Pet rabbits ‘lead miserable and disease-ridden lives’
DOMESTIC rabbits often lead miserable, disease-ridden lives because their owners wrongly believe they need minimal care and handling, a new study has shown.
Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College collected data from 6,349 rabbits that were brought to 107 veterinary care clinics across the UK.
They found that the most common cause of death, recorded by vets, was flystrike – a condition caused by flies laying eggs on the rabbit’s fur which then hatch into maggots and eat its flesh – with 10.9 per cent of pet rabbits dying this way. A further 4.9 per cent died of anorexia, 4.9 per cent of collapse and 4.3 per cent of gut stasis.
The Vetcompass study also revealed the average lifespan of pet rabbits was just 4.3 years, although survival of up to 14.4 years has been recorded.
Male rabbits tend to live longer, at 5.2 years on average, compared with the 3.7 years for females, but males are more likely to have overgrown claws, overgrown molars or overgrown incisors and dental disease.
The majority of health problems, said the study, were due to inappropriate housing or feeding.
However, evolution has meant rabbits can disguise external signs of disease so that they are less likely to be targeted by predators, but this also makes it harder for owners to spot that their rabbit is ill until it is often too late.
Dr Dan O’neill, Vetcompass researcher and senior lecturer at the RVC, said: “For years, rabbits were considered as the perfect child’s pet. Fluffy, cute, passive and only needing minimal care and handling while being fed muesli-type food in a hutch in the garden where it was generally kept on its own.
“We now know that this level of care is completely unacceptable from a welfare perspective.”
Dr Jo Hedley, of Vetcompass, added: “Many of the key medical issues are still problems that we should be able to completely prevent by appropriate husbandry, diet and health checks.
“Better owner education is necessary if we are to improve rabbit health and welfare in future years.”