Remember not to give pets as gifts at Christmas, or any other time. Adults should always be responsible for the family pets and should be able to commit to them for their lifetime, which could be long after the children have left home. Additionally, rabbits can be more expensive to care for properly than you would think, estimates are between £9,000 - £11,000 for their lifetime - and that is without unexpected vet bills!

Vet costs can mount up, Claire King told us, "Saxon's bill came to around £10,000, and consisted of 2 ureteral calculi (one each side), bilateral lateral ear resections, including 2 CT scans, 2 referral practices, liver cysts with 6-8 weekly ultrasound scans for 3 years, bucal salivary gland infection and removal and in the end an exlap when he was diagnosed with liver tumours which proved inoperable."

Not a cheap children's pet at all!

The RWAF's friend Phyllis O'Beollain in Ohio has written about exactly the same thing here No live pets as Christmas gifts - Dayton small pets | Examiner.com

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A hutch is not enough
www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Rg7...MEp5FP-3DB3Zmc
Join us - http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/join/index.php
Reg Charity 1085689

It's a shame that poster isn't in pet shops. I went to one earlier that sells animals, the amount of cages that had 'reserved-collect xmas eve' written on them was appaling.

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My BFFs (Best Furry Friends)
horses - Abercrombie and Dominion
dogs - Charlie and Benny
rabbits - Flip and Flop
guinea pigs - Pumpkin and Twinkle
hamster - Colin

£11,000 ????

How is this figure calculated??

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He's an idea based on my Rosie.

Rosie is 7 and I've had her since she was 1. She' has bad teeth and has monthly dentals, she's also had her front teeth removed. She's had two bouts of gut stasis where she was hospitalised on a drip. She has regular vaccinations (three a year). She also suffered diarrhoa (god knows how its spelt)

So the maths:
Each dental costs £80 including after care meds.
The removal of the fron teeth cost £200 including after care.
Each bout of gut stasis cost about £150 for all the care she needed.
Each vaccine costs £20
Dia(not even trying) cost £50 for treatment and shaving her bum.

So the dentals: 12x80=960x6=5760 (cost of her dentals so far and will be ongoing for her whole life)
Removal of front teeth: 200
Gut stasis: 150x2=300
Vaccines: 20x3=60x6=360 (another ongoing cost)
Dia: 50

Total so far = £6670

Thats just vet care, add on food, hay, toys, housing, veg, boarding when we go away etc. Then think she's 7, she could have another 3 or 4 years in her with the cost of these adding up still and the ongoing vet care.

It all mounts up.

To add: the 11k is worked out based on the average rabbit costing 1k a year for all care including vet fees, food, veg etc.

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£1000 per year of a rabbits life is actually pretty much spot on, if you start adding it all up.
For a couple of mine we go way over £1000 a year due to ongoing vet bills

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Dental malocclusions, either molar or incisors (or both) are a fairly common problem, and especially where the face shape is dissimilar from that of the wild rabbit, with insufficient space in the upper jaw. Teeth that don't meet can't wear properly and so frequent dentals are generally needed.

Both the rabbits I have currently have problems. Nutmeg's is less problemmatic and although he does have to have dentals from time to time, mostly he's okay. Betty, though, had a period at the beginning of this year when she was needing dentals every 3 weeks. Quite apart from the risk to her life from the anaesthetic, the stress it all put on her, there was also a very high financial cost and because it was a known problem, isn't covered by insurance. This year alone, I estimate veterinary costs for Betty only have topped £3000. Happily she's back on an even keel now. I've found that by picking fresh willow twigs a couple of times a week, she'll happily chew on them and must be snapping off any spurs that form, because it's now about 9 weeks since she last needed a dental. (Phew!)

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A hutch is not enough
www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Rg7...MEp5FP-3DB3Zmc
Join us - http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/join/index.php
Reg Charity 1085689

All I want for christmas is my 2 front teeth, and all the rest that fell out with them.

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Not everything that goes up comes back down. Your age for example.
My pets (sorry I can't upload any pics yet)
Cats
Candy (12) Neo and Simba (10) Del Boy (7))
Cockatiels
Undertaker (My OH's choice)(10) Souxsie(10) Sid(9) Rimmer and LIster(1) Ruhbarb and Custard(hatched july 2010)
Rats
Frosty and Jack(1)
Gerbil
Pepper(almost6) Pepper sadly no longer with us RIP pepper.
Its almost a zoo at home,but we love them all.

There's an estimated greakdown in our blog here Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund News: January 2011

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A hutch is not enough
www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Rg7...MEp5FP-3DB3Zmc
Join us - http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/join/index.php
Reg Charity 1085689

That seems super extreme to me. Mine cost £400 a year, and that is for 3.

Of course, that doesn't include any unexpected vet bills, that is just pellets, hay, veggies and myxi vacs. Still, I can't see very many rabbits costing £1000 per rabbit.

Saying that, it is a very good point to make that it CAN happen, I just find £1000 per bun to be extreme.

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Photography

Maybe it is cheaper where you are, all I know is it is about right for me

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