No Tails, or small tails...what would cause?

[ladysown]

I'm assuming it's some odd genetic thing.

But what would cause two rabbits to create babies that have small or no tails? It's a mixed litter of normal tailed, small tailed and no tailed kits.

Both rabbits have previous litters with other rabbits without the tails being an issue.

Are these rabbits one should breed from if one is wanting to further the breed? Or should they be avoided with a ten-foot pole? I'm supposed to get one back from the breeding, but I'm wondering how I should treat any offspring from that doe (should one prove to be female). Should I consider them all to be pet stock or terminal ends? OR can I use them as I would any breeding pedigreed rabbit?

It's not like it's a horrid thing like a split penis or something...just odd tails.

Told the gal who has them that she has a new breed...the Manx rabbit! She's not concerned as they are for meat, but I"m just curious about it as I'm supposed to get one back.

 

[MaggieJ]

Weird. Any chance that momma was overenthusiastic when she cleaned them up after kindling? I've heard of kits missing ears and toes because of that.

 

[DevonW]

It's usually from the mother being a bit to overenthusiastic butt first babies usually have missing tails and head first babies tend to have missing ears.

 

[MaggieJ]

Do you mean because the doe had to pull them out of the birth canal, Devon? Or just that she cleaned them too vigorously after they were born?

 

[ladysown]

I asked the nibblin/cleaning question of the owner and she is quite convinced it's an inbreeding issue. She's an experienced breeder and she says these are not nibbled off tails. They are either completely missing OR very short. A couple apparently have normal tails.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

When tails 'shorten' like that, there may be neurological issues with movement and other rear end issues(bowel, bladder)--as the nerves usually wind up 'squished' into a smaller area than Nature intended. I would avoid them like the plague--granted, they are meat rabbits, but if you ever intend for the off spring and other future generations to live longer than 12 weeks, it would be a shame to have a very nice animal with a DQ fault that could be easily passed on.

 

[DevonW]

Do you mean because the doe had to pull them out of the birth canal, Devon? Or just that she cleaned them too vigorously after they were born?

Either or.

Baby bunnies also heal remarkably fast as well so you probably wouldn't see a scab and then it just looks like there is a lack of a tail.

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

There are breeds of cats and dogs that are naturally tailess, they don't have any neurological issues. Inbreeding issues usually show up as small stature animals and a lowering of fertility rate. Another issue would be cleft palate/misaligned teeth. If they were accidentally cleaned at birth it would be very unnoticeable until later. I would give the doe another chance and test breed her to the same buck again to see if it shows up some more. If it seems to be that they are actually tailess then I think you have discovered a new mutation in rabbits!!

 

[Farm Girl]

We had a cat once, and her first litter she had some with no tails, stubs, full length & 3/4 length.
Only the full length one survived.
The mother had a 1/2 tail.

I've never heard of it in rabbits before. Very interesting.

 

[Pickles]

May be a genetic abnormality. If thats the case, I wouldnt breed them again.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

There are breeds of cats and dogs that are naturally tailess, they don't have any neurological issues. Inbreeding issues usually show up as small stature animals and a lowering of fertility rate. Another issue would be cleft palate/misaligned teeth. If they were accidentally cleaned at birth it would be very unnoticeable until later. I would give the doe another chance and test breed her to the same buck again to see if it shows up some more. If it seems to be that they are actually tailess then I think you have discovered a new mutation in rabbits!!

No cat breed is naturally tailless-- the Manx has short and long tails. The short tailed usually are the ones that develop a 'hopping' gait. The Manx genetics can lay hidden-- every now and then, a 'news' show picks up on what people are calling 'Cabbits-- kittens they believe were fathered by a rabbit, because the tail is short or non-existent, and the kittens 'hop' The 'hop' in the gait is caused by the nerves being pinched- not enough room. The Manx's that don't hop, actually are lucky in that their nerves did not develop beyond the physical length of the spinal column. Think of a kitten that hops as having a form of Spina Bifida.

 

[eco2pia]

No cat breed is naturally tailless-- the Manx has short and long tails. .... Think of a kitten that hops as having a form of Spina Bifida.

Ok, I am going to get a little picky here. A Manx cat that has no tail is the result of a genetic mutation which is hereditary and passed on by the parents--as might also be the case with these tailless rabbits.

That means that both the Manx cats and the rabbits would be "naturally" tailless--they were born that way, nobody cut their tails off. A boxer dog has its tail docked--they are born with tails and it is cut off. They are not "naturally" tailless.

Whether this is a helpful or detrimental mutation is meaningless to the term "natural". A child born with at heart defect that subsequently dies, dies of "natural" (though tragic) causes.

 

[Brody]

interesting question - I'd atually been meaning to ask if there are rabbits wth longer tails .. these two little fuzzy mutts have really long tails compare to other rabbits I've known well

 

[eco2pia]

I have a rabbit with a fairly long tail. He also had big ears--and then he grew pretty big and they are fairly proportionate now. Maybe your fuzzy mutts are going to be big!

 

[akane]

I've seen pictures of versions of english lops with tails double the length of my champagne d'argent which are around the same weight. Other than that all of mine have grown in to their ears and tail.

 

[moonkitten]

Both rabbits have previous litters with other rabbits without the tails being an issue.

Based on this piece of information I would say there is a good possibility that this was a one-time cleaning issue that just happened to both does at the same time. The only way to tell for sure is to repeat this breeding and other breedings and see what happens. If all litters from this particular combination have short/no tails then yes, probably genetic. If it only happened the once, then probably cleaning.

At this point there is not enough data to say with 100% certainty what happened. I lean strongly towards the over-cleaning mom theory though.

 

[ladysown]

here's a pic of a normal tail and one without a tail

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

so, like dogs growing into their feet....
Now explain the 'fact' talked about some time ago on another forum-- kits born in winter have shorter ears as adults than full siblings born in the summer. The theory was that the ears radiate heat, so winter babies 'make' their ears short to conserve heat, while the summer babies need to radiate it, triggering extra ear length. Not dissimilar to Darwin Finches and beak shape/size, just faster, and very closely tied to the immediate weather conditions, rather than a fluctuating food supply.

 

[MaggieJ]

Some "fact", Terry. I'd sure want to see statistics backing it up! I can believe that over thousands of years such an adaption might happen in areas of extremely hot or extremely cold climate, but not in the course of a summer.

 

[ladysown]

it's one of those weird anomalies...i've seen it myself with bunnies. Same breeding of buck to doe. In summer you can get longer ears on the kits. Why..I don't know..it's just odd.