Bunnie House

ABDOMEN – The belly; the area of the body from the diaphragm to the pelvis that holds (primarily) the digestive and urinary tracts.

ABSCESSES – Pockets of infection.

ALBINO – All white, and all white rabbit with pink eyes.

ANTERIOR – Front end.

ARCH – An arch of the back; an upward curvature of the spine.

BANDING – Different bands of colour on a single hair.

BARRED – Elongated spots.

BASE COLOUR – Undercolour or colour of fur closest to the skin.

BELL EARS – Large, heavy tipped ears that fall.

BELT – The line where the white and coloured portions of the body meet.

BLEMISH – Any defect in the appearance of the rabbit.

BLOOM – The superb finish of a coat in good condition.

BOWED LEGS – Legs that curve out in the middle like a bow.

BREED – A class of rabbits in which the rabbits have similar characteristics and those features are reproducible among members of the class.

BREEDER – Commonly used to mean a person who raises a certain variety of rabbits; can also be used to refer to a rabbit that is being used for breeding/reproduction.

BREEDING CERTIFICATE – A written certificate from the owner of a breeding buck that states the pedigree of the buck and the date he was bred to a specific doe.

BRINDLING – A mix of two colours with no set pattern.

BROKEN COAT – Exposure of the undercoat due to moulting or missing guard hairs.

BUCK – A male rabbit that has not been castrated/neutered.

BUTTERFLY – A nose marking shaped like a butterfly with the wings extending out over the whisker beds.

BUTTING TEETH – Malocclusion of the teeth so that the incisors meet perfectly instead of the upper incisors overlapping the lower.

CARRAIGE – The way a rabbit poses or carries itself.

CASTRATION – Removing both testicles from a buck to render him unable to reproduce.

CHARLIE – A rabbit from a marked breed or broken group that has extremely light markings.

CHEST – The front part of the body from the neck to the abdomen.

CHEYLETIELLA – A fur mite.

CHOPPED – A body type where the back end is not filled out, but falls sharply from the hip to the tail.

COBBY – Describing a short and stocky body type.

COCCIDIA – Intestinal parasites.

CONDITION – The overall state of an animal.

CONJUNCTIVITUS – An inflammation of the tissue around the eyes.

COW HOCKS – Hocks that turn in toward each other as a cow’s hocks do.

CROWN – A strong ridge on the head that forms the ear base in some lop-eared rabbits; it is composed of cartilage.

CULLING – The process of removing undesirable rabbits from the litter and keeping only the best rabbits.

DENSITY – The number of hairs in a given area of skin.

DOE – A female rabbit.

DEWCLAW – An extra toe on the inside of the front legs that serves no function.

DEWLAP – An extra roll of skin and fur under the chin sometimes seen in does.

DISQUALIFICATION – When a rabbit is ineligible for competition/showing because it has a certain defect.

EAR LACING – An outline of colour on the sides and tips of the ears.

ENCEPHALITOZOON – A parasite that can cause disease in the brain.

ENTERITIS – An inflammation or infection of the intestines.

ENTEROTOXEMIA – A severe form of enteritis.

EYE COLOUR – The colour of the iris of the eye.

FAULT – An imperfection, not so substantial as to disqualify a rabbit for competition/show.

FEATHERING – A small drag of colour off the top of the eye circle.

FINE COAT – Fur that is fine in texture with few or weak guard hairs.

FLANKS – The sides of the rabbit behind the ribs.

FLAT COAT – Fur lying more closely to the body than desired.

FLY BACK – The action of the fur returning to its normal position when it is stroked forward; it ‘flies back’.

FOREIGN COLOUR – Any colour different from that called for in the standard of perfection for the breed.

FOREQUARTER – The front part of the body, from the neck to the last rib.

FRYER – Three to ten week old rabbit.

GESTATION – The length of pregnancy, beginning at conception and ending with kindling.

GUARD HAIR – The longer, coarser hairs that extend from the coat and protect the undercoat.

HIND LEG – One of the two back legs.

HINDQUARTERS – The back portion of the body starting at the last rib and ending at the tail.

HOCKS – The pointed joint closest to the foot on the back leg.

HUMPBACK – A deformity of the spine causing a bump in the back.

INTACT – Commonly used to refer to the fact that the reproductive organs of a doe or buck have not been removed.

JUNIOR – A rabbit under 6 months old.

KINDLING – The process of a doe giving birth to kits.

KIT – A baby rabbit.

LACTATE – To produce milk to nurse the kits.

LINEBREEDING – An attempt to promote characteristics of related rabbits by breeding distantly related rabbits together, for example rabbits from the same line.

LITTER – A group of kits from the same doe.

LOIN – The side portion of the rabbit from the last rib to the hip.

LUSTRE – Brilliance of the fur.

MAGGOTS – Fly larvae.

MALOCCLUSION – Improper alignment of the teeth.

MARBLING – Mottled eye colour.

MARKED – Distinctly placed colours breaking up a (usually) white coat.

MASK – A colour marking the nose and muzzle.

MASTITIS – Inflammation or infection of the mammary glands.

MEATY – Carrying a good portion of meat or muscle in relation to the size or type of rabbit.

MITE – A microscopic spider-like organism that can infest rabbits’ ears or fur and be transmitted to other rabbits.

MOLT – The process of shedding fur.

MUZZLE – The nose and lower part of the face.

MYIASIS – Invasion of fly larvae into the skin, also called ‘warbles’.

MYXOMATOSIS – A virus transmitted to rabbits by mosquitoes.

NEST BOX – A box inside a cage or hutch where a doe kindles and where the kits live for the first three weeks of their lives.

NEUTERING – Technically, removing the reproductive organs of a male or female; commonly used to refer to the removal of both testicles in a buck.

NOSEFORK – The portion of a butterfly marking that forms the body and sits on the nose extending up the face.

OPEN COAT – A coat that does not fly back; it does not return to its natural position after being stroked towards the head.

OUTBREEDING – Breeding unrelated rabbits of the same breed.

PACKED – Compacted fur.

PARALYSIS – Inability to move.

PARASITE – Any organism that lives on or within another.

PASSALURUS – The rabbit pinworm.

PASTEURELLA – Bacteria that causes severe infections in rabbits including snuffles and can be transmitted from rabbit to rabbit especially from a doe to her kits.

PATCH – A small area of fur.

PEA SPOTS – Two colour spots at the inside base of the ear in breeds of rabbit with a tan pattern.

PEDIGREE – A chart of the ancestors of a particular rabbit.

PEG TEETH – Two short teeth behind the upper incisors.

PELT – Animal hide.

PENCIL LINE – A raised area of fur under the chin and across the throat.

PERINEUM – The area between the anus and the vulva in a female, between the anus and the penis in a male.

PIGEON BREASTED – Having a narrow chest.

PINCHED HINDQUARTERS – Hindquarters that pinch in toward the tail.

PLUSH – Fine, dense, soft fur.

PNEUMONIA – Bacterial infection of the lungs.

POSTERIOR – Back end.

POTBELLY – A distended abdomen.

PRIME LINE – A line of fur developing down the middle of the back.

PUREBRED – A term loosely used for rabbits to indicate that a rabbit is from a line that has met the standards of the breed for several generations.

PYOMETRA – Infection of the uterus.

RABBITRY – A place where rabbits are kept or raised.

RACY – Appearing trim and active.

RINGWORM – A contagious fungal infection of the skin.

ROLL BACK – The action of the fur gradually returning to its normal position when stroked toward the head.

ROMAN NOSE – A highly bridged nose.

RUMP – The upper round portion of the hindquarters.

RUN – A white colour invading a coloured marked area.

SADDLE – The upper portion of the back.

SENIOR – For the purpose of show, a rabbit that is at least six months of age.

SHADOW BARS – Weakly coloured bars across the legs or feet.

SHOULDER – The area of the body that starts at the neck and stops at the upper joint of the front leg and the last rib.

SILVERING – A silvery gloss to the fur created by silver-tipped guard hairs throughout the fur.

SLIPPED CROWN – Description of the ear position when it is misplaced in a lop-eared breed due to the crown sitting too far forward or back.

SLIPPING COAT – Shedding coat.

SLOBBERS – Wet fur around the mouth and forelegs caused by excess salivation.

SNIPEY – A long, narrow head.

SNUFFLES – A respiratory infection in the nose often caused by Pasteurella.

SOLID – A judging group of solid-coloured rabbits.

SORE HOCKS – Inflammation of the foot pads.

SPAYING – Removing the ovaries and uterus from a doe so that she cannot reproduce.

SPLAYED – Describing a condition in which the legs spread out from the body and do not support the rabbit.

SPRAYING – Expressing small amounts of urine for the purpose of marking territory.

STIFLE – The second (middle) joint of the back leg, also called the knee.

SURFACE COLOUR – The top colour of the fur.

SYPHILIS – A venereal disease of rabbits.

TATTOO – A permanent ear marking to identify the rabbit.

TICKING – Dispersed guard hairs of a different colour than the rest of the fur.

TINT – A variation in the intensity of a colour.

TRICHOBEZOARS – Hairballs.

TUCKED UP – Describing a position in which the belly is gathered up close to the back so that an arch forms when a rabbit is sitting.

TYZZER’S DISEASE – An infection caused by clostridium piliforme.

UNDERCOLOUR – The colour of the fur closest to the skin.

UROLITHIASIS – Stones in the urinary tract, usually in the bladder.

VARIETY – A subdivision of a recognised breed.

WALL EYE – Whiteness on the surface of the eye; also known as ‘Moon Eye’.

WARBLES – Invasion of fly larvae into the skin, also called ‘Myiasis’.

WEANING – The process of transferring kits from nursing on their mothers to solid food.

WOLF TEETH – Long or protruding front teeth as a result of malocclusion.

WRY NECK – A medical condition, often caused by pasteurella infection of the middle ear, that causes the rabbit to twist its neck to one side.

WRY TAIL – A bent or twisted tail.