It is called a WHAT???

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gmas rabbit

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Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
So my husband and I have been working on this sign in the downtown core at nights so as not to disturb the merchants and their parking. Last night my husband asked me at 11 pm to come down and watch the equipment so that he could come back up to the shop and get some different items. As I am sitting there in the car with it running of course as it was cold, this woman walks up to my car and says to me "I wonder if you would mind doing me a favour, I left my keys at my friends house out at a trailer park, 5 miles from town, and I can't get into my house without them." Okay we are a small town of 15,000 and after chatting with her for a little I decided she was safe and not too much off the deep end, so suggested that she sit in the car until Len got back and then I would drive her. During this time the subject of rabbits came up. We discussed Derby and her mom's rabbit and general rabbit care. She was worried about her mom leaving the rabbit on the deck for the winter, how to build a warm rabbit hutch, general feeding options and neutering. The next question she asked totally stunned me. This is a woman of about 35, not a child. She says that her mom and her are extremely worried about the rabbit's big, floppy neck. She seems to have this big foldy thing around her neck, and they were worried that she was mutated or sick and were thinking about having her put down. I didn't quite know whether to laugh or cry but assured her the bunny was a normal female rabbit. That thing around her neck was a dewlap, perfectly exceptable and necessary if she was ever bred and had babies, all female rabbits have them, some bigger than others. Wow!!! she laughed and laughed, was so happy that her mom's rabbit was okay. It blows my mind at times just how uneducated the public is towards rabbits in general. :? I took her to get her keys, dropped her back at one of the local apartments and trotted off home. I am hoping after the little chat that another person is a little more educated about bunnies.
 
:shock:

I sincerely hope if they went to a vet to put her down they would have gotten some education, but I think God sent her to you instead. Good job saving a life!
 
OK don't judge I'm 37 and just learned what a duwlap was from this site a few months back:biggrin2:. But I also just became a bunny owner in April and we have a male.
 
Yeah I'm gonna go with april on this one and say don't judge ;) I don't think a dewlap is a common thing to know about. Really. I bet I could ask any of my girlfriends and they wouldn't know.

Also, although I know what one is, I've seen some pics of female rabbits and I'm like holy cow, huge dewlap! Like, it looks like a tumor! :) so who knows how big this one is. Maybe it's big enough where it looks "foreign" to them.

I totallynsee where you are going with this, there is alot of things about rabbits that people don't know, but this isn't one I'm surprised about.
 
In overweight bunnies the dewlap can get particularly large. I wonder if her bunny was in need of a diet.
 
that is a possiblity, but I think more that they were just new to bunnies and had no idea. Maybe if I can figure out what her apartment number is will print her off some stuff. She definitely seemed interested in learning.
 
Send her here! I am always recommending this and house rabbit society to people who are interested in learning. I think they are the best jumping off places to make the information accessable and accurate. I could see not knowing the name of it, but to put her to sleep, that seems drastic to me.

I have to giggle every time I see Sophie snuggle down into her dewlap to take a nap, she has her own built in pillow!
 
Hahaha. Thats too funny, but still a little sad! I learned what a dewlap was pretty early on, before Foo even had one.
Now she does, and she's napping on it right now(its a pretty big dewlap!) They do have built in pillows Brandy!
But I can understand how people new to rabbits wouldn't know what a dewlap is, that seems like one of those things.
 
Not ALL female rabbits have dewlaps. ;)

Showing at 4-H fairs, I heard the "What's that thing under their chin?" question on a daily basis. ;) A lot of people don't know what it is. It's not childish of them to not know.
Should they know what it is if they have a rabbit of their own? Maybe. But still not childish if they don't.

Emily
 
That is one of the first things that I learned with rabbits. (Actually I might have known about it before I was ever interested in rabbits). Then again I do TONES of research on all animals all the time.
 
I. Love. Dewlaps. I like how when Maya looks at me from over the edge of her little bed her dewlap hangs over and it's HILARIOUS.
 
littl3red wrote:
I. Love. Dewlaps. I like how when Maya looks at me from over the edge of her little bed her dewlap hangs over and it's HILARIOUS.

You definitely need to post a picture of that:)
 
I just learned about dewlaps as well (i've only been into rabbits for 6 months). The other day the way I was sitting/laying made it look like I had a double chin and my mom pointed it out and started laughing at me. I proceeded to set her straight and told her "It's called a dewlap, mom, and it's very normal."
 
There's a whole new fangled thing available to all called "reading" and a place full of books called "library". I'm always amazed when someone owns a bunny and doesn't know or check on anything. We've got a library on fishes, birds, cats, dogs, bunnies and exotics like tarantulas. Just need to make the effort.
 

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