Holland lops

daisy1 · Oct 17, 2024

Hi, I'm currently fostering a Holland lop with the intention of adopting if she bonds with my rabbit. I have recently been made aware( by a vet) of the health problems these rabbits are prone to( was not told this when I took the rabbit to foster). Experiences please with these types of rabbits. Is it inevitable that this will happen? Have currently paid thousands of dollars in vet fees this year for gut statis issues, so want to know what I'm in for here.
Thanks

Kaoticness · Oct 18, 2024

My vet tells me to just monitor for anything that my happen with my rabbit especially with his mouth as his teeth have a slight misalign. My vet has also called him a bull dog to his face and he is very offended by that. That is something you'd also have to talk to the vet cause every rabbit is different any you might luck out and your foster fail might not experience any of those health problems.

Ruth · Oct 18, 2024

I only got lops in recent years, and only one of them has had ear problems. Even then it hasn't been vet bad so far. With the one that is more prone to ear infections, I have heard it's best and in my experience it has worked, to keep an eye on and clean and massage their ears about once a month.
I've never had a deaf one, or one that has gotten an ear infection, but I've only had lops for around a year and I hear that they tend to have more ear problems when they are old, which is natural.
Generally though if you want the least amount of heath problems, I would find a mixed breed bunny to pair. My mixed breeds have been the sturdiest and have never had health problems that have caused me to worry.

JBun · Oct 18, 2024

It just depends. Yes, they can be more prone to dental, respiratory, and ear issues because of the shape of their head and having lop ears, but that also isn't an absolute. Some of my hardiest and healthiest rabbits have been Holland lops. My two most recent hardly ever had a health issue in their 10 years of life, until they reached old age and had common old age ailments. They certainly had a lot less problems than my other breeds of rabbits.

How old is the foster rabbit? Any preexisting, or current signs of dental, respiratory, or ear issues, that have been found by a vet?

daisy1 · Oct 20, 2024

JBun said:
It just depends. Yes, they can be more prone to dental, respiratory, and ear issues because of the shape of their head and having lop ears, but that also isn't an absolute. Some of my hardiest and healthiest rabbits have been Holland lops. My two most recent hardly ever had a health issue in their 10 years of life, until they reached old age and had common old age ailments. They certainly had a lot less problems than my other breeds of rabbits.

How old is the foster rabbit? Any preexisting, or current signs of dental, respiratory, or ear issues, that have been found by a vet?

Thanks. She is around 2. History is unknown as is from the SPCA. Hasn't been looked at by a vet yet, as was there with my other bunny so was only at the vet to keep him company

JBun · Oct 21, 2024

Being that the bun isn't a youngster and isn't currently showing signs of health problems, that at least is promising.

If she's currently healthy and passes a vet exam and dental check, being 2 yrs old would mean there's at least no genetic dental malocclusion likely to be a problem. So it would be a matter of the right nutrition, with lots of roughage for proper tooth wear, as well as proper nutrients in the diet for good bone growth, and possibly daily (safe) UV sun exposure for vit D/calcium conversion, to help minimize the possible development of acquired dental disease.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Teeth

Then there's just regular monitoring of the ears, and cleaning treatments (by vet instruction) when necessary, to minimize the possible development of ear issues. And a low dust (bedding, litter, hay), low odor irritant (no chemical or environmental irritants, clean litter box to minimize ammonia build up from urine) environment to minimize respiratory irritation contributing to the possible development of respiratory illness. Just normal proper care, the same as it should be for any pet bun, can all help be a preventative for possible health issues.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Wellness_check