Instructions
Examine your rabbit's shedding cycle. Most rabbits should shed their coats twice a year in response to environmental changes like day length and heat. Rabbits who have been inbred will sometimes shed year-round in large quantities. If your rabbit doesn't usually shed so much and has just started losing large amounts of fur, parasites or infection might be to blame and the rabbit should be checked by a vet.
Look at your rabbit's teeth. Some inbred rabbits are born with a condition called "malocclusion," which is where teeth, typically the incisors, do not match up properly and end up overgrowing. The teeth may also curl as they grow longer. If this is the case, the affected teeth need to be trimmed regularly or removed outright.
Check your rabbit's eyes. A cloudiness in the cornea or enlarged pupil in one or both eyes is indicative of buphthalmia, which is a genetic defect that is a possible side-effect of inbreeding since it requires two recessive genes to cause it.
Watch your rabbit's movement. If it has splay leg, its movement will be greatly hampered because one leg is stuck outward and the rabbit does not have much control over it. This is another genetic defect that can be brought about by excessive inbreeding.
Monitor the rabbit for more severe symptoms such as convulsions or collapsing. This could be indicative of a problem with lack of drainage from the brain stem known as "hydrocephalus." The buildup of cerebrospinal fluid could be caused by either a vitamin deficiency during pregnancy or an inherited genetic defect.
How Do I Tell if My Rabbit Is Inbred?
Genetic diversity is a key to a species' survival. Creatures with a similar genetic code are susceptible to the same diseases and other afflictions and if a large population is like this, the population can die off quickly. Inbreeding is the process where related members of a species breed with each other. The process can cause multiple genetic defects to arise in the resulting offspring but is done by breeders to preserve "pure stock." Inbreeding is a common practice in rabbits and if it is not done carefully, the rabbit offspring may develop problematic characteristics.