New member here with lots of questions but I will try to be brief! My son asked for a rabbit for his birthday in May (I’m sure lots of stories start this way LOL), and after we did our research we decided to adopt one off our local Craigslist. We had a couple of weeks where we were thinking OMG what have we done, but we worked our way through our issues and ended up being thrilled with our new family member and couldn’t believe we had never thought to get a rabbit for a pet before! One of the issues we had to accept was the fact that he had very bad malocclusion and had to go have his front teeth trimmed once a month. Other than that, the vet we saw thought he was in great health, although we left the office knowing that we would be facing an uphill battle. He was 7 months old when we got him.
A week ago, right before he was going to be neutered and have his teeth trimmed (including his back molars filed down as they were misaligned as well), he suddenly started having issues urinating and went downhill fast, refusing to eat or drink and even leave his cage. Since we knew we had to get on top of things quickly, we rushed him to the vet, where he was diagnosed with an abscess near the jaw that appeared to be impeding his airflow, as his O2 level was horrible. The vet felt like the infection had become systemic and that his body had started to shut down as a result. Without going into further detail, he didn’t make it, and we are all devastated.
The reality of just how much care rabbits need was a little overwhelming compared to just reading about it, so we are going to take our time before we adopt another. I’m hesitant to put my children through this again if it’s fairly common for rabbits to suddenly take ill or die without warning, but to be honest I’m feeling selfish and want to go out and get another one (or two) sooner than later. We were really expecting to have him for at least a few years based on what we had read.
So, I’m coming here to get some opinions. First of all, we know that it was really the malocclusion that ultimately got him, so just how common is it really? I’m sure there are degrees…do all rabbits have it to some extent?
My second question is about how long rabbits really do live. I know the resources all say be prepared to have your pet rabbit for up to 10 years, but with all of the health issues they face, is this really all that common? When we get another bunny, can we reasonably expect to have him or her for more than a couple of years?
Thanks if you’ve made it this far! I’m looking forward to learning lots before we get our next bunny and also sharing some pictures and a tribute of our Snowflake on the Rainbow Bridge page very soon