The Hutch

A hutch is a type of cage used typically for housing domestic rabbits. Other small animals can also be housed in hutches. Most hutches have a frame constructed of wood, including legs to keep the unit off the ground. The floor may be wood, wire mesh, or some combination of the two.

Rabbits should have 24 hour access to suitable hiding places where they can run if they feel afraid, stressed, unwell, or simply want to be on their own for a while. There should always be at least the same number of hiding places in any enclosure as there are animals.

The American Fuzzy Lop

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The American Fuzzy Lop is a rabbit breed recognized by the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). It is similar in appearance to a Holland Lop. However, the American Fuzzy Lop is a wool breed and will have wool similar to the Angora breeds although the wool will be shorter than that of a commercial Angora. The American fuzzy lop has to weigh up to four pounds in order to be shown.The background of the American Fuzzy Lop is interwoven with the history of the Holland Lop. When first introduced, the Holland Lop rabbit was only available in solid colors, and some breeders wanted to add the broken pattern to the Holland Lop gene pool. To do this, they bred their Holland Lops with English Spots. While they achieved the goal of producing broken pattern rabbits, they failed to keep the rollback fur the Holland must have. The offspring instead had the flyback fur of the English Spot. The breeders then bred Holland Lops with French Angoras, a breed that has a very gentle rollback coat.

Holland Lop

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All of the offspring were normal-sized and had standard ear positions. In 1952, de Cock wanted the rabbits' ears to be lopped (hanging limply), so he let a French Lop's and a Netherland Dwarf buck's off-spring breed with the Sooty Fawn, an English Lop with visibly lopped ears. The results were one with lopped ears, 2 with normal ears, and one with semi-lopped ears. At the end of the breeding process in 1955, a Holland Lop weighing less than 6.6 pounds (2.7 kilograms) was born. 11 years after this significant event, de Cock announced Holland Lops weighing less than 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms). Another goal at the time was to publicize Holland Lops. In 1964, these rabbits were finally recognized by Dutch breeders and authorities, which led to the introduction of Holland Lops across many countries in Europe.