Today marks the start of Rabbit Awareness Week!
Rabbit Awareness Week is run by Burgess Excel, which is a brand of pet food that makes food for all companion animals. The event has been running for the past 16 years, with 2023 marking the 17th year of raising awareness around on the world’s most misunderstood creatures. This years focus for Rabbit Awareness Week (RAW) is ‘Neutering: Protect and Prevent’.
Neutering (also called spaying for female rabbits and castrating for male rabbits) is a very important part of being a responsible pet owner, not just for rabbits but for all companion animals. Unwanted litters simply add to the number of abandoned animals needing to be rehomed, and put more strain on the rescue centres and vet centres that have to care for them. With rabbits especially though, the saying ‘breeding like rabbits’ really isn’t an over-exaggeration. Even when a male rabbit has been castrated, he can still remain fertile for up to 6 weeks post operation! Female rabbits have a very short gestation period of around 26 days, and can get pregnant again mere ours after giving birth. A female rabbit could therefore potentially have nearly 12 litters in a year (even though the average is about 5 or 6 litters) and with an average of 6 kits (babies) per litter, that is a shocking number of rabbits that need to be cared for and given loving homes.
neutering also can improve a rabbits way of life. 80% of female rabbits will develop ovarian cancer by the age of 4, so spaying rabbits can double their lifespan. On average, domestic rabbits can live for up to 10 years when given the proper care and love that they need. By not spaying your female rabbit, you are essentially shortening her life by more than half. Male rabbits are also at a very high risk of developing testicular cancer, so again castrating male rabbits can improve their life span.
Neutering can also reduce a lot of unwanted behaviour, especially when it comes to territorial behaviours and aggression. Rabbits may look cute and fluffy, but they can kill each other and fights are not uncommon, especially when you are trying to bond two rabbits. Rabbits are highly social creatures that have very complex social ties and hierarchies. They can also be very territorial and all of this combined can lead to very aggressive behaviour. Neutering can help limit this (to a degree) by limiting the amount of hormones that the rabbit has, meaning that they are less aggressive. It will also stop a lot of territorial behaviour, such as spraying around the house or leaving their mess across the room so that they can mark which areas are theirs.
Burgess have a load of very helpful leaflets and literature online where you can find out more at the link here. This week I will also be sharing with you some of the helpful tips and bits of information that I have picked up over the past 4 years of being a very devoted bunny mum.
Taylor Talks Vegan 