Bunnies of unknown age

[Eepster]

Another thread, about senior citizen bunnies, got me thinking about this.  We have no way of knowing how old Porky is.  He was abandoned underweight on the steps of the animal shelter with no history.  

The vets best guess was “young.”  We’ve had him for 3 years now and he did put on some weight and muscle with us, but since he was so clearly underweight when he arrived at the shelter that is pretty meaningless (he would have been neutered before adoption except for being so underweight the shelter vet was nervous.)  He’s never really gone through a classic teen age stage, so either he was past it when we got him or he’s just weird.  He gets mildly hormonal occasionally, my guess is from smelling the female wild bunnies outside.

So, we have no way at all of knowing when he will be old.  Obviously I know he’s older than 3 years, but by how much?  He was abandoned in the winter, before Easter, so not an Easter bunny from that year.  Maybe from the previous year which would make him about 4 1/2 now, but that would just be a very wild guess.

Will I know when he starts getting old.  Will he start looking old the way people and cats do?  When I was a teen, 5 was thought of as the life expectancy of a rabbit, so that’s the age my experiences goes up to.  

[Deleted User]

Gee Eepster, now you’ve got me thinking……

Not knowing anything bunny, as you know I’ve only had Henry for one and a half years now and having no previous bunny experience, I just made the assumption that he would age and slow down, not only like my dog’s have, but me! Lol!
My dog’s have aged – Sam who is 15 is no longer black and white, but dark grey and light grey, she has lumps and bumps all over her, missing teeth (she has a gap right in front and often tell her NOT to smile! Lol!) and struggles to move at times. But pull out a dog treat, and she’ll do a puppy dance, ha ha ha! She is deaf, when I touch her she snaps due to fright, and is blind to the point it’s no longer funny when she can’t see something right in front of her. Luckily she still has her sense of smell and when I pull out chicken for dinner she still finds the kitchen. As long as she doesn’t show signs of being in pain, and even though her age is obvious, I don’t give it much thought.

I don’t want this to sound bad and my apologies if it does, but I was sorta looking forward to Henry aging a little – slowing him down. I can’t wait for him to be not so quick and maybe mellowing out a bit???

But from everything I have learned (AFTER getting him!), I am expecting Henry to be part of our lives for at least 10 years plus, the same as our dog’s. Our toy poodle Molly lived to be 15. Even though he didn’t change colour (champagne), he looked old – his face and his movements. Oh, lets not forget the lumps and bumps! AND the intolerance! If we had of got Henry while we still had Molly, he would have gummed him to death! There is no way Molly (being old) would have tolerated Henry – we know that for a fact! But I think a young Molly would have.

I’m sure we can tell when our bunny’s get old. We know them and will notice the changes old age brings.

Yep, you’ll know Eepster.

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