• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Netherland dwarf help. Update...pic added.

purple_x

Warren Scout
I kinda need some help/advice please, as much as possible!

My mums neighbour asked her yesterday if she wanted a rabbit (my mum is known for taking in waifs and strays so this is why she was asked) well mum has been wanting a rabbit for a while so she said yes.
The neighbour told us she has only had the rabbit 'a few weeks' and it's 8 weeks old. So she either has the age wrong or had a rabbit that shouldn't have been given away. She wanted to get rid of the bunny because the children thought it was ugly :cry: That left me speechless!
Anyway we went to collect bun who was in a single story 4ft cage with NO hay, tiny bit of straw and was being fed weetabix and bread :shock:

The bunny (now called Pippin) is absolutely gorgeous and so friendly, she fell asleep in my arms and kept flopping out in my arms with her back legs stretched out!
I am no good at telling the age of a rabbit so dont know if she is really 8 weeks or not.

Anyway I have never had a baby/young rabbit before, mine have always been at least 1 year when I have adopted them, plus I've never had a netherland dwarf.
So I have some questions.........

1. How much should she weigh? We weighed her and she was 607g

2. What and how much should we be feeding her? I have wagg pellets for my buns and we gave her those but she wasn't really interested. We also gave her a tiny piece of cabbage which she ate.
And we gave her tons of hay which she has been nomming all day.
Does she need pellets for dwarf or young rabbits? Or is Wagg ok?

3. She will be off to the vets this week so we can register her and get her first check up done but what age will she need her first vaccs? Does she just need myxi and vhd? Or any others like 'starter' jabs?


4. What age can she be spayed at? As we would like to get her a husbun eventually.

5. Is there any other info you can give us on keeping a tiny little nethi happy??

Thank you for reading all of that, any replies welcome. x
 
Last edited:
I kinda need some help/advice please, as much as possible!

My mums neighbour asked her yesterday if she wanted a rabbit (my mum is known for taking in waifs and strays so this is why she was asked) well mum has been wanting a rabbit for a while so she said yes.
The neighbour told us she has only had the rabbit 'a few weeks' and it's 8 weeks old. So she either has the age wrong or had a rabbit that shouldn't have been given away. She wanted to get rid of the bunny because the children thought it was ugly :cry: That left me speechless!
Anyway we went to collect bun who was in a single story 4ft cage with NO hay, tiny bit of straw and was being fed weetabix and bread :shock:

The bunny (now called Pippin) is absolutely gorgeous and so friendly, she fell asleep in my arms and kept flopping out in my arms with her back legs stretched out!
I am no good at telling the age of a rabbit so dont know if she is really 8 weeks or not.

Anyway I have never had a baby/young rabbit before, mine have always been at least 1 year when I have adopted them, plus I've never had a netherland dwarf.
So I have some questions.........

1. How much should she weigh? We weighed her and she was 607g

2. What and how much should we be feeding her? I have wagg pellets for my buns and we gave her those but she wasn't really interested. We also gave her a tiny piece of cabbage which she ate.
And we gave her tons of hay which she has been nomming all day.
Does she need pellets for dwarf or young rabbits? Or is Wagg ok?

3. She will be off to the vets this week so we can register her and get her first check up done but what age will she need her first vaccs? Does she just need myxi and vhd? Or any others like 'starter' jabs?


4. What age can she be spayed at? As we would like to get her a husbun eventually.

5. Is there any other info you can give us on keeping a tiny little nethi happy??

Thank you for reading all of that, any replies welcome. x

hello :wave: aw bless her its sounds like when i got casper no hay small hutch! atleast she has a lovely home now! i cant answer them all but i have a nethie cross, he is slighty bigger then a nethie so wieghs more, maybe blackberry and co can help you with those Q :lol: I know alot of people who just feed normal adult pellets just in a smaller amount i dont think its necessarie she has dwarf pellets aslong as you give the adult feed in a smaller amount :)

She only needs myxi and VHD i dont know what age as i got my buns a little older :oops:

Nethies are cheeky little buns full of character :love: They can get away with murder as they are so sweet :love: thats all you need to know :lol:

sorry i could not be more help! hopefully someone will give you more advice!!
 
607g doesn't sound bad :) she will need junior and dwarf pellets to start with because she's a baby :) my 2 nethies are still on them and they're a year old :p I think she can have her myxi now and the VHD in 2 weeks.
It depends on your vet how old she gets speyed, I belive it's normally around 6 months
give her lots and lots and LOTS of space! She may be tiny but they can't half move :p
 
Sorry, I don't have any advice. I read it and just wanted to say well done to you and your mum for doing a great thing.

Also I hate to read and run ;):lol:
 
Do you know what she has been fed on previously?

Ideally, she should be gradually transferred over to a new brand, but if that isn't possible then it's better to give lots of hay at first and then slowly introduce the pellets you wish to feed over a number of days.

I would also avoid veg for a while too if you don't know what she is used to. (It's fine if mum has had veg and baby has gradually started eating veg too, but otherwise there's a risk of tummy upsets in very young buns.)

Personally, I would feed pellets designed for dwarf/young rabbits while she is still growing and then switch to an adult brand - views probably differ though. :lol:

Re. weight, it's almost impossible to say as weights vary so much even within a breed, making it difficult to say eg "A nethie will weigh 800g at x weeks of age" iyswim.

Myxi jab can be given from 6 wks I believe (with 6 mthly boosters). I can't remember the age limit for VHD but it's a yearly booster for that and there should be a 2 wk gap between the myxi and VHD. :)

Spaying procedure varies by vet, so best to discuss when she gets her boosters. Mine spays at around 4 to 5 mths of age, others say 6 mths or will require bun to be a certain weight first, usually 1kg. My vet doesn't go by weight because some of the smaller breeds may never reach that weight.

Sorry for waffling. :oops: Oh, and this thread is worthless without pics!! :love:
 
Hi,

I have 2 netherland dwarfs.

Dylan is about 5 years old and has always weighed 1.63kg. He is a good body shape.

Scarlet is about 2 years old and bit chunky. She weighs 1.5kg.

Good luck with your new bunny!

:wave:
 
need pics before i can comment:p
only joking.

she does sound like a tiny dot - don't think eric was quite that light when i got him (at around 9 weeks old) but he's turned out to be a bit of a bloater:roll: does she feel boney at all? its difficult with not knowing what she was really eating before or how old she is:?

i'd say hay hay and more hay - great that she likes it as the more the better to keep those teeth in check but maybe limit the veg until you know how old she is and then introduce slowly when the time is right.

i've only ever used ordinary science selective pellets for mine but thats what they were already used to. you may need to try her on a couple of different ones unless you hope she starts to enjoy wagg? i think science selective do a 'junior' rabbit one.

as for keeping her happy......hidey holes, boxes and space to run:D my two love tunnels and shredding boxes stuffed with hay:wave:

eta - don't be surprised at how high a nethie can jump or at how tiny a gap they can squeeze into or through!
 
I have anetherland dwarf i am not sure how much they should weigh but fo food i just give mine normail mix its russel rabbit mixed with the pellet balls. She absolutley loves it you should still feed her the normal food and if you do.. gently ease the rabbit onto the food otherwise it might make the rabbit have a dodgy tummy.mine doesnt like salad or hay but dont listen to that bit because she has always been like that give the rabbit about a handful - how much you need of hay. Hope this helps.
 
need pics before i can comment:p
only joking.

she does sound like a tiny dot - don't think eric was quite that light when i got him (at around 9 weeks old) but he's turned out to be a bit of a bloater:roll: does she feel boney at all? its difficult with not knowing what she was really eating before or how old she is:?

i'd say hay hay and more hay - great that she likes it as the more the better to keep those teeth in check but maybe limit the veg until you know how old she is and then introduce slowly when the time is right.

i've only ever used ordinary science selective pellets for mine but thats what they were already used to. you may need to try her on a couple of different ones unless you hope she starts to enjoy wagg? i think science selective do a 'junior' rabbit one.


as for keeping her happy......hidey holes, boxes and space to run:D my two love tunnels and shredding boxes stuffed with hay:wave:

eta - don't be surprised at how high a nethie can jump or at how tiny a gap they can squeeze into or through!

I use selective aswell. For my velvetines. I use rabbit version they love it.
 
If you post pics we could probably tell about how old she is. :( Lots hope the women was wrong and she wasn't taken from her mom at 4 wks.

If she is 8 wks you might want to hold off on veg for awhile. I did with mine until they were 12 wks, just in case.
 
Hi,

I have 2 netherland dwarfs.

Dylan is about 5 years old and has always weighed 1.63kg. He is a good body shape.

Scarlet is about 2 years old and bit chunky. She weighs 1.5kg.

Good luck with your new bunny!

:wave:

wow really :shock: my mini lop is less then those :oops: rosie was my nethie she never got over the weight of 0.9kg at her healthiest
 
I will hopefully be getting some pics on here tonight, unfortunately my digital camera broke :( so my brother has taken some on his phone and we just need to work out how to get them on the laptop. She's beautiful, she is lots of different gray colours! Kinda light gray with dark gray bits in there too.
Her ears are so teeny tiny and she is just full of energy, she runs about like a mad thing! And she's been doing a LOT of binkys, so cute to watch.
We got her a load of toys but she has already decided she prefers to chew my mums walking stick and the wii fit balance board :shock:!!

I will go and find some pellets suitable for dwarfs/juniors tomorrow and will tell mum to not feed her anymore veg atm.

The woman we got her from said she had just been feeding her weetabix and bread. I did ask what she was told to feed her on and she said the person she got her from was feeding her the same because 'the young ones need dry stuff'

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated :wave:

Oh and I spoke to the vet about vaccs and she said Pippin has to be 12 weeks old for her first vaccs, so another 4 weeks then we'll take her.
 
really, we've always been told from 6weeks for myxi and from 10 weeks vhd, with 2 weeks apart

Yeah that's what the vet said when I asked this morning.
I use 'The village vet' in Meldreth, herts. If anyone else goes there, is that normal then to wait til 12 weeks?
 
Hi,

It does sound like she is a good weight for an 8 week old nethie. The average and healthiest weight for a nethie as an adult is approx 1kg.

So far as the injections go they will be done seperately and it's usually recommended that you get the first done at 12weeks of age. So you have a few weeks first to get his or her diet sorted.

I would suggest a small/junior bun pellet diet such as excel but try to introduce this slowly. Perhaps focus on encouraging bun to eat lots of different hays.

I believe the recommended age for spay is 6 months but the bun will need to be close to 1kg in weight. Alice (my Nethie) has just been spayed and she was 1.06kg before hand, she has struggled after the op and dropped to 900g.

I hope that helps! Welld one for offering bunny a lovely home! xx
 
Yeah that's what the vet said when I asked this morning.
I use 'The village vet' in Meldreth, herts. If anyone else goes there, is that normal then to wait til 12 weeks?

Sorry just read this.

I have always used very rabbit savvy vets (both when I lived in Norfolk and now I live in Derby) and I've always been informed that 12weeks is the recommended time. Something to do with their immune system development I believe.
 
Just going to try and add a pic to see if I can get it to work, never put a pic up on here before so not too sure if I'm doing it right! *fingers crossed* :D

Here is Pippin.....
Pippin005.jpg


It worked, yay! Sorry about the size, not too sure how to make it smaller.
 
Awww, she is a beauty :love::love: Congratulations for rescuing her!

My Oscar is a 4-month old nethie, and when he was weighed at the vets he was 1.1kg. They can be anywhere between 0.75kg to 1.5kg I remember reading somewhere... However, since yours is still young she has plenty of time to put on weight!

I would recommend slowly changing to a junior/dwarf pellet- we have excel but there are plenty out there, just choose whichever is easiest for you. Hay is obviously the main thing though. I would only feed a small amount of veg (if any) as it is often recommended to wait until at least 12 weeks to feed veg.

For vaccinations, I think they have to be 8 weeks for Myxi, and 2 weeks afterwards for VHD, but the vet will tell you at the check up. I was told by my vets to wait until Oscar was 6 months before getting him neutered so he was a bit bigger, so I'm guessing it would be similar with females?

Other advice- Nethies are cheeky little monkeys with massive personalities and very entertaining to watch :D Good luck to you both :wave:

ETA: Just read what you vet said re: vaccinations. I guess every vet has their preference/guideline, as long as you are happy they are good rabbit-saavy vets I wouldn't worry too much. As someone else said, at least it gives time for her diet to settle :)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top