American fuzzy lop

Answer 1

HISTORY

The American Fuzzy Lop rabbit has its beginnings out of the Holland Lop, English Spot and French Angora rabbits. In the beginning all Holland Lop rabbits were solid in color. Some breeders wanted to get a broken pattern for the Holland Lops and bred to the English Spot rabbits. While they attained the broken pattern they were after the fur did not meet the required texture and roll back they needed. They then took the offspring of the Holland/English Spot mix and bred to the French Angora in an attempt to get both broken color and the texture of fur they were looking for.

They succeeded in this endeavor. However, every once in a while a fuzzy lop eared rabbit popped up in the gene pool. That is because the fuzzy lop gene is recessive. Therefore, one can breed two Holland Lop rabbits and get all Hollands or occasionally a Fuzzy will also be born to a litter.

Fuzzy Lops are the size of the Holland Lop and therefore, both the Holland and Fuzzy Lop are the smallest of the lop eared rabbits. The difference is in the length of their fur. The weight should be no more than 4 pounds.

PERSONALITY

Fuzzy Lops are very sociable and loveable rabbits. They enjoy being held and love attention. My baby Fuzzy Lops get handled a lot and as they grow older they will almost jump into my arms when I open their cages. They are playful and make wonderful pets and behave exceptionally well on the show table.

CARE OF THE FUZZY LOP

Fuzzy Lops, for the most part, do require more grooming than the Holland Lop. I have found different fur textures for the Fuzzy Lop, in that some have very soft fur with a cottony undercoat, while others have a courser coat without the cottony undercoat and generally need very little brushing. If breeding a Holland and Fuzzy the coat seems to have more of the cottony undercoat requiring more brushing and grooming. However, because Fuzzies enjoy being handled, if grooming is started when they are young this can be enjoyable for both the groomer and the rabbit. I find it very relaxing to sit and brush these sociable little rabbits. If Fuzzy is bred to Fuzzy (which the American Fuzzy Lop rabbit club prefers) the coat appears to be easier to groom. However, having said that, I also find that the well groomed Holland/Fuzzy mix does better on the show table than Fuzzy/Fuzzy breeding.

DIET

All rabbits need hay and fresh greens as well as their pellet diet and Fuzzy Lops are no different. In my opinion, the only extra ingredient they need is papaya. I feed all my rabbits a pellet that contains both Papaya and Yucca in it. In addition I give all my bunnies a Papaya tablet once a week except for the Fuzzy Lops who get a table twice a week. The reason for this is because rabbits are generally very clean animals and groom themselves, and their litter mates, a lot. Therefore, they can get a hairball, just like a cat, that needs to be passed. The difference is that while cats cough up the hairball a rabbit cannot. Therefore, it has to be passed through the feces. Because Fuzzies have the long hair they can get hairballs more than a short haired rabbit that can get bound up in the intestine and may not be able to pass it. Ingestion of Papaya and Yucca help this process. Papaya tablets are generally found in the natural vitamin section of most grocery stores. While the rabbit pellets I feed contain both Papaya and Yucca I have no idea how long it has been at the manufacturers or feed store and may have lost some potency so I give the Papaya tablet to help ensure a healthy digestive system. NEVER feed wilted fresh greens to any rabbit and NEVER feed lettuce. Mine love, I mean love, fresh cilantro and parsley. I also give them old fashioned dry oats once a week. I generally, give cilantro and/or parsley once a week, hay 2-3 times per week, and dry oats twice a week along with their pellets. The newly weaned babies get oats sprinkled on top of their pellets daily. So really the only difference in feeding fuzzies vs. short haired rabbits is the fact I give them Papaya tables twice a week, and they love the taste!

Answer 2

American fuzzy lops are bunnies