Because of its complicated coloration, the Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbit has never been an extremely popular breed. Those who do keep Dutch Rabbits are well rewarded with this pet’s striking appearance and sweet personality. The Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit has the same active, intelligent temperament that most Dutch Rabbits do.
These sweet, docile pets make wonderful friends when socialized from an early age. They very rarely bite, even when provoked. The Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit requires half an hour of grooming each week to prevent its coat from becoming uncomfortably matted and to prevent your rabbit from becoming sick if he ingests too much of his own fur when grooming.
Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbits are comfortably housed in two foot by thirty-inch cages but needs lots of exercise out of their cages- at least half an hour per day. Craving attention and affection, the Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit makes a wonderful, loving friend and show animal.
Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbits live for six to ten years. These lovely rabbits have well-muscled shoulders and stocky bodies. Their hind legs are parallel to the body and their straight front legs are fine boned. The erect ears are strong and should be of opposite color to the cheek patches.
This means the orange cheek will be topped by a black ear and the black cheek by an orange ear. The face of the Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbit is divided by a white blaze, beginning at the base of the ears and extending down between the eyes and over the nose to the neck. The blaze should be quite large.
The front legs and feet are pure white, and the body is banded black and golden-orange. A saddle gracefully tops the Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit and extends all the way around the body. The back feet should be one black, one orange. Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbits are also available in blue or chocolate, which are substituted in the color pattern for the standard golden-orange color. Growing to between three and a half and five and a half pounds, Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbits are quite small, and their ears should be proportional to the body size.
The Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit is a variety of the Dutch Rabbit, whose origins are obscure though they may be traced to Holland, where spotted rabbits were described in the 1400’s. It is an extremely old breed though it has never been terribly popular because it is so hard to find a perfect specimen, as pattern requirements are very strict in show. The Dutch Rabbit as a breed is quite popular, however, despite the complications of the Tri-Color variety.
It has been bred in England since 1864. The Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit is a form of genetic mutation present in other animals such as mice and rats. Many Americans consider the Tri-Color pattern to be a color group, but it is not recognized as such by the A.R.B.A. Judging for the Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbit in America and England is quite strict, and many believe the perfect Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit has not yet been bred.
The Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit is often marked faults in the head area, where the fur is shorter and show faults in markings more obvious. Wide or narrow cheeks will give the impression that the blaze is too wide or too narrow. Like most rabbits, the Tri-Colored Dutch Rabbit is susceptible to hairballs, constipation, abscesses, parasites like fleas, mites, or flies and heat stroke. Diarrhea is another common problem and is usually caused by stress to your Tri-Coloured Dutch Rabbit or improper diet.
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