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Lifespan of a bun is 8 yr., for those whose bun lives 10+, please post diet & secret

Happy Hopping

Wise Old Thumper
Lifespan of a bun is 8 yr., for those whose bun lives 10+, please post diet & secret

We have an old thread that a no. of members has bunnies live to the age of 16 to 18. I recall 1 of the owner's name is Emma who's bun is 18 yr. old.

For those of you who have bunnies live more than 8 years, do you have any special secret on diet, or supplement, or anything that improves your bun's health? Please share
 
Our last bunny that my dad cared for as she seemed really taken by him :love: lived to the age of 12 .. she lived outside come rain or shine had a hutch to get into but she chose not to she ate muesli mix and couch grass and dandelions and fresh veg and hay she wants spayed as then we didnt know the risks... we got her when my daughter was 2 she didn't like to be handled but was a lovely little one ... My dad is full of advice now with my 2 little ones .. :thumb:
 
There's a bun on Instagram who's 15 and lives in Japan.

Lifespan is down to genetics as well as environment. Of course you can't guarantee long-living genetics from a rescue bun so you can just work on environment! My two are 8 years old now and are showing no signs of slowing down, hoping to have a good few years left in those guys! *touch wood*

As long as a bun has a perfect diet, lots of hay, lots of space, another bun to snuggle with, is spayed/neutered and has lots of environment enrichment, that's the best you can do!

Just like with people, all the improved vet treatment and medication these days does help prolong bunnies lives.
 
I've got two 10+ year olds and I don't think I do anything differently to how most good owners would look after their buns, so while good husbandry and diet helps, I think a good dose of healthy genetics and luck also plays a part. Mine are all outdoors, eat a lot of hay and have a fairly natural diet with a few pellets in the morning and forage in the evening; they both have long term partners and they both have large accommodation which has a permanently attached exercise space. I do use good veterinary disinfectants but I don't overuse them or other drugs like panacur, for instance. Both my 10+ year olds "should" be predisposed to dentals problems as one is a lop and one is a nethie, but Heather had one dental in 2006 and Dudley has never had one.

There are some very old buns around, and there are also some for whom maths clearly never was a owner's strong point. I can think of one from a few years back where the owner ranted that nobody believed them when they said the bun was of a certain age...and yet that same bun sadly passed away less than 2 years later but cited as being 3 years older than at the time of the rant.
 
Flora is 10.5 and I've never treated her any differently from any of my other buns (most of whom have lived to be 8 or 9). She has a large kennel/aviary and gets out onto the lawn to freerange most days during summer (not so much in winter as I'm at work). She has hay 24/7, readigrass, fresh green leafy veg twice daily (which I never wash) and a small amount of pellets. In an effort to keep weight on her, she now has porridge oats twice daily, as well as 'fattening' fruit and veg such as apple, sweetcorn and carrot.

I really do think that genetics plays a major part in their lifespan. As long as you look after them well, you stand as much change of a bunny making old bones as anyone else. I don't think Pea and Pod will be long-lived as they're always having tummy problems - and yet they are fed EXACTLY the same as Flora and live in exactly the same way. It's the luck of the draw IMO.
 
My last bun was almost 12 when he died which was over 3 years ago now. Looking back now I looked after him the best of my ability at the time, however we fed him things like lettuce that I would not dream of doing with my current buns, he was never ill or had any teeth problems. He lived outdoors in my children's wooden playhouse with a huge run that joined on and our neighbours used to give us all if their veg peelings and on a Sunday Flopsy would east like a king lol. He was a pet to all the children in our street and well loved by them all. The best story for me was when we came home from our evening wedding party I spent over an hour crawling under the bushes at the bottom of my street in my wedding dress trying to catch Flospy as one of my children's friends had fed him and forgot to close the cage properly and he managed to burrow under the fence and escape! It was a wedding night to remember and certainly not in the romantic way :lol:
 
We have an old thread that a no. of members has bunnies live to the age of 16 to 18. I recall 1 of the owner's name is Emma who's bun is 18 yr. old.

For those of you who have bunnies live more than 8 years, do you have any special secret on diet, or supplement, or anything that improves your bun's health? Please share

that would be Emma's toby, what a lovely bun he was :love:

think a lot depends not only on diet etc, but if they have any illnesses also breeds giants tend to have shorted lifespans, id love to have my bunnies forever :cry: know that isn't possible but would love for them to be with me for a long time, like thumper and rosie and mowgli where
 
My Pickles is 10 now! :D It's actually his Gotcha day tomorrow - don't let me forget!

He has issues with his tooth roots, but apart from that he's doing pretty well! He doesn't go up and down stairs any more but he still likes a good hop round exploring different rooms. On the diet front, he eats a fresh food diet (pellets give him tummy probs, and he doesn't eat more than a few strands of hay a day).

Mostly I attribute his good lifespan to being kept in the warm, having a companion (me after his brother died), having a great rabitat to live in and getting the best possible health care. I guess what a lot of people don't realise is that when they hear 'the average lifespan of a rabbit is 5' that's taking into account all the abandoned bunnies in hutches at the bottom of the garden. I reckon the average among well looked after buns is around 7. That said, it does seem to be a bit of a lottery with buns. All you can do is love them all up and spoil them rotten, and hope for the best.
 
Nothing special, they were/are house rabbits, fed on timothy hay, small amount of pellets, few treats and veg daily.

Peta lived til 10 and Peter is 10 and still going. I gave them May as their birthdays as that's when I got them (a year apart).
 
that would be Emma's toby, what a lovely bun he was :love:

think a lot depends not only on diet etc, but if they have any illnesses also breeds giants tend to have shorted lifespans, id love to have my bunnies forever :cry: know that isn't possible but would love for them to be with me for a long time, like thumper and rosie and mowgli where

what breed is Toby? Male or female? Did Emma said what Toby's diet was?
 
Don't have any advice re: older bunnies but my other half had a guinea pig when he was at his mum's that lived to 14, which is not bad considering their average life span is 5 I think?! He had muesli which he'd selective feed from, far too much fresh veg, a smaller cage than was recommended (although also had the run of the downstairs at the time) and he even managed to survive the passing of his life long mate (although grieved for a while).

Sometimes I think it's just luck as much as anything :)
 
Flora is 10.5 and I've never treated her any differently from any of my other buns (most of whom have lived to be 8 or 9). She has a large kennel/aviary and gets out onto the lawn to freerange most days during summer (not so much in winter as I'm at work). She has hay 24/7, readigrass, fresh green leafy veg twice daily (which I never wash) and a small amount of pellets. In an effort to keep weight on her, she now has porridge oats twice daily, as well as 'fattening' fruit and veg such as apple, sweetcorn and carrot.

I really do think that genetics plays a major part in their lifespan. As long as you look after them well, you stand as much change of a bunny making old bones as anyone else. I don't think Pea and Pod will be long-lived as they're always having tummy problems - and yet they are fed EXACTLY the same as Flora and live in exactly the same way. It's the luck of the draw IMO.

I agree with this :wave:

My Rosie lived to 8, which I was impressed with as I never took great care of her. She rarely had hay (only once a week when she got cleaned), only ever ate muesli, and lived in a 3.5ft hutch, she was never spayed or vaccinated. Yet my boy Harris had hay 24/7, pellets, a 5x6ft space, 7ft run, was neutered and vaccinated, yet he only lived a few weeks past his 1st birthday.

It really does seem to me to be luck of the draw, not anything you do 'right' as such.

I remember reading about Toby, I think he was a Papillon rabbit?
 
what breed is Toby? Male or female? Did Emma said what Toby's diet was?

I hope emma doesn't mind me posting a photo she once posted up of toby

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I had an 11 year old bun who died this year after suffering from a second stroke. She probably would have lived longer if she had not had strokes. But she was a black bun, no idea on the breed. She had a very good natural diet and lived a fulfilled life. She was able to free range in a large grassy garden for hours at a time every day in all weathers. She was vaccinated and neutered too. I also have a 10 year old boy who is an English/Wildie cross who livesin the same conditions and his son is 9 and also lives in these conditions. But I would say it is luck too as these buns have had siblings who died younger, much younger in some cases so I'm not sure I can attribute long life span to genetics. I do think taking all medical precautions like neuter and vaccine and providing a good diet and environmental enrichment and friends can only help though.
 
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