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Do many old rabbits pop up in rescue?

Crunchie

Warren Veteran
All the bunnies I ever see are quite young, do any older bunnies ever pop up in rescue? My boyfriend likes the idea of offering an older bunny or bunnies a comfortable home for their twighlight years but I've never actually seen any older buns in rescue at all. :?
 
All the bunnies I ever see are quite young, do any older bunnies ever pop up in rescue? My boyfriend likes the idea of offering an older bunny or bunnies a comfortable home for their twighlight years but I've never actually seen any older buns in rescue at all. :?

oldest I've seen is 3-4 years old, and he's laying next to me in bed :lol:
 
There are a few old buns at Kirkby rescue. One poor girl has no front teeth and hardly any molars either...she still manages to eat though.
 
There is an 11 year old Californian in the rescue near me. He has been there since he was young though.

Aww what a sin, as much as the rescue will have his best interests at heart it's sad to think he's been in rescue over a decade. :(
 
As sad as it sounds, rescues often cant advertise all their buns due to time constraints, so perhaps the less-rehomable ones (i.e the old ones) arent often put on databases such as RR and are instead kept sanctuary-style.

Have you tried contacting Alice at Windwhistle Warren? She has over a 100 bunnies, she must have some golden oldies.

EDIT : As I said, Alice doesnt have time to put hardly any of the buns on RR, but how about this guy, old enough? http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/moreinfo.asp?RabID=25369 There are some 4 year olds advertised too.
 
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I don't think it happens that often, I really struggled to find an older friend (6+) for Dudley which really surprised me, as cat and dog rescues are full of oldies! I ended up adopting a 3 year old as I simply couldn't find a match - the only one I found was reserved pending another bonding! I suspect it is because rabbits are more 'throwaway' so they are usually given to a rescue within the first year (as a survey recently showed), and fewer badly looked after/unneutered buns probably make it to old ages, so they do seem to come into rescue less, thankfully.

If anything, I'd say that it's the buns it's chronic problems like snuffles or dental issues which are more of an issue for many rescues, as there are fewer older buns come in, and there are owners looking for older buns to bond with bereaved ones, so they don't necessarily hang around in rescue as long as cats or dogs of similar life stages might.
 
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As sad as it sounds, rescues often cant advertise all their buns due to time constraints, so perhaps the less-rehomable ones (i.e the old ones) arent often put on databases such as RR and are instead kept sanctuary-style.

Have you tried contacting Alice at Windwhistle Warren? She has over a 100 bunnies, she must have some golden oldies.

EDIT : As I said, Alice doesnt have time to put hardly any of the buns on RR, but how about this guy, old enough? http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/moreinfo.asp?RabID=25369 There are some 4 year olds advertised too.

This wasn't something we were going to jump straight into, we have only really spoke about it today and my boyfriend hasn't moved in yet (we're planning for him to move in next spring). Dylan is absolutely gorgeous though and we'll maybe have to have a serious think if we can do this.

It was more of a general question.
 
I often assumed rescues can't tell exactly how old a rabbit is so advertise them at around 4 years as it's sort of middle ground and not too old to put people off.
 
I often assumed rescues can't tell exactly how old a rabbit is so advertise them at around 4 years as it's sort of middle ground and not too old to put people off.

Good point! Cats and dogs are more likely to come with vaccination records and can perhaps be aged that way. My Norris is 6/7 and his partner Narla died in July. Since then I've offered to Coffee (7 years) and Nutmeg (6 years) from Windwhistle Warren. Coffee was only with me for about eight weeks before she died. Her gut slowed and the vet thought she had a mass in her intestine. Nutmeg is a cancer survivor and really not a good prospect for rehoming given her age and medical history.

I have enjoyed giving older bunnies a retirement home and would very much encourage others to do the same. I think that many people think of how they will cope with losing a pet, but rescues have to deal with that all of the time and it is nice to see an older bun enjoying the high life as well as knowing that you've freed up a precious space in rescue for other bunnies.

I know that both Alice and Honeybunnies get older buns in all the time. I regularly search on rabbit rehome in their 5 + category and there is quite a turnover of older bunnies.
 
I often assumed rescues can't tell exactly how old a rabbit is so advertise them at around 4 years as it's sort of middle ground and not too old to put people off.

With relation to this this is what we often do unless we know different. The majority of our bunnies are of unknown age so we guess. My experience with a healthy older rabbit is that often you can't tell how old they are because they can look no different from a young bunny.

That said we have had some lovely golden oldies come through; all who found homes. The ones we have factually known as elderly have always been girls funnily enough. So I guess yes we get them known here sporadically but we probably get them more often and don't realise.
 
I had foster buns Marshall and Sophie who were 9 and a half. (Marshall was PTS with lymphoma and I adopted Sophie.) I also adopted Blair rabbit from the RSPCA when he was 6, so I think they do pop up occasionally.
 
I have got quite a few very old bunnies, 8,9, 10 & 11 years old and I have had some come in that have been quite old too
 
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