If you
are looking for a cute, small sized,
placid pet, then don’t look any
further than the Dwarf Angora
Rabbit. While little is known about
the cute over fluffy breed of
rabbit, it honestly does make a
beautiful interesting little pet,
for all.
The Angora rabbit is a variety of
domestic rabbit, bred for its long,
soft hair. The Angora is one of the
oldest types of domestic rabbit,
originating in Ankara, Turkey, along
with the Angora cat and Angora goat.
The rabbits were popular pets with
French royalty in the mid 1700s, and
spread to other parts of Europe by
the end of the century.
Appearance:
The dwarf angora
rabbit is a smaller sized pet that
only weighs around 1.5kg, the
majority of the weight taken up in
it’s big fluffy coat. They come in a
range of different colours including
patterns, due to there genetic
makeup. These colours and patterns
include one full over colour and
shaded patterns. The wool/fur which
grows to between 5 and 7cms in
length is dense and contains
slightly more guard hair than
undercoat. This results in a
type of wool which isn’t prone to
matting.
Diet:
The Dwarf Angora
rabbit’s diet should be large
unlimited amounts of fresh hay,
fresh fruit and vegetables, a
well-balanced dry rabbit mix and
plenty of clean water. Rabbits in
general have quite delicate stomachs
so when feeding fresh fruits and
vegetables make sure they are added
to the diet one vegetable at a time
and eliminate specific varieties if
they cause diarrhoea
Temperament:
The Dwarf Angora
is known for their calm personality,
quiet disposition, easy care and
small size. The Dwarf Angora loves
being handled which makes it a good
house pet. The Dwarf Angora rabbits
can become trained to learn their
name and are more intelligent, than
guinea pigs and hamsters. They can
be trained to go to the toilet in
one specific area, which makes
cleaning up after them and having
them inside the house much easier.
Maintenance:
Although the dwarf
angora rabbit has a long, thick,
wool type coat, it doesn’t need as
much attention as you would think.
Their wool isn’t prone to matting
but a good brush once a week with a
slicker brush always does the job.
Trimming or shaving the fur in the
summer months will do the dwarf
Angora rabbit good, but only by a
professional should this be
attempted.
Housing:
For the
Dwarf Angora rabbit the floor of the
hutch or cage must be wire. The cage
would have a wire base with a wire
lid fixed to the base. There should
be a tray under the wire floor to
catch the urine and droppings. The
reason for this is that the Angora
rabbit can become very dirty and the
fur will become matted if it is kept
in an ordinary hutch. As their feet
have excess hair on them they do not
feel the wire floor. All rabbits
must have an adequate exercise area,
whether it is an outside run or an
enclosed area in the house.
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