InspectorMorse
Wise Old Thumper
“Brachy” means short, “cephaly” refers to the head. In veterinary medicine we refer to animals with brachycephaly as having shorter skulls. We see this widely in dogs and cats; think of your bulldogs, pugs and Persians, but we are also seeing this bred for trait in rabbits.
Over time, breeders have selected a shorter, “cuter” face shape for our pets, but the results are disastrous and lead to a host of health problems and can affect quality of life. Examples of affected rabbit breeds include Netherland dwarf, lop-eared breeds and lionheads.
The shorter face means that the lower jaw is longer than the top one and dental malocclusion frequently results. This leads to tooth elongation, chronic pain, tongue and cheek lacerations, abscesses and in some cases euthanasia. Like in cats, the tear duct is often abnormal and leads to chronic tear overflow. Lop-eared breeds are also faced with an additional predisposition to middle ear infections as their ears do not stand up straight like their wild counterparts.
We love all our patients, but it can be heartbreaking when these breeds present consistently for health problems that could have been prevented if their anatomy was normal. It would be great if we can recognize this in our pet rabbits and perhaps appreciate the wild-type breeds that have been selected less and are less inbred.
