How do I tell Dwalf rabbit or not?

Question
Hi! I have been given a rabbit and have been told it is a dwalf lop eared rabbit. It is obviously a lop eared but how big do Dwalf rabbits get, because iit looks quite big! (It is around 4 years old) Thank you for your help.

Tracy

Answer
Dwarf rabbits, oddly enough, do not always have the dwarfing gene. This is because rabbits with two dwarfing genes die at a young age. So all dwarf rabbits have one non-dwarfing gene. This means they can produce babies that do not have the dwarfing gene at all. The dwarfing gene is what keeps the rabbits small, so without out, they can naturally be a full pound (or occasionally even a bit more) larger than they would be with the dwarfing gene. Dwarf lops, properly called Holland Lops if you are in the USA (but a lot of people still call them Dwarf lops), have a maximum weight of 4 pounds for showing. However, if the rabbit did not have the dwarfing gene, it could easily reach around 5 pounds. That is a medium-sized rabbit, rather than a very small one. Also, if it is fat, it would look even larger.

There is no sure way to tell if a rabbit is a purebred or not, unfortunately. The only way you can be sure of getting a purebred is to purchase from a reputable breeder. Otherwise, even experienced breeders can only guess as to whether or not a rabbit is purebred.