What Does Animal Welfare Really Mean? - A Guide for Rabbit and Rodent Guardians

Team Nibbles
5 days ago
6 min read

When people hear the term animal welfare, they often think of farm animals, laboratory testing, or animals kept in zoos. It’s a phrase that feels distant — something that applies to “working animals” rather than the rabbits and rodents sharing our homes.

But welfare doesn’t stop at the farm gate or laboratory door. It applies to all animals, including domestic rabbits and rodents — and understanding what welfare really means is one of the most important steps we can take to improve their quality of life.

This blog explores what animal welfare actually is, why it’s so often misunderstood, and what it means in real, everyday terms for rabbits and rodents.

So What Does “Animal Welfare” Really Mean?

At its core, animal welfare is about an animal’s physical and mental wellbeing.

It looks at how an animal:

feels
functions
experiences their day-to-day life

Good welfare means an animal is not just alive, fed, and sheltered, but able to live in a way that supports their health, behaviour, and emotional state. It’s the difference between coping and thriving.

Importantly, welfare is not the same as kindness or good intentions. Someone can care deeply about an animal and still unknowingly meet only part of their needs. Welfare is about whether an animal’s species-specific needs are being met — whether or not we’ve been taught what those needs really are.

Two rabbits foraging together from a basket, demonstrating natural exploratory behaviour in a shared environment. — *Good welfare considers how an animal experiences their daily life, including whether they are able to express natural behaviours such as foraging and exploration.*

Why Welfare Is Often Seen as “Not for Pets”

There’s a reason many people don’t immediately associate welfare with rabbits and rodents.

Historically, welfare discussions focused on animals used for food, research, or public display. Companion animals were largely assumed to be “looked after” simply by being kept in homes.

At the same time, rabbits and rodents have long been marketed as:

easy to care for
low maintenance
suitable “starter” animals

This messaging has shaped expectations. If an animal is small, quiet, or commonly kept in a cage, it’s easy to assume their needs must also be small or simple. As a result, many serious welfare issues have become normalised — not because guardians don’t care, but because the information given to them is incomplete or outdated.

Being a companion animal does not automatically mean an animal has good welfare.

Welfare Is About Needs — Not Just Survival

One of the biggest misunderstandings around welfare is the idea that if an animal is eating, drinking, and still alive, then things must be “good enough”.

Welfare looks much deeper than survival.

It considers whether an animal can:

move freely
make choices
express natural behaviours
feel safe and secure
experience comfort rather than chronic stress

An animal can survive for years in conditions that restrict movement, limit stimulation, or cause ongoing frustration — but that doesn’t mean their welfare is good.

Good welfare is about the whole life an animal experiences, not just whether their most basic needs are met.

Hamster housed in a small commercial cage with limited floor space and an undersized exercise wheel. — *Poor welfare is often quiet and normalised. It occurs when animals are kept alive but unable to experience their daily lives in ways that allow natural movement, choice, and behaviour.*

What Welfare Looks Like for Rabbits

Rabbits are intelligent, social, active prey animals. In the wild, they spend their days moving, foraging, exploring, and interacting closely with others of their own kind.

Good welfare for rabbits supports:

space to run, jump, and change direction
companionship with another rabbit
opportunities to explore, forage, and make choices
environments that allow them to feel secure rather than exposed

Poor welfare often hides behind practices that have simply become “normal” over time — such as small living spaces, long periods of isolation, or environments with little stimulation. These setups may keep a rabbit alive, but they don’t support the behaviours and experiences rabbits are motivated to perform.

Understanding welfare helps us recognise that rabbits are not ornaments or background animals — they are complex individuals with real behavioural and emotional needs.

Two rabbits sitting closely together, showing calm social contact and companionship. — *Good welfare for rabbits considers their need for companionship, recognising that close social relationships are a core part of how rabbits experience safety, comfort, and daily life.*

What Welfare Looks Like for Rodents

Rodents are often even more overlooked when it comes to welfare, partly because of their size and short lifespans. But small animals do not have small needs.

Rodents are highly driven to:

explore their environment
dig, burrow, or nest
forage and problem-solve
interact with their surroundings

Good welfare for rodents means environments that allow them to do these things safely and regularly. It means recognising that boredom, frustration, and restriction affect them just as profoundly as they do larger animals.

Many common rodent welfare issues are so widespread they’ve become almost invisible — not because they’re insignificant, but because expectations have been set too low.

Hamster chewing the bars of a small cage, a behaviour commonly associated with restricted or unsuitable housing. — Welfare considers how animals experience their daily lives. When environments prevent rodents from exploring, digging, or foraging, behaviours like bar-chewing emerge and have become wrongly accepted as normal.

Why Welfare Is Missed — Even by Caring Guardians

Most guardians want to do the right thing for the animals in their care. When welfare falls short, it’s rarely due to a lack of compassion.

More often, it’s because:

advice is outdated or contradictory
information is shaped by the pet trade rather than welfare science
public guidance hasn’t kept pace with modern research

Welfare science continues to evolve, but the messages reaching everyday guardians often lag far behind. Understanding this helps shift the focus away from blame and towards better education, better standards, and better support.

Welfare Is Not About Perfection — But It Is About Meeting Core Needs

Learning about animal welfare can feel overwhelming. There is often a fear that if everything isn’t done “perfectly,” then nothing counts — or that making mistakes means someone has failed completely.

But welfare is not about being flawless. It is, however, about whether an animal’s core needs are actually being met.

Welfare is assessed by outcomes, not intentions.

Providing enrichment, variety, or stimulation is important — but these things cannot compensate for environments that fundamentally restrict movement, choice, or social needs.

For example, giving a rabbit a tunnel does not create good welfare if that tunnel sits inside a space that is too small for the rabbit to run, stretch, or interact naturally. In that situation, enrichment exists — but welfare is still poor.

Similarly, adding toys, hides, or activities does not resolve welfare issues caused by:

long-term confinement
isolation from the same species (where appropriate)
lack of space to move normally
environments that prevent natural behaviour

Welfare works as a whole system. Individual improvements matter, but they do not “cancel out” unmet fundamental needs.

At the same time, understanding welfare is not about blame. Many guardians are working with guidance that is outdated or incomplete, and welfare science continues to evolve. Improving welfare means learning what animals actually need — and then ensuring those needs are genuinely met in practice.

Progress matters, but only when it moves animals towards lives that allow them to thrive, not just cope.

Why Understanding Welfare Matters

When we understand what welfare really means:

animals experience better quality of life
guardians can make informed, confident decisions
suffering that has long been seen as “normal” can be recognised and reduced
standards of care can improve across homes, rescues, and wider systems

Welfare isn’t an abstract concept — it shapes every aspect of an animal’s daily experience.

Seeing Welfare Differently

Animal welfare is not just a technical term or a regulatory concept. It’s about how animals experience their lives — day after day, in the environments we provide for them.

Rabbits and rodents deserve the same consideration, curiosity, and care as any other animal. By learning to see welfare differently, we give ourselves the tools to care better, advocate more effectively, and create lives that allow animals not just to survive, but to thrive.

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