Rabbit Awareness Week 2024

This June at PetGP we’re celebrating rabbit awareness week!

Rabbits are the third most popular pet in the UK and we can see why. Who can't help but fall in love with their beautiful personalities. We’ll be spending this month adding new articles about our bunny friends each week. Helping you to provide the best care possible to your hay-loving friends.  

Keeping rabbits as pets can be traced back to Victorian England. This is also when the selective breeding of rabbits seems to have become popular. Today there are many variations in size, shape, colour, and hair length and texture. The British Rabbit Council (B.R.C.) began organising rabbit shows during the 1920s.

There are more than 300 breeds of rabbits on the planet. Each breed originally descends from the European rabbit. These early rabbits originated in Spain and France. The first-ever written record of rabbits comes from ancient Rome, when people kept them in cabinets and enclosures.

Pet GP's rabbit welfare recommendations:

All rabbits have access to an appropriate diet. This includes continual access to good-quality hay or fresh grass and fresh, clean water.

All rabbits live in an environment that meets their physical, social, and behavioural needs.

All rabbits are sold or rehomed to be kept in compatible pairs or groups. They are also bred, reared and kept in a way known to maximise their chances of being healthy.

All rabbits are given regular preventive health care as recommended by veterinary experts. They are also given appropriate and timely veterinary treatment to protect them from pain, disease and suffering.

Rabbit Awareness Week is a good reminder that commonly held beliefs are not necessarily correct. It aims to raise awareness about proper care for rabbits. Due to this we will be posting new information on rabbit care each week during June.