Short-Haired Californians?

[disrhythmic]

Hey everyone! One of our Californian rabbits kindled her first litter two weeks ago, and all eight babies are going along wonderfully so far! Six of them are little balls of fluff like their momma, but the other two have much shorter fur and kind of frizzly whiskers. They don't look smaller than their littermates, and I know for sure they're nursing and eating. I can't post pictures yet, or else I'd show you, but have you ever heard of something like this before? I have no idea if the parents were purebred.

Thanks!

 

[Sycamore27]

Sounds like you may have got a couple rex coated babies in your litter. Do you have the father of the litter or did you get her already bred? If you don't know the heritage of the parents it's quite likely they have rex some where back in their lines that you're seeing in this litter.

Cheers,
Jessie

 

[disrhythmic]

No, we have the father too, and he's fluffy too. But if they do have the rex gene, it's just a different coat type?

Here's a picture:

 

[secuono]

Well, you do want a short, dense coat. It's something most people over look, but worth it if you show, sell to showers or want to improve the lines.

He does look like he isn't pointed like a Cali should be, though. Might be another breed mixed in somewhere in the past. Keep us updated with pics as they grow!

 

[Bunnylady]

As secuono said, there doesn't seem to be any color on the points on that rabbit - and by his age, I'd expect a little bit on his ear tips, at least. He may be REW rather than pointed. He looks like he has a Rex coat to me. Rex is fully recessive, which means he had to get the gene for it from both parents to show it. The Rex breed is commercial in type, so it's not unlikely that his parents are Cali mixes with Rex in the background somewhere.

 

[disrhythmic]

Thanks, guys! I was a little worried about them...

Okay, they're definitely not pure, then--their mom has light gray ears and the dad is pure white, and there obviously must be some rex in the woodpile. They're meant for eating, though, so that's okay.