#sonoransheep

I think you’d enjoy my moldy potato 💚

oh hoh ho, I have some thoughts! there are a few issues, which I’ll detail below.

here’s a link to the telegraph article, titled “Floppy-eared rabbits left deaf and in pain by intensive breeding”

to summarize, 15 lop-eared rabbits (of various breeds) were compared to 15 erect-eared rabbits (also of various breeds) in a rescue centre, with the result being that lop-eared rabbits were 43% times more likely to have narrowed ear canals, and 15% times more likely to be in ear pain. the article attributes the problem to selectively breeding for “altered skull shapes”, which it claims also results in tooth and jaw misalignments

here are my problems:

 the sample size is 30

the samples are rescue animals, without location given (i.e. if it’s an urban area, the rabbits are likely to have been churned out for the pet market)

breed wasn’t taken into account

to expand on that last point, there are 15 breeds of lop-eared rabbits with very diverse skull shapes. this article didn’t specify what “altered skull shapes” refers to – it could specifically mean the lop-eared mutation also narrows the ear canal of the skull, inevitably causing pain and making it a form of Qualzucht, torture breeding. that would be……very, very bad, and would make me un-stan at lightspeed.

however since the “altered skull” quote comes from Charles Darwin (who died 13 years before the invention of radiographs) I think it’s referring to the tendency to breed flat/square/baby-like faces into lop-eared rabbits. as an example, Holland Lops are a popular pet breed with the anatomy of a funko pop. this is DEFINITELY an “altered skull”:

compare the Holland Lop to an English Lop, though – the latter is practically horse-faced:

there have been recent debates online about whether flat-faced rabbits can be consider brachycephalic in the same way pugs are, and whether the dental problems observed in dwarf/flat-faced breeds are due to their altered skull shape, or because their “cuteness” makes them far more likely to be mass-bred for the pet market (causation, or correlation? the jury’s still out). it seems like the article is addressing this EXACT issue with the tooth/jaw stuff, this time pinning it on lop ears rather than a flat face.

tl;dr – the tooth/jaw issues are……. probably not caused by lop ears (imo), and instead are something you’re more likely to find in flat-faced dwarfs like Holland Lops (which likely composed much of the sample group, though details weren’t given).

however, the narrowed ear canals could be legit, and I’m pissed they don’t expand on how that conclusion was drawn. do narrowed ear canals correlate with lop ears in general, or Holland Lop-esque box heads specifically?

tl;dr part 2 – there are MANY conclusions being drawn from not enough information! I need more studies! a sample size in the hundreds or thousands! rabbit academics, hear my pleas!

There is an Australian Rainbow Vets Facebook group which offers mentorship, and they are a sister organisation to PrideVMC, which is an American group, but I don’t know as much about them. I’m afraid I don’t know of any specific Jewish veterinarian groups, though I know of some individuals who were practicing, they mostly set up shop within their communities so were not isolated.

Large animal work has particular challenges as it often requires new vets to move far from home, away from their communities and support networks, resulting in various degrees of isolation depending on what networks already exist in the location you move to. You are generally also expected to do on-call and farm visits, which means you will probably be expected to drive out to a farm animal emergency in the middle of the night, to a farm you’ve never been to before, alone... and I completely understand if that’s not something you want to do about now.

I am deeply sorry and fearful about recent events in America, but wanted to remind you that a number of Australian and Overseas universities offer veterinary degrees which are able to be registered in the USA, allowing you to study overseas for 5-6 years and then return, if you choose.

I think you would appreciate my mini rex boy, focaccia, he is very soff..stufft animal