How To Care For Lop Rabbits

Hi. My name's Marie, and I'm the deputy manager of the small animal department at Wood Green Animal Shelter, and today I'm going to guide you on how to care for a lop rabbit. Lop rabbits do require slightly different care to others.

Mainly, it would be with their ears, to ensure that they're not picking up any debris from the floor. When checking your rabbits over, it's really important you feel all over their coat for any lumps and bumps, and that there's no mattes or anything, and if the coat's got damp. Lop rabbits do have fairly long ears and they are prone to dragging along the floor.

So do check these regularly to make sure that there's no sores around the edge, and that no bacteria's building up inside them. Also just look down them, and to make sure there's no wax building up inside them, as well. If you notice any injuries on these, or any lumps or bumps, take them to your vets immediately.

The lop eared rabbit also requires a really good quality diet. All rabbits are really prone to dental issues, so it's important you provide a diet that is going to help prevent this. This would include a good quality type of hay, and there should be green to light brown.

And you should be able to buy this in big bales like this to really build their accommodation up with it everywhere. They should also have a small bowl of dry mixed pellets once a day. Only a small handful.

This doesn't even have to be in a bowl. It could be in a small treat bowl, or even scattered around the accommodation to keep them busy. A wrong type of diet would be a muesli mix.

Mixes where they've got cereals and squashed peas are really bad for rabbits' diet. They can become obese from this, which could lead to fly strike and joint problems, and they could also, can be, very prone to dental issues, as these types of food are very soft and don't wear down their teeth. Your rabbit will also require vaccinations.

They will require a Myxomatosis vaccination every six months, and your VHD vaccination once a year. It is also a very good idea with your vets, to worm your rabbits every three months. This will help protect them against internal parasites, which can lead to fatal health issues.

When you're checking them over each week, as I mentioned, check for any lumps and bumps. Check that their eyes are clear and that there's no discharge around them, and that their nose is also clean and clear as well. You will also need to clip your rabbit's nails every three to four weeks.

There are many different types of nail clippers that can be purchased from your pet shops. Ask your vets to guide this with you for the first time, but from then on, it's an easy process that you and your family can do, and it'll help with you to be able to check your rabbit each week and identify any new problems with them. The lop rabbit needs a large accommodation.

A minimum size of a ten foot run with a five foot hutch inside, or attached to it, so that they've got the freedom of choice to move in and out. This breed of rabbit are quite prone to becoming obese, so a good quality diet, lots and lots of variety of different types of wild plants and garden plants, and good quality hay, and lots and lots of enrichment, as you can see in this run here. In this run here, you'll see we've got all sorts of houses, tunnels, trays for them to dig, which helps them express their natural behavior.

They can hide into tunnels, they can jump up into wooden logs, which are brilliant for their teeth to chew. They can even pull down hay from the hanging basket, all of which a rabbit, a dwarf lop rabbit, would require. Lastly, and most likely the most important thing a rabbit requires, you know, dwarf lop rabbit, would be a companion.

Rabbits need their own kind as a companionship, along with the human kind. The best is a neutered pair of male and female, and these should be neutered at the age of four to six months. .