Adopting older rabbits, are health issues almost a guarantee?

I'm looking for company for one of my rabbits (not quite ready to adopt, but looking nonetheless) and I'm noticing a lot of dental issues in particular.

Do you take it as a given that an older rabbit will have health issues, especially dental, or is it more likely that it's lack of diet knowledge from previous owners prior to the rabbits being given up? Or, rabbits being given up because of their health issues, I guess.

Just curious if it's "one of those things" or just a coincidence in the rabbits on Rabbit Rehome at the moment :wave:

All rabbits can develop illnesses at any time. Maybe an older bun is more prone to illnesses, however, a dental can develop at anytime, but to me a 6yr old with no history of dentals I would expect to be unlikely to ever need one. It also depends on how they were treated before, a bunny always fed on a good diet is less likely to need dental work.

Plus if you were to get a younger rabbit in a few years time you would be in exactly the same place!

ETA- if you go to a rescue then they can talk you through the needs of each rabbit. If you go to a rescue for an adult rabbit it is likely that any serious health problem will be known and will be explained to you, a baby breeder bun could have sooo many inherited problems, such as bad teeth, weak heart ect ect and these things don't normally become apparent until after they are grown.

Bear in mind that many older rabbits will also have age related problems.

Flora and Parsnip were 5.5 when I adopted them and they were as fit as fleas . In fact, they have been amongst the healthiest bunnies I've ever owned.

What age is being classed as older?

I've had older buns with health problems but I have also had younger buns with dental problems which with correct diet have reduced to almost no problems at all. I don't think Starbuck now has a dental any more frequently than once per year. Some dental problems may get better over time, some won't.

Also I adopted a couple of my buns as younger buns and they have only ever had stasis type illnesses and are now 6 years old so would be classed as "older" but are the picture of health *touch wood*. Likewise I have lost a really young bunny to illness and she had never been ill in her life before.

Agree with Hele really.

We adopted Kerbie who is 7 and he is one of my healthiest!

I have a 5 year old who is very healthy and another 5 year old who was very poorly when she was younger but has managed for years now with a stomach condition that the vet said would only give her a life expectancy of 2-3 years.

Rabbits are classed as mature after 4-5 years old, and ages ranges on rabbit rehome are 3-5 or 5+.

Don't get me wrong, health conditions won't put me off, and I've had a dental bun in the past so I'm pretty familiar with all that, I was just curious about the rabbits I've seen for adoption at the moment :wave:

I have three healthy seven year olds (well actually Merry's tooth roots have blocked his tear ducts, which he's had since he was little and doenst really cause him any problems).

My vet said that if they haven't developed teeth problems by now, they probably aren't going to, and Merry's teeth may actually get better as he gets older. I think rabbits either develop teeth problems because of poor diet etc or because they have poor genetics. So it's probably both bad owners, and rabbits who have always had tooth problems being given up because they're more difficult to look after. But a healthy older rabbit may be less likely to have problems than a younger rabbit with bad genetics.