination, feeding hay and the correct veg etc were not generally known about, and when most rabbits were stuck in a tiny hutch at the bottom of the garden. I sometimes wonder if we over-pamper our buns nowadays...
Click to expand...

My childhood bunny Peter belonged to the "age" you mention & lived to be 13.
We had him before myxomatosis vaccine was available, & before vets could neuter bunnies successfully, so we kept single bunnies.:cry:
There was no pet industry, so hutches & runs were home made and an average size being 5'x3' with a permanent 12'- 15' run attatched for 1 medium sized rabbit. Most of the hutch was "private/secluded area" where bunny could retreat if he didn't want human contact!
I still have the old belief that "rabbits need to be able to RUN".

Diet was farm hay, & as children we collected traditional wild plants & grasses for our buns on our way home from school. This was supplemented by a few coarse outer leaves from home grown veges & veg peelings.
There was NO pelleted feed.

I welcome so much of the new - vaccinations, partner buns, amazing advances in veterinary technology, (my own bun is a house bun!) AND I keep the best of the old - space to run, privacy, & a strict herbivour high fiber diet.

I suspect that the pet food industry has much to answer for.;)
 
Thumps, basically do you mean they live better when you treat them as if they are in the wild?

When I got my first rabibt, which was about 12 years ago as I was 7, we knew nothing about keeping them, she wasnt vaccinated, and i dont believe she ever was, not from what I can remember think its only been my others that all have been, and she has been my one to live the longest to 7, which is why Im so wondering what Roo's age is lol, as she seems younger than my 7 year odl was when I had to have her pts :cry:
 
samantha m said:
Thumps, basically do you mean they live better when you treat them as if they are in the wild?

When I got my first rabibt, which was about 12 years ago as I was 7, we knew nothing about keeping them, she wasnt vaccinated, and i dont believe she ever was, not from what I can remember think its only been my others that all have been, and she has been my one to live the longest to 7, which is why Im so wondering what Roo's age is lol, as she seems younger than my 7 year odl was when I had to have her pts :cry:
Click to expand...

In a sense. Reality for wild rabbits is very harsh - they have many predators, & food supply can get short with population growth, let alone the ravages of myxomatosis, or a harsh winter.

I think that our pet buns should be immunised against myxo & VHD (unless they are too ill to be so)
By returning to the old fashioned diet of grass/hay/wild plants my own bun has a fantastic soft glossy coat. He has a rare & ultimately fatal gut condition - of gradual destruction of the nerves to his gut. This cannot be stopped, & causes other issues. It's remarkable that he's lived so long with this condition - his caecum stopped working completely for 10 months. :shock: Yes he needs a high dose of meds x3 daily but, the wild plants have made a massive difference too. Excercise is also incredibly important to keep his gut going too.
Other owners have noticed an improvement in coat condition by using this type of diet too as well as improvement in GI stasis.
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=264764&highlight=leaves+stasis+prone+buns
 
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