Life span—Hotot and English spot/ Dwarf mix

[The Rabbit]

So, My Pixel Bun is an English Spot/ Dwarf Cross (I’m pretty sure. I’ve even seen his type of bun just reffered to as an English spot, and he has all the markings, racer back, butterflies, cheek spots) and my other bunny, who i’m taking on at least for the time being, is a Dwarf Hotot.

 

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/dwarf-rabbits-life-span.html  This website ehre says that the average life expectancy for dwarf rabbits is 7–10 years. The netherland dwarf is 7–8 years.  and the Hotot is 5–10 years. They were both fixed early. Zelda is pretty young, (not sure the age) and Pixel was definitely spayed when he was about 5 months old.  it says the life expectancy can go up when fixed early.

 

how long do you think these two will live? how long did you guys dwarf Wumps live?

[Beka27]

I’ve heard that like dogs, larger breeds may have a shorter lifespan than smaller breeds… but of course there are so many factors to consider. There’s really never any way to know.

[Elrohwen]

I do know that the largest breeds have a shorter lifespan than other breeds – flemmies don’t live as long as an average sized bun. Beyond that, I’m not sure that there’s much of a trend. I’ve been told (by a rescuer) that Hollands don’t live as long as other breeds, because they are so prone to respiratory issues (I guess due to face shape?). However, I haven’t spoken to anyone else who agrees with this advice, so I don’t know. I could also see that this could be more of an issue in rescue, where they are probably seeing rabbits that weren’t taken care of particularly well early in life.

[mocha200]

uh oh mochas a holland lop!!!

[Elrohwen]

Yeah, so is Otto. I think that info is more anecdotal than necessarily true, since I haven’t met anyone else who agreed.

[Sarita]

According to the House Rabbit Society “a well cared for house rabbit that has been spayed or neutered early in life has a life expectancy of 8 to 12 years”.

But as Beka says, there are many factors to consider…I always hope that my rabbits will live a good long life but even some of my rabbits who I believe have been very well care for have not lived as long as 8 years due to circumstances beyond my control.

[skibunny8503]

Yeah I agree there’s so many factors. My first rabbit, Mickey, was a dwarf, lived in a wire caged, had junky pellets, pine or aspen litter, and was never neutered (this was pre-internet so we didn’t know all the facts that we know now). He lived from 1996-2009, so he was around 12 years old! I’m not sure what I did right to have him live so long, maybe it was just pure love. I just hope all of mine now live as long as he did. But they are treated so much differently with all this new information.

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