Mini Rex care in India: feet, floors and the velvet coat

The rex coat is older than the breed. OMIA records that in 1919 a breeder in the Pays de la Loire region of France found a soft-haired mutant in a litter of wild grey rabbits, and that a local priest, Abbé Gillet, planned crosses to fix the trait. It is inherited as a recessive gene, and in 2011 researchers traced it to a single-letter deletion in the LIPH gene.

The Mini Rex is much newer than the coat: ARBA says it was developed in 1984 in Texas by Monna Berryhill and recognised in 1988, and that it has been consistently one of the two highest entries at ARBA conventions since.

ARBA describes the breed as plush coated and bred in many colours. The trade-off of that coat, Merck notes, is feet without the longer guard hairs that cushion other rabbits.

We found no source recording when the Mini Rex reached India or how many are kept here. Indian rabbit research and agricultural university pages describe farm breeds kept for meat and fur, and do not mention rex breeds.

As a pet in an Indian flat, the Mini Rex meets one problem other breeds feel less: hard tile, marble and granite floors, which PetMD lists among the causes of sore hocks. Washable rugs or mats over most of the floor are the practical answer.

PDSA's rabbit diet is hay or grass for about 85%, unlimited, at least a bundle as big as the rabbit daily, greens twice a day, a measured spoon of nuggets once a day for a rabbit under 3.5 kg, and fresh water always. PDSA names dental disease, linked to diet, as the main health worry for Rex rabbits.

Keep a Mini Rex lean: PetMD lists obesity as a cause of sore hocks and a healthy weight as prevention. That means no muesli mixes, few treats and no Indian snacks such as biscuits or namkeen, which PDSA's sugar and fat warnings rule out.

Meals a day: every age, hay and water available all day; adult, greens twice a day, nuggets once a day; young, old or unwell, as your vet advises.

The Merck Veterinary Manual says Rex rabbits are predisposed to ulcerative pododermatitis, or sore hocks, because they lack the longer guard hairs that normally cushion the area, and that genetics also play a part. PetMD's 2026 article by a vet names Rex breeds, with their short, thin fur, alongside large and giant breeds and rabbits that thump a lot as the rabbits at higher risk.

The rex coat itself comes from a single gene. OMIA records that a breeder in the Pays de la Loire region of France saw a soft-haired mutant in a litter of wild grey rabbits in 1919, and that the trait is recessive. Research in 2011 traced it to a deletion in the LIPH gene. A Mini Rex has two copies, which is why every one of them has the plush coat and the thin-furred feet.

PetMD lists hard surfaces such as wire, concrete and hardwood, obesity, small enclosures, little exercise and wet or dirty bedding among the causes. Early signs are fur loss, redness and swelling on the underside of the feet; in advanced cases abscesses, bone infection and permanent disability. PetMD notes the condition is often progressive and cannot be fully reversed, so prevention is the whole game.

The sitter does not need to lift the rabbit at every visit. Watch how it sits and moves first. Merck says a rabbit with sore back feet shifts its weight onto its front feet, and one with all four feet affected walks on tiptoe. PetMD adds signs of pain: eating less, grinding teeth, fewer droppings, a hunched posture and ears and whiskers held tight back.

If the owner has shown them how at the meet and greet, the sitter can look at the underside of the back feet once a day while the rabbit sits on a lap at floor level. Bare pink patches, redness, swelling or a scab go in the log with a photo for the owner and a call to the vet. Never put cream, powder or a bandage on a rabbit's foot unless the vet has said so.

Merck gives the ideal for rabbits as 15.5 to 21 °C at 40 to 60% humidity, and warns that the Fahrenheit temperature plus the humidity percentage should not exceed 150. The India Meteorological Department declares a heat wave in the plains when the maximum reaches 40 °C. PDSA's signs of heatstroke include red, hot ears, fast breathing, weakness and collapse.

Use the Rabbit Welfare Association's measures: shade, closed curtains, a marble surface, frozen bottles wrapped in a towel and a battery fan pointed at them. For a Mini Rex, put the tile at one end of a soft-floored pen rather than tiling the whole space, and ask the sitter to keep the inverter-backed fan running in a power cut.

A healthy weight protects the feet: PetMD lists obesity among the causes of sore hocks and a healthy weight among the ways to prevent them. So the sitter sticks to the owner's measure of nuggets and does not add treats. PDSA's diet is mostly hay, unlimited and at least a bundle the size of the rabbit daily, greens twice a day and nuggets once a day for a rabbit under 3.5 kg.

PDSA notes that the main health worry for Rex rabbits, as for all rabbits, is dental disease linked to diet. Hay wears the teeth down; a pellet-heavy diet does not. Leave enough hay for the whole trip and a few days more, stored dry, since damp hay in the monsoon grows mould.