Angora

What is an Angora?

A rabbit bred for its wool, which grows continuously rather than shedding out - 2-3.5kg of animal under a coat that can reach 15-20cm if left. Several types exist: English, the smallest and woolliest, with furnishings on the face and ears; French, with a clean face; Satin, with a glossier fibre; and Giant, the largest.

The English Angora is the one usually kept as a pet in Britain and the one this guide describes.

History and origins

Angora rabbits were recorded in Ankara, Turkey, and reached France in the 18th century, where they became a court curiosity before becoming a wool industry. Britain and France were the main breeders by the 19th century.

The wool is still commercially produced, and a buyer should know that much of the world's angora wool comes from farms with welfare standards that would be illegal here.

Appearance and size

2-3.5kg, 25-35cm. A compact rounded body entirely obscured by wool, with woolly tufts on the ears and face in the English type. Many colours.

The wool grows roughly 2-3cm a month and does not stop.

Temperament and personality

Docile and gentle, which is partly temperament and partly necessity - a rabbit that would not tolerate daily handling could not be kept as an Angora. They are calm, often enjoy the grooming once used to it, and form close bonds with whoever does it.

They are not especially active or inquisitive by rabbit standards.

Intelligence and trainability

Litter-train adequately and learn routines. The most useful training is acceptance of handling, brushing and the clippers, and it should start the day the rabbit arrives.

Children and other pets

Not a children's rabbit, because the grooming is a serious daily job and cannot be a child's responsibility. A neglected Angora is in real discomfort within a fortnight.

Keep in a neutered pair, and check that the pair do not groom each other's wool excessively, which increases wool ingestion. Never with a guinea pig.

Health problems

Wool block and gut stasis. The defining risk. A rabbit grooming a woolly coat swallows wool, and rabbits cannot vomit, so it accumulates. Combined with a low-fibre diet it causes gut stasis, which is an emergency. The prevention is unlimited hay and daily grooming, in that order of importance.

Matting. Wool mats against the skin, pulls, and causes sores. Mats around the bottom trap urine and faeces and lead directly to flystrike. A coat left a month becomes a solid pelt that can only be shorn off under sedation.

Heat stress. A fully woolled rabbit in a British summer overheats easily. Shear before warm weather.

Eye irritation from face furnishings, particularly in the English type.

Dental disease, myxomatosis and RHDV1/RHDV2, flystrike and E. cuniculi as for any rabbit.

Daily care routine

Groom every day, without exception, working to the skin. Check the eyes, check the back end twice daily in warm weather, and keep hay in front of them constantly.

Blow or comb wool out of the enclosure so it is not eaten from the bedding.

Grooming and coat care

The whole point of the breed and the reason most are given up.

Daily grooming with a slicker and a wide comb, taking the wool right down to the skin rather than over the surface. Plucking or blowing rather than heavy brushing keeps the fibre in better condition if you spin it.

Shearing every 90 days, with scissors or clippers, is standard practice and necessary whether or not you want the wool. A groomer will do it for £30-£60 if you cannot.

Never bathe. A wet woolled rabbit takes hours to dry and risks hypothermia.

Exercise needs

3m x 2m x 1m permanent minimum plus daily time out. They are less active than most breeds but the space requirement is the same, and the flooring must be clean and dry because the coat picks everything up.

Feeding and diet

85% hay, unlimited - and for this breed hay is medicine as well as food, because fibre is what moves swallowed wool through the gut. Daily leafy greens, a measured eggcup of single-component pellets, and no muesli.

Some keepers add a small amount of fresh papaya or pineapple, though the evidence that it breaks down wool is thin. Hay is what works.

Price

£50-£150. Rescues occasionally have them, usually shorn and usually because somebody underestimated the coat.

Budget for shearing four times a year and for a decent slicker, comb and clippers. Running costs otherwise £600-£1,000 a year for a pair.

Buying advice

Part the coat to the skin in several places and look. Matting on a young rabbit tells you how it has been kept and what habits it has learned about being handled.

Ask how often the parents are groomed and shorn, and watch the breeder do it if you can.

Do not buy under eight weeks. Ask for the vaccination record.

Then be truthful with yourself about the daily half-hour, for ten years. It is the single thing that decides whether this works.