Olivia had a big dewlap when we got her because she was overweight. Once she became a healthy weight it became unnoticeable. The dewlap is to provide bunnies with an extra, convenient place to pull out fur for their nests. Rabbits that have had litters seem to have bigger ones.

You might ask your vet next time she’s seen if she is overweight. My Samantha doesn’t have one either, so perhaps your bunny needs to go on a little diet.

Many times female rabbits who are spayed later in life have larger dewlaps than those spayed younger – that may be the case with your rabbit.

If a female rabbit is spayed by about 9 months to a year old, the dewlap is usually not visible at all. Any later than that, there may be a small one always present, even after spaying. For buns who are much later or had litters, it will probably always be present.

My Meadow was spayed at about 7 months. She was just starting to get a tiny dewlap, but once the surgery was done, it disappeared.

Some males have them, too–young (neutered) Nibs has quite the dapper small dewlap.

Wow, I never realized that little pouch of skin was actually something like this! I thought it was just the way the buns were! None of mine have them and I haven’t seen any other Tans that get them! So interesting.

Here’s Sir Frumpy von Flufferpants (aka Nibs).  Not the best picture of his dewlap, but you can see it (if you squint and look sideways  .  Seems to be a bit of an American Sable thing–I’ve seen quite a few males and females with ’em.

HAHAHAHHAH. It’s like he has his own little headrest!

When Olivia had a dewlap, my hubby called it her turtleneck.

Dewlaps on females are practically normal, unless they have a hard time cleaning themselves or eating. I have seem overweight rabbits that have huge dewlaps and it makes me so sad to see that they cannot clean themselves.

Chacha bun has a tiny one. It isn’t even that noticeable unless she is loafing out or when I am petting her.

She’s pretty – it really does not look that large.

Posted By kamdynandsunshinesmom on 07/17/2012 12:46 PM

Quantum. Is your rabbit an american sable? if so that is what sunshine is and you can really see her dewlap!

Sunshine is a cutie!  Yup, Nibs is an American Sable, marked up like a Siamese cat (lighter brown body with dark brown ears, mask, legs and tail and dark ruby red eyes).  This is a better pic of his markings.

“Quantum” was Mike and my first bun together when I found the BB forums. She was a domestic bun “thrown out” by some %{!}* into our neighborhood. We only had her about 6 months before she died from ovarian cancer. Mike named her for “Quantum Leap” because we’re both geeks and have a love for really bad puns.

HAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHA. Quantum Leap. Love it.

Posted By kamdynandsunshinesmom on 07/19/2012 04:41 PM

Quantum how did you come up with nibs name?

Oops!  Wrong name story.    “Nibs” because he’s chocolate brown (think “cocoa nibs”) and he loves nibbling on things.  And it’s easy to turn into other things (Niblets, Nibbers,Nibster and, when he’s really a drama queen, Nibelung, as in “Ring of the….”).