Older Bunnies

[belleandferdinand]

The latest family member is Cornelius, an older bunny that I am fostering/ok, adopting from SaveABunny. They think he is about 8/9 years old given his boney back and state of his nails. He’s adorable, very friendly and almost puppy-like in behaviour. He’s also fairly blind and bumps into things if I don’t remember to shut cupboard doors! Is there anything special I should be looking for to take care of him in his retirement years? His appetite is very good (despite his mini-lop size he eats pellets and herbs faster than the younger buns) and is using his litter box well. Cornelius (aka Cornichon, Corny) seems to sleep a lot, but other than that is happier to have cuddles and is generally a very mellow bunny. Any insights on a boomer bunny are welcome!

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[BinkyBunny]

OH Cornelius!! I only volunteer once a week at SaveABunny, so it’s hard for me to sometimes remember every bunny, but what a big heart you have! How wonderful fo him! I do have tips to help with bunnies who are blind or going blind. I will email them to you as I don’t have them in a form that is ready to be posted on the site somewhere.

UPDATE: Here are some good articles about elder buns:

http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/oakland/oldbun.html

http://www.rabbit.org/care/elderbun.html

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB/Proceedings/PR05000/PR00408.htm  (this is a bit more to get through, but it is helpful to know what to keep an eye on)

http://www.ohare.org/vol5_3.htm#geriatric  (sort of summary of the above)

Two of my rabbits are between 6 and 7 and so this is good for me too to look ahead.

[MooBunnay]

How fun!!! Its my dream to open up a bunny retirement home Everyone likes a young bun – but my favorites are the grandpas! They seem to be much more calm and relaxed.

[MooBunnay]

Hi! I was also just thinking – the shelter that I work at has nice fleece like blankets for the older bunnies to sleep on, and “sheep-skin” like padding underneath that so that they can get nice and comfy. You might want to think about getting one of those for Mr. Cornelius.

[belleandferdinand]

Thanks for all the posts.. Cornelius has actually started doing binkies in the morning! For an old guy he certainly has a lot of personality and moments of high energy followed by really deep sleep (unlike the other buns, he won’t wake up when I am in the room pottering around). I can highly recommend an older rescue bunny based on my experience

[MooBunnay]

Awww he sounds so sweet… I just love Grandpa buns. Can you imagine a rescue of all elderly buns? You’d have a bunch of buns in dee snoozes all day long…how very fun! With elderly buns I can always imagine them in a flannel shirt and smoking a pipe whilst loafing around

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Oh man, moo’s last post actually made me laugh out loud. That’s rare. Woo!

[MooBunnay]

Hahaha, why thank you My boyfriend Brian’s bun Henri is a two year old bunny that acts like an old man, so I have much practice imagining him as an old man! He even has dreams about eating when he sleeps – and does that lip smacking thing…

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

That actually made me giggle too… the mental image of it!

[Author]

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