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Issues caused by weird breeding?

dizzyg

Warren Veteran
*This isn't a breeding vs rescue debate, it's a health debate*

Thinking about threads in GC about dogs and cats and breeding, I was wondering what health issues you have with your buns that are down to breeding for a certain 'look'?

:wave:
 
Phoebe my mini lop has dental issues due to breeding. We are now on 10 weeks post dental, we've had to completely change her diet... she was having dentals every 6 weeks.

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I had four mini lops for nine years and they didn't have any issues with health due to their breeding, though many mini-lops do.
 
Helios, Selene, and Persephone are all predisposed to sore hocks. All rex types. (Helios, Selene are standards.) Persephone, my mini rex, has a mess of a mouth regarding her teeth. Touch wood she hasn't needed a dental yet as she lets nothing get in the way of her eating.

Erasmus Chipper and my late Iris, dwarf lops, both deaf.

Generally I've been very lucky with my rabbits though. My healthiest are definitely my 'generic' rabbits, Morningstar and Rivergrace. In fact my vet said that Morning is the picture of a perfect rabbit. Both these girls are a larger medium sized uppy-eared rabbit with a decently proportioned face.
 
Like dogs bred with horrendously short skulls, rabbits such as mini lops and nethies that are also bred to have flatter faces suffer similar problems. Dental , breathing, ect.
Rexes..sore hocks and can be more likely to have heart problems.
Very fluffly double maned lionheads, angoras and woolies, if taken on by someone without knowledge or time to groom properly can get matts that will tear the skin. Can also be more prone to eye infection if fur growing into eyes.
English lops get ear problems and torn ears due to the silly length of them.
Having said that we have seen dutchies, English and dwarf lops with bad teeth over the years, but as with all pets, breeders have a lot to answer for :(
 
My one and only lop, my bridge boy Chester had earbase abcess issues and dental issues for a number of years. Countless GA's for them.

Two of my Lionhead siblings have had weird stomach issues, Lola more so with a definite ongoing caecum problem and she also has more of a squashed face and can get snuffly/grunty when she bends to eat ceacatrophs/groom, Frankie had tooth root problems and I am starting to think Lola may be showing signs of it too. Frankie was the best hay eater I have ever seen, and Lola is pretty good too so owner error shouldn't be the cause there, but Chester had far too many pellets and wasn't so bothered by hay (back then didn't really have the knowledge or variety to try him with so his dental issues could well have in part been owner error)

Cookie has done reasonably well out of the three lions (all siblings) but now seems to have Pasteurella flare ups but that is just bad luck rather than breed specific.

My most hardy (I guess you could say!)bunnies were my Dutch crosses (not sure what they were crossed with!) Barely had a thing wrong with them their whole lives and I had quite a lot of them! My lovely Ringo had the over growing front teeth, but the rest pretty much fine.

Forgot to say Lola's fur underneath and skirt are like candy floss, very angora like which is not ideal with a bunny with ceacum issues who also does not tolerate being picked up and has learnt to evade my tactics to catch her, her issues are a challenge for sure and would have been a nightmare if she had ended up as a bunny being bought by an inexperienced owner for their kids :rolleyes: :shock: She has a long mane as does Cookie and they need regular grooming and detangling where they've scratched behind their ears and tangled them up again.
 
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God-knows-what in Aboleth's ancestry has caused her to have shocking teeth, and she has a relatively normal face! She has weird little prinny-toes on her front feet (she basically stands on tiptoe) as well so her outside nail on each foot flicks out and won't wear down as easily. She'd got a superfluffy bumskirt, like a bum-dewlap, which can get matted in wet weather.

I'm sure Lopsy's at least partly deaf. He listens like a trooper to some things but more than once he's been scared of someone suddenly appearing, having gone through the squeaky back door or noisy gate, announced their presence with a 'Bunnies!?' shout and, in once case, I even talked to him, loudly, while he was on the windowsill cleaning himself, had opened the playhouse door and everything, and then scared the bejeezus out of him when he looked up which was more than a little funny XD His face seems to be getting shorter with age as well which is weird. He's had ear problems once, appears more prone to eye problems than Aboleth (which is good, she can't really afford anymore!) which could just be down to idiocy and has some sort of foot deformity so one of his front toes sticks up weird.

Neither of mine has a traceable ancestry, although Lopsy is of English extraction, so who knows what else lies ahead :thumb: Love my mongrels though :)
 
Rews often have sight and hearing issues, many lops have dental issues, ear abscesses, arthritis and issues cleaning their bottoms, rexes often have issues with eyes and sore hocks, giants can have heart issues, English spots are susceptible to mega colon disease and lionheads are prone to dental issues too. At the rescue we see lots of breed related health issues :(
 
I forgot Mousey pie. She has loads of excess skin / dewlap (looks like she has boobs) which my vet said was attributable to her breed being bred for fur. This causes her issues with snoring, squeaking , loose skin around her larynx etc. Poor baba
 
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