fur loss on mini rex

hello, I have recently adopted a rescue bunny for the RSPCA, he is a mini rex black otter, used to be a show bunny, but got too fat and so was given away. He is beautiful allover apart form along his spine where there seems to be a bald patch . Is this because he cant get there to groom...he is fat and I am hoping to get his weight down , or is it for some other reason?

Could he maybe have had a vaccination injection there? Or maybe he was around another rabbit that ripped a patch of fur out? If he's started shedding, that can be another cause. Check for signs of irritation to the skin and any dandruff. If the skin looks healthy, it should eventually grow back in, though this can sometimes take several months, depending on the individual rabbits fur growth.

Thank you for your advice, the skin looks healthy, but the fur seems to grow in a silvery grey patch there, where the rest of him is jet black. He is only 2 years old, so too old to turn grey. I suspect that may well have been a vaccination site , he also has sore hocks, am keeping him on soft bedding and putting zinc and caster oil cream on daily, will they get better? Or is this something one has to live with in a rex?

Hi, I don’t know if you’ll see this, since you posted long ago, but my first mini-Rex always had bald spots and callouses on her hocks. She was free range, carpeted flooring. They never got inflamed, so I ended up simply monitoring them and having the vet take a look every year. She also developed white patches in her fur when she had spots shaved for blood draws or injections.