Rabbits are the third most common pet but receive disproportionately less veterinary care than dogs and cats; annual health checks prevent many serious and painful conditions.
The veterinary care gap for pet rabbits reflects their historical status as cheap, low-maintenance pets that are undervalued relative to their actual welfare needs. Rabbits suffer from the same spectrum of health conditions as cats and dogs — dental disease, kidney problems, gastrointestinal issues, cancer — but receive far less preventive and reactive care. The consequences of this underinvestment in rabbit healthcare are preventable welfare harms: dental pain that goes unrecognised for months, uterine cancer that develops in unspayed females, myxomatosis that kills unvaccinated animals. Annual veterinary examinations for rabbits have the same welfare rationale as those for any companion animal.