bunny - but what is it?

Question
Dear Rabbit Guru, I purchased a little baby today - I am told that it is at least a few months old. This rabbit is small enough to fit into my one hand. It has short hair but a lot of it, a healthy thick coat. it is greyish - white - almost silver. it has fat short legs and fate big back feet. A tiny lil tail. The strange part is its face. its head and face almost look like a pit bull dog. it is out of proportion to the body totally. It has very small ears.

I have no idea what breed this is - and the only pictures I can find on the net that resemble my bunny are those of 2 week old english rabbits! but there is no way this bunny is that young!

Can you shed any light?

Look forward to hearing form you

Deepa in Dubai

Answer
Dear Deepa,

Don't be surprised if the person who sold you the bunny was not being truthful about its age.  It happens all the time because rabbits are very cute at this age, though they are too young to be weaned.  By the time they are weaned, they are more leggy and adult-looking, and not as "attractive" to the impulse buyer.  So this is what happens.

From your description, this sounds like a *very* young bunny, and that means you must be extremely vigilant for any sign of runny stool, because he has been taken away from his mother much too soon.  Please read this immediately:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

If you can get freeze-dried colostrum powder in Dubai, it might help to suspend some in very clean drinking water or pasteurized goat milk and administer about a 1/4 teaspoon once a day.  This will help protect his intestines from harmful bacteria, since he is not getting the antibodies he should get from his mother's milk.

There's a remote possibility that this is a very small dwarf rabbit, but the very flat face suggests it is a very young baby, and you will have to be an extra-vigilant "parent" to make sure he survives without his mother.  This might help, too:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

If you can send a picture to me at dana@miami.edu I will be better able to guess his age and what type of bunny he might be.

Hope this helps.

Dana