Looking after your rabbit
A rabbit can live eight to 10 years if cared for properly, some even have been known to live for up to 14 years. If you keep a rabbit you can help your rabbit live a long and happy life by considering several factors;
Although many rabbits are kept outdoors in rabbit hutches, an indoor rabbit may be a happier and longer-lived pet. If you live in a hot climate temperatures over 85 Degrees are stressful to rabbits since they are unable to pant or sweat. Stress reduces lifespan, and certainly decrease quality of life. Additionally, rabbits are social creatures and living indoors amidst a family’s life activities can be far more enjoyable than a solitary life outside.
If you are not breeding your rabbit, we suggest having it spayed (females) or neutered (males). Female rabbits do not have seasons and are likely to reproduce any time of year. Therefore, they show hormonally-driven behaviours (cage aggression, growling, lunging and perhaps biting) at any time. Therefore your rabbit, and you, should be much happier if she’s spayed. Unneutered males, may exhibit hormonally-driven behaviours such as circling, mounting or territory marking with urine or fecal pellets. When these behaviours become a nuisance, the threat of neutering should stop them, but don’t stop there.
Also important is diet. Rabbits are strict herbivores, meaning that any non-vegetable food is not good for them. Along with fresh water, rabbits should be fed daily a ration of fresh rabbit pellets and a good-sized handful of grass hay. Baby rabbits can have an unlimited supply of pellets, but most adults will overeat if allow an unlimited amount. Although pellets should be nutritionally balanced for vitamins, protein, etc. it is also important that your rabbit have hay every day. The roughage of long, loose hay is important to properly stimulate a rabbit’s digestive system.
Fresh vegetables can also be an important part of your rabbit’s diet, but are not natural to rabbits. Introduce small amounts to start so your rabbit can adapt. Rabbits do have a “sweet tooth” but too much fruit or carrots can upset there systems and may lead to diarrhoea or stomach upset.
Most rabbits love to eat and can easily become obese. Check your rabbit’s weight and adjust its food quantity (especially pellets) to stop this from happening. Obesity is a bigger problem amongst rabbits as it is amongst Americans.
