Pedigreed Rabbits Are Different Than Registered Horses

If you’re new to the rabbit world, you likely have in mind the puppy or foal paradigm of registration. In our case, we bred more horses than puppies and the registration process was actually quite simple. Both parents must be registered, of course. We then filled out the proper paperwork and mailed it (these were the good old days!) to the Haflinger registry with the appropriate fee, and soon we’d receive our official registration paperwork on the foal. If we sold the foal, the paperwork would go with him/her and the new owners would update it to reflect their ownership. Easy, right? 

With a rabbit, pedigrees are very different. A pedigree is simply a written record of your rabbit’s lineage. It must include 3 previous generations and usually includes their name, ear tag, and color. Breeders can hand-write these, but in this electronic age, they are often generated online and sent as PDFs. That’s it! No verification, no official registry to stamp it with their approval. 

Mini Plush Lops are not showable until ARBA recognizes them as a breed, so this is the extent of the paperwork you can expect for your rabbit. Some rabbitries will also generate a birth certificate (popular in the pet market) for your bunny scrapbook, or you are free to make one yourself if you like. 

So is it really important? For a breeder, yes. For a pet owner, no. As a breeder, I carefully examine my pedigrees to see what genetics my rabbits might carry. Most pedigrees tell me names and colors, but that color piece is a big deal for a rabbit! For instance, if I have a solid black rabbit, but she is out of parents who have Vienna markings (white stripes/blue eyes) or a chocolate parent, that is very helpful to know as I consider which buck to breed her to and which babies could result. Names matter also, as I want to be very deliberate when using the same rabbit again in a pedigree.