Diet for buns that have lived to old age without any health problems

[willowholly]

I was wondering-people on here that have old buns & who have been well the majority of their lives must be on a good diet,so what do you nice people with older buns feed them?i heard Allen & Page is a good food,but do the buns on this live nice long lives?

[LurcherGirl]

My oldest Benji is 10 1/2 years old, I've had him from 8 weeks old. He has only ever had one health problem which was a small abcess when he was about 1; he has been as fit as a fiddle ever since and still is now!

He started off on Excell all those years ago, then went onto Science Selective! Then he was on Allen & Page Natural Pellets for a little while, and for the last about 4 years he has been on either Spillers High Protein Pellets or Allen & Page breeder/grower. He has always had vegetables once a day and lots of hay!

I love my little Benji and hope he lives another long time with me.

I haven't got a recent picture (which reminded me of taking some!), but here's a couple when he was younger





Then I have Charlie, who is 8 1/2 years old, she is a rescue I've had for 7 years. She has never had any health problems either other than one dental last year, but she now has a neurological problem and is on steroids (but so far doing well on them). She had the same diet as Benji above.

A recent picture of my little girl

[willowholly]

They are gorgeus buns.They seem to have tried every food going near enough!So in your case the pellets dont seem to matter,it must be just you being the best mum ever!Willow was a french lop who died when almost 7 without any teeth probs or health problems[until her last year of life]& she was on excel all her life which is why Im wary of changing from it even though it has such a bad press.She was on a hay/veggy diet though.

[LurcherGirl]

They are gorgeus buns.They seem to have tried every food going near enough!

Well, when I first got Benji 10 years ago, only Excel was available and recommended. One of my bunnies however kept getting mucky bum, so I changed them to SS once that was available, which was great. But when the number of rabbits grew from 4 to what I have now (8 to 10), SS became a very expensive option. So I looked for another good pellet that was economical and ended up with A&P as well as Spillers. They have been on A&P/Spillers for the last four years or so and I am very happy with it.

So in your case the pellets dont seem to matter,it must be just you being the best mum ever!Willow was a french lop who died when almost 7 without any teeth probs or health problems[until her last year of life]& she was on excel all her life which is why Im wary of changing from it even though it has such a bad press.She was on a hay/veggy diet though.

It depends very much on the individual rabbit though as well! Not all of my bunnies have unfortunately reached old age, my two previous giants died very young (1 and 2 years old), and some others between 4 and 7 years old! And they were all fed the same diet.

But I am very proud of my two oldies. They are doing very well.

Vera

[HCB]

I agree with Lurchergirl, it depends on the rabbit. It depends on their breeding quality, some are prone to illness whilst some are lucky.

We've always used Mr johnsons supreme rabbit mix and had good health mostly. Althought its a mix, they ate all of it so got the balance of nutrients. Some ate lots of hay, some ate only bits, and 2 barely touched hay. They all had a variety of veg too, and i know most people dont like it but a few commercial treats (such as alfalfa slims and rabbit ravilos with a herb/veg filling). They've lived to normally 8-10, with one being 13.

The only health problems we had was one bun that got an absess at 8 years old, who later died as his gut didnt start. He also had conjunctivitus from about 7 years old, which we were given eye drops for but never completely got rid of it. We also had a female who through me not knowing about ovarian cancer and getting spayed, got cancer aged just under 7, had an op to remove it, then 7 months later it spread so she had to be pts.

My current older bun is 7, shes had back teeth problems since she was a few months old, needing to be done every 7 months. This could be due to bad breeding, or the fact she doesnt even touch hay! Also, since january she's been having a few random health problems, which we still dont know the cause for some!

Other than these, we've had a few baby buns die, 2 a few months ago from the same litter, from a virus, and 1 about 7 years ago, he was constipated, but still eating, vet said feed lots of veg, next day he pooed everywhere but was found dead.

I think its to do with a balanced diet, and quality of life, and partly luck! Things like viruses you cant predict or stop, so they could hit any bun at any time. Flystrike sometimes cant be prevented either. A variety of nutrients and a high fibre diet no matter what brand of food is the main key. As is giving the bun quality time for cuddles, and time and space to run, along with things to keep the mind active such as toys, ramp etc.

My buns have always been kept in a shed/summerhouse, i dont know if this has anything to do with them living a bit longer, through less contact with rain, wind, bugs, foxes etc, the things that could bring on illness. I believe iv had a lot of luck with my buns, as we didnt know about thing such as vhd or mxyamatosis jabs so none, up until my new buns, have ever had it. We didnt know what veg was suitable years ago, so by pure luck gave them suitable ones. And swapping over diet, we just did suddenly up until the past few years, with no problems.