'Pet rabbits are lonely, distressed and diseased'

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pet-rabbits-are-lonely-distressed-and-diseased-c2kqtrlx0#

Article in the Sunday Times today (sorry, it's behind a paywall). I guess it's nothing than anyone here didn't know about, but hopefully it's a good thing that it's being talked about? Before I looked into getting rabbits I wouldn't have known about any of these things (but I also wouldn't get any kind of pet without finding out how to care for it first, and I'm sure everyone here is the same!)

OliveTree said:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pet-rabbits-are-lonely-distressed-and-diseased-c2kqtrlx0#

Article in the Sunday Times today (sorry, it's behind a paywall). I guess it's nothing than anyone here didn't know about, but hopefully it's a good thing that it's being talked about? Before I looked into getting rabbits I wouldn't have known about any of these things (but I also wouldn't get any kind of pet without finding out how to care for it first, and I'm sure everyone here is the same!)

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Yes, sadly Rabbits are still considered to be 'low maintenance' Pets by too many people. The trouble is that they are not vocal, they dont bark ar make any sounds to express pain or distress. They suffer in silence

This may not go down well on here, but personally I wish Rabbits had never been domesticated in the first place. The species belongs in the wild. But now there are Pet Rabbits it is our responsibility to meet all their needs, both physical and psychological. Sadly that is still not happening in all cases. People buy a Rabbit for a child, child gets bored with Rabbit, Rabbit spends the rest of his/her life alone in a tiny hutch at the end of the garden.

Oh, that's an interesting point about rabbits having been domesticated. At the end of the article it has a spokesperson from some kind of breeding organisation saying that rabbits have lived in hutches for generations and it's how they've been bred to live, but I don't see how that works out from a genetics point of view. Though I suppose we seem to now be finding that our own genes are affected by how we live. I'm not sure that's a good reason to confine a rabbit to a hutch, even so.

The sad part was stating 4 years is the life span for most pet rabbits.Due I suspect to a lot of ignorance of their needs.

OliveTree said:

Oh, that's an interesting point about rabbits having been domesticated. At the end of the article it has a spokesperson from some kind of breeding organisation saying that rabbits have lived in hutches for generations and it's how they've been bred to live, but I don't see how that works out from a genetics point of view. Though I suppose we seem to now be finding that our own genes are affected by how we live. I'm not sure that's a good reason to confine a rabbit to a hutch, even so.

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Well breeders would say that,as they churn out them out.

Article from RVC with link to full research paper: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass/ne...fill-the-evidence-gap-on-uk-pet-rabbit-health

How many people would keep a dog or a cat at the bottom of the garden in a hutch with minimal interaction, food and water? It boggles the mind that rabbits should be thought of as any different.

That being said, I've watched enough of the Dog Rescuers on the internet now that it's clear other more 'traditional' pets are lacking proper care as well. Sadly, the kinds of people who need to act on the information in these kinds of articles aren't likely to read them.

I get really frustrated with the absence of correct animal husbandry in my own country. I don't know how change can be affected successfully and it is so very much needed.

They where domesticated and kept In hutches as they where bred for meat. However as years have gone by sadly many I'll informed still think hutches are what rabbits should live in alone Not how they should be kept now as they are living longer then when they where bred for meat
Let's hope could help end these impulse buys if they stopped selling rabbits along with other pets. But they are only in it for profit not the welfare of the rabbit

So sad to think of people putting money before an animal's basic needs