I have some small concerns regarding both rabbits but thought I'd contain them in one thread. So sorry for the length.

Rumball: When I first brought him home, I noticed 3 tufts of fur coming out of his "chest" area. He is molting - so I assume he has a different style to Jersey.  I'd pulled them out but last night I pulled out a few more I noticed and they come out like a plug. Attached at the base.

Pic:  shows what I mean by tuft or plug.

So does this happen in a rabbit shed sometimes?   Is it attached like that because I pulled it? 

2nd concern: Rumball is too squishy-licious!  He is a mini lop (dwarf lop) and weighs 6.6lbs. He now eats hay, veggies and probably 1-2 teaspoon of pellets.  He's not pining for the pellets so that's worked in my favour. So other than diet and exercise should help the weight but how long am I looking at him being able to shed this weight?

He also feels odd to me. The weight is in his middle and to the sides of his front legs, especially when he sits. It pillows out and feels squishy.  Then he has a hump just behind his neck/scruff area that feels more muscular.  His hind end also feels more tough at the skin level.  Is this how lops carry their weight? Or does it just vary between rabbits?  Despite his extra weight, his hips feel angular to me, more prominant, whereas Jersey, who seems thin to me, has a roundedness there.

I guess I'm just adjusting to the differences between them.

Now to Jersey... She's been eating more hay but I have noticed before that when she did eat it her poop would end up more odd shaped. Hay not hair would string it together and be sticking out of bits.  Now she's eating more hay and the poop in even more weird shaped & varying sizes.  I know hay is indigestable fibre which is part of it's benefit but I have concerns Jersey's gut doesn't process it very well.  Should I have concerns?  No worries about the frequency, she's been daily marking territory!

Sorry for all the qu's, just some things playing on my mind.

Ahh when I read about the tuft of hair I thougth Lop bunny...  Yes buns will molt out like that.  Kind of neat to pluck them makes it easy.

Lops are shaped different.  They are more compact with what seems like no neck. They are not wild hair shaped at all.   They are Square and compact. 

Can you post a pic of your lop?     If your lop cannot clean it's backside like your other bunny does or get to it's cecals then I would say lop is overweight.   Most likely  bun is not overweight and is just how lops are shaped. 

Can you take him to the vet for a well checkup if you want to be sure lop is not overweight?   They do have loose skin too. 

Your other bunny with the odd shaped poops yeah it sounded like she needed more hay.    I mention that due to the hair in her poop that you mentioned.  

And brushing will help. If your first bunny is grooming your lop it may be swallowing excess hair from there.  So brush pluck brush....

Some people use laxatone on a paw so they lick it off to help with the hairs passing through the gut.  (so glad I caught that typing error b instead of g     That would have sounded bad.  tehhee  

Perhaps some fresh pineapple/papaya would help too...

Thanks BT. I have had a check up with Rumball, she did agree he was a bit overweight but he does manage to groom and get cecals well. Also, when he moves about outside, he looks quite good. Just when he sits or lies, he seems to pillow out.

Jersey doesn't really get the hair string of pearls, rather the hay string of pearls. Poop joined by hay stems, it is quite obvious. So she is eating more hay and getting more odd poop. (???)

THose tufts are normal - I plucked 3 off Pepper last night.  A friend's French Lop actually sheds to bald spots!  When Pepper blows her coat, I can usually see the new fur growing in like very short velvet underneath.

In my experince when the hair sheds in tufts with a "piece" on the end of it and holds it all together- that "piece" is a scab.  I get this on my bunnies from little bonding scuffles and also on my cats from minor scratches and bites.  Usually I don't even know they had a tiny ouchie until it sheds out like that. 

My lops do shed in clumps sometimes- and you can see the clumps to pull them.  If they are already poking out from the other fur they are no longer attached to the skin- and I pull them out with no side affects or "pieces" that hold the clump together. So regular shedding pulls out in a clump but then is just a bit of hair that is no longer "connected".

Lops so seems as though they carry their weight differently than other bunnies.  I can't remember Rumballs situation- did he come from less than ideal situation/diet?  Schroeder was found outside as a stray and surrendered to the Humane Society- where after neutering he went to a pet store for adoption.  At the pet store he was fed crappy/cheap pellets, no veggies and limited hay.  He was on the thin side- I could feel his ribs and backbone easier than I should have been able too- but he was still considered healthy.  He eats like a pig now- all the good things he should have- and his belly is larger.  My vet said that it would just take a while for his weight to porportion out to the other areas of his body- she expects that although he is not as "bony" as he was that will only continue to improve and that his belly will reduce as his body evens out.  I have only had him since Jan- so 3 months.  He can still groom himself properly.

Cotton who I have had since she was a youngster- is much more stocky, sturdy and her weight seems better distributed.  Everyone at work thought she was a larger than Schroeder- but when we weighed them he was 2 ounces more.

Regarding the plugs: I only noticed the "plugs" on the hair on the cheeks. Both Bailey and Jack had/has them.

I also think the way the a mini lops heads are shaped, makes their back bones look differently, and I also find their weight to be distributed more like how you describe.

Jack has been on a diet, and it's slow goins. He needed to lose a pound and he's lost a half a pound and it's been about 2 months.