4wk old kit with fur loss

[Maplerabbits]

4week old New Zealand buck with fur loss on chest and inner leg/thigh areas. Do not visibly see any dandruff/mites/scabs on him. No other kits in litter or the mother have fur loss so far and their skin all looks healthy. No dandruff or scaling. Any input on what you all think may be causing this? I did dose them all with ivermectin just to be on safe side if it is mites. They were scratching and grooming some but nothing excessive from what I can tell. Thanks for any suggestions

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Could be overgrooming

 

[judymac]

Generally, I find that in my herd, overgrooming (by the rabbit itself, but more usually by a littermate) results in cut-short hair, instead of naked. Usually the entire belly isn't affected like this. However, I have a wild theory. Look at the part of the lower neck above the belly that still has intact hair. See how it lays in locks with a slight curl, instead of laying as a single coat?

That seems like there may be some of the curly 'Astrex' gene involved. The funny thing about curly (which is a recessive gene, coded wa, usually associated with Rex) is that the kits with the gene often end up with bald patches while growing up. There can be a wide variety in the amount of curl, from a faint trace to a full curl. There's a thread here about the baldness in curlies at https://rabbittalk.com/threads/astrex-genes-what-do-you-know-about-em.21202/ This is a normal happening with kits born with the curly gene, and the hair usually grows back. Sometimes the hair will grow back in curly, often it comes back as normal hair.

 

[Scooter1A]

4week old New Zealand buck with fur loss on chest and inner leg/thigh areas. Do not visibly see any dandruff/mites/scabs on him. No other kits in litter or the mother have fur loss so far and their skin all looks healthy. No dandruff or scaling. Any input on what you all think may be causing this? I did dose them all with ivermectin just to be on safe side if it is mites. They were scratching and grooming some but nothing excessive from what I can tell. Thanks for any suggestions View attachment 43068View attachment 43069View attachment 43070

That is one cute bunny.

 

[Maplerabbits]

Generally, I find that in my herd, overgrooming (by the rabbit itself, but more usually by a littermate) results in cut-short hair, instead of naked. Usually the entire belly isn't affected like this. However, I have a wild theory. Look at the part of the lower neck above the belly that still has intact hair. See how it lays in locks with a slight curl, instead of laying as a single coat?
View attachment 43091
That seems like there may be some of the curly 'Astrex' gene involved. The funny thing about curly (which is a recessive gene, coded wa, usually associated with Rex) is that the kits with the gene often end up with bald patches while growing up. There can be a wide variety in the amount of curl, from a faint trace to a full curl. There's a thread here about the baldness in curlies at https://rabbittalk.com/threads/astrex-genes-what-do-you-know-about-em.21202/ This is a normal happening with kits born with the curly gene, and the hair usually grows back. Sometimes the hair will grow back in curly, often it comes back as normal hair.

Thanks for your input. Funny I had that idea in the back of my head wondering. I wasn’t clear though….thought it was usually only found in Rex rabbits? Neither parents of the litter have that fluffy look now or when they were kits themselves. I’m wondering which parent it comes from. It’s not something I desire or want in my rabbits but would be interesting to see if he’s a fluke thing or if every litter produces this.

 

[kusanar314]

Thanks for your input. Funny I had that idea in the back of my head wondering. I wasn’t clear though….thought it was usually only found in Rex rabbits? Neither parents of the litter have that fluffy look now or when they were kits themselves. I’m wondering which parent it comes from. It’s not something I desire or want in my rabbits but would be interesting to see if he’s a fluke thing or if every litter produces this.

Rex is a recessive coat type, so it doesn't show with only 1 copy of the gene, it can lurk around for several generations without popping back out and then suddenly it's there out of the blue. You could test breed it back to it's parent, if it IS rex and the parent is a carrier (which it would have to be in order to be normal coated and have a rex baby) then you would be expecting about half rex and about half normal coated kits (guaranteed to carry rex) in the litter, but if you get even a single rex in the litter you know that this one is rex or at least carrying it and so is the parent.

 

[judymac]

.thought it was usually only found in Rex rabbits?

Yes, that is where it was apparently originally found, but according to the thread I mentioned, one person had these from a "rex x creme d'argent buck and checkered giant x NZ does." So those kits would probably not look Rex at all, being only 1/4 Rex. They also mentioned an entire line created using one naked buck, and crossing only to New Zealand does, so there could easily be the gene hiding in New Zealand stock. Originally, all the New Zealands I knew were New Zealand whites, I was surprised to later find New Zealands available in black and red, and while those genetics have probably always been hiding there, I'm sure some breeders made the new colors by crossbreeding.