Dog or Bunny, which is better?

Hello friends, hope you all doing very well, and today we are going to answer the question: are rabbits better than dogs? And no, this is not an opinion-based conversation. I am bringing out the facts, I am bringing out the information, and we are going to compare head-to-head, rabbits and dogs. And let me make this very clear: I am an animal lover. I grew up with horses, rabbits, ducks, dogs, cats, birds, and all sorts of animals. I love all animals so much. What this is really a article about is; is a rabbit better for you as a pet, or is a dog better for you as a pet? Because you might be surprised at what your answer at the end is going to be after comparing these two animals head-to-head.

Lifespan:

We are going to start with lifespan. Now, both rabbits and dogs have similar lifespans, so when you bring an animal home, you need to know that this is a big commitment that is going to last years and years. The average rabbit’s lifespan is 8 to 12 years,

whereas a dog’s is 10 to 13 years. And this can vary so much depending on the breed of either animal. So they’re pretty equal in that spot, but it’s important to know that if you bring a pet home, it is a decision for a long period of time.

Cost:

Now let’s talk about the cost. I really wanted to compare these two numbers on one similar site so that they could be just kind of an average and face off against one another, and not be specifically just about myself. According to moneymanagement.org, rabbits cost their owners between $600 and $1,100 per year. And myhouse rabbit.com estimates that you’re going to be spending about $85 a month on their food and essentials and stuff like that.

Now, for dogs, this range was a lot bigger; it was $700 to $22,000. And the wide range here is really based on the dog’s breed. A very small dog is going to need significantly less food than a large dog, whereas rabbits, yes, they vary in size, but the variation in size is within like 10 lbs for a rabbit, whereas for dogs, that can be a 100 lb difference. So it really does make a huge difference in how much their food costs.

Care:

Now let’s get into what type of care these animals need. A big selling point for me with rabbits was that rabbits are pretty self-sustainable. Rabbits can be litter trained, so you don’t have to worry about taking them out to the bathroom; they take care of that themselves. I don’t need to bathe my bunny, you do not bathe rabbits. They groom themselves, and then you just supplement that grooming with brushing every week or so.

Whereas dogs need a lot more frequent care. Not only do you need to take your dog out to go to the bathroom; they cannot have a litter box inside. Dogs also need to go outside to play, whereas a free-roam rabbit gets that exercise just from running around the house, whereas most dogs need to go out into the world to go on walks, and they need a walk every single day. Dogs also need a lot more care as far as grooming goes. Typically, you will send your dog to a groomer or bathe them yourself, and then also brush them, brush their teeth, all of that. I’m definitely summarizing here. Depending on the type of rabbit you have and depending on the type of dog you have, there can be very specific care needs, but as an overarching thing, I find that the care for rabbits is a lot lower maintenance than the care for a dog.

Socialization:

Now let’s talk about the socialization of both of these animals. Rabbits are prey animals, which means that inherently they are a lot more shy than dogs, which are predators. A prey animal’s first instinct is to protect themselves, so they’re pretty slow to trust and they don’t typically like to be picked up and cuddled and grabbed, and they don’t love strangers. So if you’re looking for an animal that you can carry around, cuddle all of the time, and is going to be really extroverted when you have friends over, that typically is not going to be a rabbit.

Dogs are typically much more social animals. There’s a lot of breweries that allow dogs, you can take dogs to dog parks pretty easily, and they are just more of a social creature than a rabbit is. Rabbits typically like to keep to themselves and to either their partners or their owners. Rabbits also aren’t super playful. The toys that you get rabbits are really more chew toys for them to play with by themselves, whereas dogs, you can play fetch, you can play tug-of-war. It’s just more activities you can do with your pet, whereas for a rabbit, you’re kind of watching them do their activity.

Travel:

Now let’s talk about travel. I think that it is a lot easier to leave a dog behind than it is to leave a rabbit behind because dogs have a lot more options for boarding and pet sitters. Most pet owners are familiar with taking care of dogs, and there are so many boarding facilities if you live in a city where you can leave a dog if you’re traveling.

Rabbits don’t really have that luxury. I know that there are some places where you are able to drop off a rabbit for boarding. As an overall thing, I wouldn’t recommend doing that; your rabbit would probably be a lot happier if they were just at your house, and you need to have a very specific pet sitter that understands rabbits to watch them. So I just found that that is a lot harder. On top of that, traveling with a dog is just a lot more common. There are so many rental homes and hotels that are dog friendly, but I wouldn’t necessarily bring a rabbit to them in case they were to chew on something. Also, at least speaking from my own experience, my bunny hates traveling; she hates being in the car, and it really freaks her out. So overall, I don’t think rabbits are really made for the travel lifestyle, whereas dogs are a lot more adaptable in that way.

Noise:

let’s talk about noise. This one’s easy: rabbits are silent. They do not make a noise. We call my bunny our silent pet.

Dogs, they can bark, so if you’re in a space where you don’t want to hear a dog barking all the time, that might not be best for you.

Damage and destruction:

Rabbits are quite destructive as creatures. Their teeth are constantly growing, so they always want to chew. Once you bunny-proof your house and your rabbit gets a little older and they learn right from wrong, it’s easier to monitor their chewing, but they always have that urge, and if you own a rabbit, if you look around your home, you’re going to see bite marks all over everything. I have made a article about ‘How to Stop Your Rabbit From Chewing Your House’. You can read too.

Whereas dogs can be extremely destructive with their teeth, at least when they’re puppies and their teeth are coming in, but as they get older and they’re done teething, that typically goes away. However, I will say with a dog, the bigger the animal, the more destruction they cause. Rabbits, unless you’re getting a Flemish Giant, they’re pretty small; they’re typically under 10 lbs. They’re not causing a lot of destruction outside of chewing. The bigger a dog is, the bigger their poop, the bigger their messes, their tails can knock things over. So I would honestly argue that both are destructive, just in different ways, and it depends on the space that you have. I think smaller spaces can be more conducive to a rabbit, or a bigger space might be better for a dog.

Smell:

Now let’s talk about smell. You might be surprised to learn that rabbits do not have an odor. The most that you’re going to smell from a rabbit is probably going to be the pee in their litter box if you don’t have a cover over it, or their hay. But rabbits themselves, they don’t really have any smell whatsoever. So I think of rabbits as being a pretty odor-free pet. You just need to figure out a storage solution for their hay so that your home doesn’t smell like their hay.

I think dogs can be really stinky. Dogs can have really bad breath; if they get dirty outside, they need a bath right away, and I just think dogs carry more odor with them. Honestly, rabbit’s breath kind of smells good because I feed my bunny a lot of herbs, so she usually has minty fresh breath.

Vet experiences:

And the last thing I want to compare are the vet experiences. Even though they don’t seem like exotic animals, rabbits are considered exotic pets, at least here in the US, which means they cannot go to a regular veterinarian, which I think is just absolutely insane.

Dogs can go to pretty much any veterinarian anywhere, but rabbits, you need to specifically seek out an exotic vet who has experience treating rabbits because their GI systems and just the way that they are is so different than a dog or a cat. There are not as many exotic veterinarians out there, so they can charge more of a premium than any vet that you can go to, because I feel like there are vets on like every corner these days and I can’t go to any of them with my bunny.

So that was a really big thing for me, knowing that if I were to get a rabbit, I would need to know where the closest rabbit-savvy vet is. And anytime I travel with my bunny, I make sure to look up a rabbit-savvy vet in that area. It’s just not readily available.

So, which of these two is better? Honestly, that is totally up to you. The reason I made this article is for anybody who is thinking of getting a pet, thinking of getting a rabbit or maybe a dog, and they don’t know which one. I think it’s really important to compare the two because they are vastly different creatures who need very different care. I hope that this article was helpful, and let me know on the comments below which one is perfect for you.