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Is the breed lion head a round head flat face rabbit or triangular head rabbit?

Happy Hopping

Wise Old Thumper
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...sibly-terrible-health/?utm_term=.2806477b58d0

because according to the above link, Lion head are in that category and should be avoided.

However, the people in this forum are much better experts than Washington Post, so I would sincerely like you people's opinion in this matter

because according to washington post, (see link above) , it says "This and other breeds such as the Lionhead — a maned animal that looks like no wild rabbit you’ve ever seen hopping through a field — often suffer from dental problems, ear infections and overflowing tear ducts, according to three British animal welfare charities that are trying to draw attention to the medical woes of brachycephalic cats and rabbits."
 
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...sibly-terrible-health/?utm_term=.2806477b58d0

because according to the above link, Lion head are in that category and should be avoided.

However, the people in this forum are much better experts than Washington Post, so I would sincerely like you people's opinion in this matter

because according to washington post, (see link above) , it says "This and other breeds such as the Lionhead — a maned animal that looks like no wild rabbit you’ve ever seen hopping through a field — often suffer from dental problems, ear infections and overflowing tear ducts, according to three British animal welfare charities that are trying to draw attention to the medical woes of brachycephalic cats and rabbits."


Some Lionheads can be very brachycephalic (short nosed), but some can have a more 'normal' skull structure. There is a trend now to cross a Lionhead with a Mini Lop creating a 'Lion Lop' and these can come with a shed load of problems due to the conformation of their skull.

This is a Lion Lop

pictl24.jpg
 
Tucker looks normal like a regular bun to me not so flat in the face (I'm no expert though) x

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He's got uppy ears and a more triangular head - so he should have better odds for 'normal' teeth - but this is no guarantee. Are his front teeth OK? I would get him checked by a vet (using an ottoscope to see his back teeth), just so you know if he currently has any issues. In my experience, you can't tell which ones will get dental (or any other) problems - only how they are at the time. Do you have any idea how old he is?
 
Izzy is a lionlop and has only had teeth issues once when I first got her 6 years ago, and she was a rescue so who knows if that was because of the way she was cared for previously. I would have thought that if a lionhead was an unhealthy breed, then crossing it with something else could improve their health (although I guess that also opens up another breeds health issues so could make it worse)
 
I find that the closer you get to a lionhead that is supposedly well-bred for shows, the more brachycephalic they are likely to be. My Morpheus and bridge bun Nessarose both have/had longer faces than "show" people would like, no issues with teeth. (iirc, the gene for manes is dominant, which means it's relatively easy to "create" and obtain fully maned longer nosed rabbits.) Athena is a lionhead cross, with a weird bridge in her otherwise long face, and I think she occasionally has spurs, but nothing that's needed intervention as yet.
 
there is another bun on that link called Snoopy. but I don't know what kind of bun it is

There is already some behavior change on my female bun Minnie. As of last night, she's hiding under the bed, the same bed that Bobby used to hide under when he was alive. I don't know why she does that, as she never done that before. And it's only been 24 hr. since Bobby passed away
 
there is another bun on that link called Snoopy. but I don't know what kind of bun it is

There is already some behavior change on my female bun Minnie. As of last night, she's hiding under the bed, the same bed that Bobby used to hide under when he was alive. I don't know why she does that, as she never done that before. And it's only been 24 hr. since Bobby passed away

Snoopy looks to be part New Zealand White

hZ2PX30.jpg


NZWs are bred for their meat :cry: They are also used in research settings eg drug research, cosmetics research etc :cry: All NZWs I have cared for have had wonderful temperaments, they were all a delight to look after :love:
 
my vet who has been dealing with rabbits for 30+ years has said that there has been a drastic increase in rabbits having dentals. when she started as a vet, it was odd to have a rabbit in for a dental, usually they were from abused backgrounds with poor diet. these days she's doing a few dentals every single day, there has been a massive increase. from her point of view, its the norm to bring a bunny in for a dental or expect to have a dental done during a rabbits life. she has rabbits with 0 dietary issues, the owners are doing everything right, yet the rabbit still requires dentals every 8 weeks for instance.

the bunnies she sees with issues with the most are lionheads, lops and dwarfs. the reason being that we keep breeding them to have rounder heads as it is "cuter," meaning that the teeth don't have enough room causing them to be misaligned or grow into the jaw.

its a difficult situation.
 
Jane, what do you think my bun Minnie is acting that way, hiding under the bed?

As to adoption, I imagine the worst case scenario is wait after easter, by then, there'll be a lot of male rabbits for adoption:evil:

as to this New Zealand White, what are the common gene related problem w/ this breed? as I can't find any here:

http://www.bunnyhugga.com/a-to-z/breeds/new-zealand-white.html

NZWs tend to be very robust. They often have poor eyesight and as a result they may 'scan'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pG5NVZgknI

As for Minnie, she may be finding it comforting to be sitting in Bobby's special place. Lady Lydia used to go straight to Sir Victor's previous resting spot in the garden after he passed away. She continued to do so for the rest of her life.
 
I came back from SPCA, the lionhead mix is still a somewhat square head, I can easily tell his head is not a triangular head, it's not totally flat, but not as triangular as say my Dutch bun or Bobby

My problem is, each time my bun got sick, I get really stressed, so I don't want to deal w/ potential dental problem that I think Tucker could have.

As to the bun Snoopy, they have him at a foster home, so I can't visit him

As I do Bobby's cremation today, the staff only there said the same thing about Minnie's behaviour: that she want to sit at Bobby's special spot, I never see Minnie sits there before, and yet she knows that spot is Bobby's spot. That's amazing. Must be the smell, and this staff told me that I should encourage her to do so
 
I came back from SPCA, the lionhead mix is still a somewhat square head, I can easily tell his head is not a triangular head, it's not totally flat, but not as triangular as say my Dutch bun or Bobby

My problem is, each time my bun got sick, I get really stressed, so I don't want to deal w/ potential dental problem that I think Tucker could have.

As to the bun Snoopy, they have him at a foster home, so I can't visit him

As I do Bobby's cremation today, the staff only there said the same thing about Minnie's behaviour: that she want to sit at Bobby's special spot, I never see Minnie sits there before, and yet she knows that spot is Bobby's spot. That's amazing. Must be the smell, and this staff told me that I should encourage her to do so

I agree, it will be a comfort to her. Although it can be heartbreaking for us to see. I used to shed a few tears when Lady Lydia took herself off to sit in her beloved Sir Victor's special place.

I have already fallen for Snoopy Jason !! I hope that you will feel able to go visit him.

I'll be thinking of you today and I'll light a special memorial candle to mark the occasion of Bobby's cremation xx
 
thank you. I write a new thread on Minnie's behavior

As to Snoopy, someone locally this morning told me that I should give Minnie some time to go thru the griefing process, before I should introduce a new partner to her. A loose guess would be say at least 2 weeks.

But by then, it would be Easter. I'm asking the regular volunteer in the rabbit area at SPCA and see if they notice a high inflow of rabbits after the Easter. If so, I'll wait for the week after Mar. 30.
 
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Vagabond is rule out by the SPCA themselves, as he cannot get along w/ any other buns.

I have decided Tiggy Winkle & Peter Rabbit are too big for my bun Minnie as companion.

So it all narrows down to Estrada or Gideon

Can you guess what breed these 2 are?
 
So a few days ago, I drove to the local SPCA, only see 1 rabbit, as the other one is at foster care.

Today, I drove 2 x 40 km to the out of town SPCA (a smaller setup), and they setup some sort of community gathering for animals to promote adoption, so all the foster parents bring their buns to this SPCA. I adopted Gideon, I decided to rename him Fudgie. The local SPCA only has 1 male, and it's yet another lion head mix breed. So this other SPCA, they have 3 male, among them, Fudgie is the only one who's not a flat head bun. Save me the worry in the future of any dental issue due to the shape of a bunny's head.

He's a tame bun, he discovered the 2nd floor of the bunny castle in 20 min. after exploring it. My other 2 buns in the past, took them 5 days to discover and hop to the 2nd floor. He also discover the secret way to hop down from 2nd fl. to the play tunnel.

I have made the wrong stereotype of a tame rabbit. Because of Bobby, I assoicate tame with squeamish, because that's what Bobby is. But Fudgie is not the same, he's easy to get along with, his former foster parents has 2 dogs (1 of them is a German Shepherd) and he get along w/ them.

The SPCA people put him on the Martin pellet diet, this brand is not good. As a coincidence, an old post I wrote 8 yr. ago said my bun Bernie took 6 hr. to eat a carrot with his former Martin diet. After the Oxbow diet kicks in, 5 min. to kill the whole carrot. So I have to induce Fudgie to eat the Oxbow pellet

P.S. because this SPCA is located out of town, I was 1/2 hr. late as I can't find it. About 15 min. before I arrive, a family of 4 is also looking at Fudgie, but that SPCA director is really smart, as she wants to get as many adoption out as possible, so she told that family I called first on Fudgie, and she takes that family to another room to visit some other rabbits. in the end, 24 adoptions were done in 1 Saturday.

And I am immensely relief that I show up on Sat., if I show up tomorrow, Fudgie would have been adopted by that family, and there wouldn't be any other male rabbbit (non flat head) to adopt.
 
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