Five to seven years is where a pet rabbit's senior years usually begin, with smaller breeds often getting there later than giants. Nothing dramatic marks the birthday itself; what changes is how much information a short home check now carries. Muscle melting away along the spine, hay left uneaten, smaller droppings, a grubby bottom, sore hocks or a hop that has lost its ease each point somewhere specific, and a rabbit hides pain well enough that your hands and eyes, used weekly, are the early-warning system. Keep each check brief and at a familiar hour, write down what you find, and treat sudden appetite loss, laboured breathing or rapid weight change as a same-day vet call for a rabbit.
Hay, Teeth and Droppings: the Rabbit-Specific Core
For a rabbit, eating is digestion, dentistry and comfort at once, so hay intake is the first number to watch. An older rabbit who leaves hay but takes pellets may be telling you about teeth: front teeth are easy to glance at, but the molars that do the grinding sit out of sight, and selective eating is often their first announcement. Droppings tell the same story from the other end — smaller, drier pellets mean less fibre moving through, and a senior gut slows more readily than a young one. Weigh monthly on the same scales and feel along the spine and hips with flat hands; in a rabbit, muscle loss shows there before the total weight moves.
Hocks, Bottom and Getting Around
Turn the check to the underside. Hocks should be furred and calm-skinned; pink, broken skin on an older, heavier rabbit needs softer flooring and a vet conversation before it ulcerates. The bottom should be clean and dry — a senior who can no longer twist to groom, or to reach the soft droppings it eats directly, collects mess that attracts flies in warm weather, so a daily glance in summer is protection, not fussiness. Watch it cross the pen: stiffness on rising, reluctance to hop up even a low step, or litter trays missed because the side is now too high all argue for lower entries, ground-level layouts instead of ramps, and a vet conversation about comfort rather than assuming stiffness is simply age.
Keeping the Record Straight
Senior rabbits change by degrees — a little weight here, a tray habit there — and a dated note after each weekly check is what joins the degrees into a direction. Note weight, hay appetite, droppings, hock condition and how the hop looked, and take the run of notes to the twice-yearly senior appointments vets recommend for older rabbits; trends are what let a vet separate ordinary ageing from a problem still small enough to help. If family members share the feeding, ask them to add what they notice rather than report from memory at the weekend. During boarding stays or vet trips, the packet from KinsLe's Pet Passport carries this rabbit's dated notes and history wherever it goes.