As for alfalfa hay... yeah, he's a stubborn bunny.
I have a feeling his previous owner wasn't too good about keeping hay available. He never seems sure of what to do with it. I think I've seen him chewing on hay maybe three or four times since he joined our family but I make sure to always keep a good, fresh bundle of it in the corner of his cage. In the beginning he would just squash it down so he could sleep and poop on it. I've since changed his bedding from wood pellets to straw which he seems MUCH happier with, but he still doesn't eat the hay, no matter what type I buy for him.
He is used to getting his hay in pellet form, apparently, and prefers that. His diet is pretty varied, considering, he gets a little bit of fruit almost every morning, while our prune tree was fruiting he was allowed to run around in the backyard every afternoon to find a fallen prune (tiny ones) to eat.
His fur is thick but short and yeah, his ears are a bit stumpy looking.
We live in Belgium
so you saw correctly, Tinysmom. I've considered that he could be a specimen of a local breed, perhaps. I know that for example there are 2 or 3 different breeds of German lops so maybe there are some particularly Belgian breeds that I don't know about.
He's a very goofy rabbit and we are spoiled to have him. When we took him to the vet for his first appointment since joining us she was astounded at how calm he was. As soon as I opened the carry bag he just flopped down and melted onto her table. She was able to do anything she wanted to him including showing us how to trim his teeth and all he did was ask for more petting.
When he joined us I assumed that a rabbit was rather like a rat in that you leave it in the cage except for when you are playing with it. Momi insists, however, on being let out the moment we wake up and if we work from home that day he stays out until we head up for bed. He only pretends to eat cables and other naughty things when he needs our attention because he's out of food or water. In fact, one night we forgot to put him away and when we came down, he was right where we had left him, snoring on the back of the couch. In fact, it's the dog's fault that we can't leave him loose at night... she steals his hay and then gets sick all over the floor like an idiot. She and Momi are best friends and even though she's nearly ten times his size they love to play tag (with the rabbit winning, usually) and he has utterly dominated my cat as well.
Photo showing my poor Bagheera's lowered place on the household pecking order:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/misty_mcanally/9419569905/
All this is why we're rather desperate to hear that he's a typical specimen of this breed or the other. We know he's a senior citizen who may leave us at any time and even our vet says we'll never find a second rabbit like this one. At least if we could get another of the same breed after he goes, the chances might be more in our favor.
As for his weight, he weighs just a smidge over 1.5 kilos ( about 3 1/3 lbs). And now he's mad at us for weighing him and is sulking in the corner or the room so I had better go bring him a raisin as a peace offering or I won't be getting any bunny kisses before bed.
