Question about malocclusion

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Castielle

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So I had two kits in one of my litters come up with some pretty bad teeth at just eight weeks old.
My question is regarding their parents, my buck is a really nice looking Holland lop from some great lines, so I’d be surprised if there were tooth problems coming from him. But my understanding of malocclusion is that both parents have to be carriers to produce kits with bad teeth?
The doe was out of more questionable lines so I wouldn’t be that surprised if she is a carrier.
Both parents have, by all appearances, perfect teeth.
So my question is does anyone have a better understanding of the genetics of rabbit teeth? Should I cull both the buck and doe? Or does malocclusion only require one parent to carry it to pop up in the kits?
Thanks in advance!
 
I would breed both of the parents to different rabbits [if you can] -maybe you can isolate the problem rabbit. -I will admit that I have never had much of a problem with malocclusion in my meat rabbits, -i only had problems with one doe, and she was dropped off / dumped at my farm .. she always had a kit or two that developed malocclusion, I never kept any breed stock from her.
 
michaels4gardens":2c981q4m said:
I would breed both of the parents to different rabbits [if you can] -maybe you can isolate the problem rabbit. -I will admit that I have never had much of a problem with malocclusion in my meat rabbits, -i only had problems with one doe, and she was dropped off / dumped at my farm .. she always had a kit or two that developed malocclusion, I never kept any breed stock from her.
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I completely forgot to mention, this was the second litter out of the doe with no occurrences of malocclusion out of her previous litter (bred to a different buck)
And the buck has also been bred before to a different doe and didn’t produce any kits with malocclusion.
I’m assuming that means it’s more likely that they’d both carriers?
 
the occurrence of malocclusion is very complex and is not attributed to one single gene, but multiple factors affecting bone and tooth growth. Jaw growth is also highly inheritable - some traits can be carried and/ or passed on by one parent only. It can be that the genes just lined up poorly in the breeding of those two particular rabbits...
 
Alright, that definitely would make more sense . Thank you so much for your help!
 
my view is this (contrary to that of many).

If a rabbit produces offspring that are unfit (poor health, bad teeth etc). I cull the parents. Doesn't matter if they are great, doesn't matter if it's just that pairing. I try to think long term and I want to weed out bad genetics. Ergo I cull. I would cull both parents because I don't want them to pass their genetics down the line to unsuspecting owners. I've seen how malocclusion is handled in the pet world by MOST pet owners AND some breeders and I simply wouldn't wish that fate on any rabbit, not if I can do my part in preventing it.
 

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