Lionhead Help :)

Okay, so we are suddenly the proud owners of a Lionhead, as seen in Galadriel's thread well-that-was-a-big-surprise-t21809.html.

I have a couple of questions:

The food that came with him is 16% Small World (made by Manna Pro). Do Lionheads need 18%, because of the wool they produce? His wool is not very long, as you can see. I can't tell if he's supposed to be double-maned. I know Lionheads aren't used for wool production, since they have a small amount of it, but I want to make sure he's getting the protein he needs.

Do you have to brush Lionheads?

Thanks, y'all! <br /><br /> __________ Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:58 pm __________ <br /><br /> Forgot to mention he's got this big bald spot behind his head... what you might expect to see with fur mites, except there's no dandruff, no inflammation, no specks of stuff, nothing. Just clean, healthy white skin.

Forgot to mention he's got this big bald spot behind his head... what you might expect to see with fur mites, except there's no dandruff, no inflammation, no specks of stuff, nothing. Just clean, healthy white skin.

Congratulations on the new Lionhead! To answer your questions, we feed Manna Pro 16% to our Lionheads and they do very well for us on it. I will have to hop over to your other post and see your new cutie. For grooming, I have found a toy dog comb made by Little Paws (could be wrong on the brand though) works great! Just grooming as needed and normally working out any tangles with your fingers is enough. Maybe he has a bald sport from another rabbit pulling it out? One of our does has a spot, I would not call bald but definitely less wool/fur than our others, right behind her neck. The guy we bought her from said a buck got a little over zealous during a breeding and tore it out.

There are a FEW that do OK with 16%, but I don't have any of those genes in mine and if I try to feed any thing less than 18% they go bald. The only true way to tell is at birth as I've had some double manes that as they got older and past their sr molt looked like single manes and vis versa. Test breeding to a known double mane will help, if you get all doubles he is a double for sure if any single or no mane then he's a single. Flea combs work well, generally I comb every day. I have some that it wouldn't be needed, others need it.

amandainohio24":gf0u5lvt said:

Maybe he has a bald sport from another rabbit pulling it out?

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He was an only bunny over there, so that wouldn't be it... Our Pinto used to do that to does, though, so I've seen it! :roll:

amandainohio24":gf0u5lvt said:

we feed Manna Pro 16% to our Lionheads and they do very well for us on it.

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Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":gf0u5lvt said:

There are a FEW that do OK with 16%, but I don't have any of those genes in mine and if I try to feed any thing less than 18% they go bald.

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Okay, I guess maybe I'll try him on 18% and see what happens... at first, I thought maybe it was cheap feed, but it looks like decent stuff. So maybe he's just one of those that needs higher protein. You can tell that it's supposed to be wool where the bald spot is, because there is some very sparse wool in it.

amandainohio24":gf0u5lvt said:

For grooming, I have found a toy dog comb made by Little Paws (could be wrong on the brand though) works great! Just grooming as needed and normally working out any tangles with your fingers is enough.

Click to expand...

Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":gf0u5lvt said:

Flea combs work well, generally I comb every day. I have some that it wouldn't be needed, others need it.

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Alright, I figured that wool was wool, and even though it might not be the whole bunny, it would still need combing. Thank y'all for the recommendations! I'll be going out tomorrow and I'll see what I find!

Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":gf0u5lvt said:

The only true way to tell is at birth as I've had some double manes that as they got older and past their sr molt looked like single manes and vis versa. Test breeding to a known double mane will help, if you get all doubles he is a double for sure if any single or no mane then he's a single.

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I have no plans for breeding this little fellow! Looks like he's going to be a house bunny. He definitely has the personality for it.

Thank y'all so much for the help!!!
:thankyou:

Miss M":3vj9vcml said:

Forgot to mention he's got this big bald spot behind his head... what you might expect to see with fur mites, except there's no dandruff, no inflammation, no specks of stuff, nothing. Just clean, healthy white skin.

Click to expand...

I feed my Lionheads 16% and have had no issues. I also do not brush them. As for the spot does it look like the picture below? I had that problem with my French Angoras. It was exactly as you described. I did use diatomaceous earth on them twice, 10 days apart. I don't know for sure if that cured them of whatever it was but with 6-8 weeks they looked normal.

The spot got bigger and balder than what is shown in the photo before it finally cleared up

ckcs":2q0x4lk1 said:

Miss M":2q0x4lk1 said:

Forgot to mention he's got this big bald spot behind his head... what you might expect to see with fur mites, except there's no dandruff, no inflammation, no specks of stuff, nothing. Just clean, healthy white skin.

Click to expand...

I feed my Lionheads 16% and have had no issues. I also do not brush them. As for the spot does it look like the picture below? I had that problem with my French Angoras. It was exactly as you described. I did use diatomaceous earth on them twice, 10 days apart. I don't know for sure if that cured them of whatever it was but with 6-8 weeks they looked normal.

The spot got bigger and balder than what is shown in the photo before it finally cleared up

Click to expand...

Okay, thank you!!

Your picture looks a lot like what this little fellow has going on, except his is larger, I believe. So maybe I'll start treating for fur mites, just in case.