Adopting a senior rabbit: the realistic medical picture

Quick answer

Older rabbits are among the easiest rabbits to live with and among the hardest to place. They are usually litter trained, already neutered, settled in temperament, and honest about who they are, which is not true of a six month old rabbit whose personality has not finished arriving.

The trade is medical. A senior rabbit comes with a predictable set of conditions that will need managing, and the two that most often catch new adopters out are dental disease and the loss of the ability to keep a clean back end. Both are manageable when you are expecting them.

A settled older rabbit is a very good companion. What changes is the amount of monitoring, not the amount of affection.

• Check the back end every single day in warm weather. Flystrike can kill a rabbit within a day.
• A rabbit that stops eating is an emergency within hours, and this becomes more likely with age, not less.
• Dental disease is the most common reason older rabbits stop eating, and it is progressive rather than curable.
• Arthritis is under diagnosed in rabbits. A rabbit that no longer binkies or that sits in one spot is usually sore, not calm.
• Vaccination against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease remains essential at every age, including for indoor rabbits.

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Check a rabbit's rear end and tail base every day, twice a day in warm weather.

Flies lay eggs on damp or soiled fur, most often around a rabbit's back end. The eggs hatch into maggots within hours and the maggots burrow into living tissue. A rabbit can go from apparently normal to critically ill in less than a day, and flystrike is one of the most common causes of death in pet rabbits during the warm months.

Older rabbits are at much higher risk because arthritis, dental pain and reduced mobility stop them cleaning themselves and stop them reaching the soft caecotrophs they are supposed to eat directly from the anus. Those droppings then accumulate as a sticky mass on the fur.

If you find maggots, this is an immediate emergency. Do not attempt to bath the rabbit and do not try to pick them off. Go to a vet now.
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What actually changes with age

Teeth.

The rabbit dental problem is not the front teeth people can see, it is the cheek teeth they cannot. Years on a diet low in long fibre means the grinding motion that wears the molars evenly never happens properly, and the teeth develop sharp points that lacerate the tongue and inner cheek.

The signs are indirect. A rabbit that eats pellets but leaves hay, drops food, has a damp chin, produces smaller droppings, loses weight or develops eye discharge, because tooth roots grow towards the tear ducts and the eye socket.

Proper assessment needs sedation or anaesthesia and often imaging, because the back of a rabbit's mouth cannot be seen adequately in a conscious animal with a hand held scope. Owners are frequently told the teeth are fine on that basis when they are not.

Dental disease in an older rabbit is managed rather than cured. Regular burring, pain relief and a hay first diet keep a rabbit comfortable for years.

Joints.

Arthritis in rabbits is common and quietly disabling. The signs are the absence of things: no more binkies, no more running, sitting in one spot, reluctance to hop into a litter tray, and a back end that stops being groomed because the rabbit cannot twist.

Spondylosis, where the vertebrae fuse, is a frequent finding in older rabbits and is one reason handling becomes uncomfortable.

Pain relief transforms these rabbits, and the change in behaviour after treatment is often what convinces an owner that the stillness was never contentment.

The back end.

This deserves separate billing because it is where several problems converge. Reduced mobility means caecotrophs are not eaten and accumulate. A diet too rich in pellets and low in hay makes excess caecotrophs in the first place. Arthritis stops the rabbit cleaning. Urine scald follows if the rabbit is sitting in a damp spot, and E. cuniculi can cause incontinence directly. The end point of all these paths in warm weather is flystrike.

Vision and hearing.

Cataracts are common with age and E. cuniculi can cause them at any age. Rabbits adapt well to reduced vision if the furniture stays where it is, so resist rearranging.

Weight and muscle.

Older rabbits often lose muscle over the spine and hindquarters while their weight looks stable. Run your hands along the spine and hips weekly rather than judging by eye through a coat.

Organ disease.

Kidney disease, heart disease, and in unneutered females uterine cancer. Ask any rescue whether the rabbit is neutered, and if a female is not, discuss it with a vet rather than leaving it.

What to ask the rescue

Supportive, non slip flooring is the single most useful adaptation for an older rabbit. Deep soft bedding is less helpful than it looks.

Is the rabbit neutered, and when. For a female this matters medically as well as behaviourally.

What is the vaccination status, and against what. Myxomatosis and both strains of rabbit haemorrhagic disease are the ones that matter, and requirements differ by country.

Has there been any dental work, and how recently. Ask for the actual records rather than a summary.

Has E. cuniculi ever been suspected, tested for, or treated.

What is the current diet, exactly. Brand of pellets, type of hay, which vegetables, and how much.

What is the weight now, and is there a record going back.

Is the rabbit bonded to another rabbit. Splitting a bonded pair is genuinely damaging, and adopting the pair is usually the better decision.

How does the rabbit use its space. Does it hop into a tray, up onto a platform, or stay at ground level.

Is there a history of stasis episodes, urine scald, or sore hocks.

Setting the home up

The principle is to remove every obstacle between the rabbit and the things it needs, then make the surfaces safe.

Flooring.

Non slip is the priority. Rabbits with weak hindquarters splay on smooth floors and cannot get up. Fleece over a firm base, rubber backed mats, or cork works. Deep soft bedding is less useful than owners expect because a rabbit with poor mobility sinks into it and struggles.

Litter trays.

Low sided, or with a cut down entrance. Large enough that the rabbit can sit in it with hay at one end, which is how rabbits naturally eat and toilet at the same time.

Everything at ground level.

Water, hay, pellets and greens all reachable without a hop. Multiple water sources, because dehydration contributes to stasis and to urinary problems.

Ramps rather than jumps.

Gentle, wide, non slip, with sides. Many older rabbits do better with a single level layout instead.

Warmth and airflow.

Older rabbits feel cold more and cope with heat less. Draught free, out of direct sun, and with a cool tiled area available in summer.

Space.

Reduced mobility is not a reason to reduce space. Movement maintains gut motility, joint health and muscle. Keep the area large and make it easy to cross.

The daily and weekly routine that catches things early

Watching how a rabbit gets up, turns and settles gives you more information about pain than any single examination does.

Daily: check the back end and tail base, look at the droppings in the tray for number and size, confirm the rabbit has eaten hay, and watch it move.

Twice daily in warm weather: back end again. This is not excessive. It is the difference between finding fly eggs and finding maggots.

Weekly: weigh on a kitchen scale and record it, run hands along the spine and hips, check the feet for sore hocks, check the eyes and nose for discharge, check the nails.

Monthly: a longer look at the whole rabbit, including under the chin and around the dewlap for damp fur, and the front paws for matted fur from wiping a runny nose or eye.

The droppings are the most informative thing in the enclosure. Fewer, smaller, or misshapen droppings precede a stasis crisis, and the change is visible before the rabbit looks unwell.

Diet in an older rabbit

Hay first does not change with age. If anything it matters more, because dental wear and gut movement both depend on it.

What changes is the practicalities. A rabbit with dental disease may need softer hay, hay offered in several places, grass instead of dried hay, or greens chopped small. A rabbit losing weight may need its pellet portion reviewed rather than reduced.

Do not switch automatically to a food labelled for senior rabbits. As with other species, the word is not tied to a defined nutrient profile, and the right change depends on the individual rabbit's teeth, weight and blood results.

Never restrict food to manage weight in a rabbit without veterinary advice. Rabbits do not tolerate reduced intake, and a hungry rabbit is a rabbit at risk of stasis.

Keep water intake up. Multiple bowls, wet greens, and a check that any bottle is actually working.

Bonding, company and grief

Rabbits are social and a senior rabbit is not an exception. A companion improves activity, appetite and welfare.

Older rabbits often bond more easily than adolescents, because the hormonal drive that makes young rabbits territorial has gone. Neutering of both animals is a prerequisite.

If you adopt a bonded pair, be aware that when one dies the survivor may deteriorate. Allowing the survivor time with the body is generally recommended, and rebonding is usually the right answer even for a very old rabbit, though it should be done with support from a rescue.

The honest reality

You will probably have less time than with a young rabbit, and you will spend more of it at the vet. Dental work, arthritis management and monitoring are ongoing rather than occasional, and rabbits are treated as exotic patients, which is not the cheapest kind of veterinary care.

What you get in return is a rabbit whose personality is already known, who is usually already litter trained and neutered, and who often settles into a home within days rather than months. Rescues are also usually honest about known problems, which means you are choosing with information rather than hoping.

Anaesthesia deserves a specific mention because it is the fear that stops people treating older rabbits. Rabbit anaesthesia carries more risk than dog or cat anaesthesia, but modern protocols in a practice that sees rabbits regularly are far safer than the reputation suggests, and leaving painful dental disease untreated is not the safer option.

What never to do

Do not assume a still, quiet rabbit is a content one.

Do not skip vaccination because the rabbit lives indoors. Myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease reach indoor rabbits through insects, on shoes and on hay.

Do not bath a rabbit to clean a soiled rear. Wet rabbits chill dangerously and struggling causes spinal injury. Clean the local area gently, dry thoroughly, and get the underlying cause treated.

Do not fast a rabbit before an anaesthetic unless the practice specifically tells you to. Rabbits do not vomit and their gut must keep moving.

Do not give any medication intended for another species.

Do not rearrange the room once a rabbit's vision is failing.

Do not treat weight loss by adding more pellets without a dental examination.

Do not wait until morning when a rabbit has stopped eating.

When to get help

Contact a rabbit experienced vet immediately for a rabbit that has stopped eating, has stopped producing droppings, has maggots or fly eggs on it, is breathing with effort, has collapsed, or has developed a sudden head tilt or hind limb weakness.

Book within a few days for dropped food, a wet chin, weight loss, a sticky rear, sore hocks, eye discharge, or a rabbit that has stopped hopping onto things it used to manage.

A well managed senior rabbit eats hay steadily, keeps its own back end clean, and moves around its space. That is the target, and it is achievable.

Bring the weight record, a week of dropping photographs, the full history from the rescue, the exact diet, and a video of the rabbit moving around its space at home. Rabbits behave differently in a consulting room, and the video is frequently what shows the vet the mobility problem.