The Californian is a beautiful rabbit, not to mention gentle and calm. The Californian will make a good pet. As the Californian is gentle and calm, it makes a good pet even for children. They do not require any special cage or feed.
The Californian is a very good-looking rabbit, with Himalayan type markings. Their body should be pure white, with deep colored points in black, brown, blue, or lilac. The points should only cover the nose, ears, feet and tail. Also, they should have ruby eyes.
The Californian is rather large for a rabbit, averaging about nine or 10 pounds. Since the Californian was bred for commercial purposes, it has a plump, meaty body. They have a medium length body. When showing a Californian, there is only variety. Junior bucks and does are under six months old.
The junior does cannot weigh more than eight and half pounds and junior bucks cannot weigh more than eight pounds. Intermediate bucks and does are six to eight months old. Intermediate bucks may not weigh more than nine pounds, while intermediate does may not weigh more than nine and a half pounds. Senior bucks and does are over eight months old.
Senior does may not be over ten and a half pounds or under eight and a half pounds. Senior bucks cannot weigh less than eight pounds or more than ten pounds. Junior and intermediates that weigh more than their class can be moved up to a higher class, but no rabbit can move down a class.
If you are going to breed, Californians make excellent mothers and are very good at raising their kits. They normally have between eight and 10 kits.
The Californian was developed by George West, who worked very hard for a long time to make the breed meet his specifications. The Californian is a product of the Himalayan and Chinchilla. Then, New Zealand whites were also bred into the program. Californians became a recognized breed in 1939.