Average life expectancy for a rabbit?

[kathryn]

Just curious. Talking about house rabbits here, not wild.

I have a black and white Dutch Rabbit. I adopted him in either the summer of 1998 or 1999. He was already an adult then about 2 years old... so he's about 11 to 12 years old right now.

I read the oldest rabbit ever was something like 14 years old.....

Um... I think my rabbits pretty much about to beat that. He's in perfect health except for his head tilt.

Just wondering if my rabbit is like.. a super rabbit... or perhaps an alien pretending to be a rabbit? He's just so old it's crazy. I want to see if I can get his adoption records from the shelter so I can enter him as the worlds oldest rabbit

[katherine93]

I think its around 4-7 that "they" consider normal? My bunny was 11 when she took her hop across rainbow bridge. And that was only becasue of a tragic accident. Poor bunny Stupid fox

[kathryn]

Grrr I will never forgive myself if I jynx him, but there shouldn't be any accidents for him. He's just a magic bunny or something.. I hope I can get his records.

[katherine93]

I hope so too.. Just dont let him in a outside pen for more than 5 minutes. lol..Our bunny was a indoor bunny (she had full run of the house, and she was litter trained) And we had a outdoor pen for her that she used to love to play in for a few hours on a nice day. but unfortunatly, my Dumb dumb of a broher, didnt close it uo right. and a fox got in and, well, i guess you can figureout the rest on your own.

[kathryn]

No foxes around here. We have a raccoon problem though.. His cage is secure though.

I'm actually allergic to him, so my parents put him on a harness and leash for me and I take him for walks in the grass. I can't pet him or stay near him for too long though or I can't breath, sneeze, watery eyes and break out in hives! It's a shame though, I randomly became allergic to all rabbits about 5 years ago

He went for a checkup at the vets a few months ago. Probably late winter. In perfect health. He just goes for nail clippings here and there.

[Melinda]

I found this online



Guiness World Records
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/
"The longest-lived rabbit was caught from the wild on August 6, 1964,
and christened Flopsy. It died 18 years, 10 months, and 21 days later,
at the home of L.B. Walker of Longford, Tasmania, Australia."


they had no idea how old it was when they caught it , so they said it was actually closer to 20 when it passed on, as it was a mature rabbit before capture.

[Jennicat]

Rabbits average 10-12 years of age, though outside rabbits tend to live a much shorter life because of the stresses of weather, predators, etc. Even if a cage is secure, the act of a predator trying to break into the cage can actually make rabbits have a heart attack.

Unfortunately, our rescue has seen far too many rabbits that were amazingly happy outside... right until (insert bad thing) happened. One of our board member's own rabbits is missing toes from being attacked by dogs in it's raised hutch. It's cagemate was 9 and had a heart attack, and the younger rabbit was rushed to the e-vet to the tune of several hundred dollars. The dogs didn't actually make it into the cage.