Last Updated on May 30, 2023 by
The Japanese White Rabbit is not a rabbit breed that you are going to find out too much about. This is because it is not one of those rabbits that you can buy yourself.
It has a strictly limited purpose, and the people that are using this rabbit breed are not going to be talking too much about how it is actually is used. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Because of the lack of breeding information about this rabbit, we are going to have to try and tackle the Japanese White in a slightly different way than we normally would.
This way we will tell you everything that you need to know about how these rabbits are used, and perhaps a bit of information on how they are likely going to be bred.
Contents
What is the Japanese White Rabbit?
Japanese White Rabbits seem to be strictly laboratory animals. In fact, the only reference we can find to this rabbit is in various medical studies that have taken place over the years.
The Japanese White rabbit does not seem to be an official rabbit breed anywhere except in Japan. It is only bred in Japan by local enthusiasts for the beauty of their large white coat.
This means that there is no defined breed standard for it. However, one can assume that in order to ensure that the laboratory testing goes well, there will be some sort of standardization to their breed, although it doesn’t seem to have been written down.
There seems to be no indication about where this rabbit breed actually seems to come from. There may be a small chance that it is a development of the New Zealand White rabbit.
Which, as you may well know, is one of the most popular laboratory rabbit breeds in the world. However, the New Zealand rabbit does look ever so slightly different from that breed. We will discuss that part more in a short while.
This is a rabbit breed that seems to be used throughout various Asian countries. We do know that it has been used for laboratory experiments throughout China and Japan.
The Look of the Japanese White Rabbit
This is where the secrecy of this rabbit breed really comes into play. There doesn’t seem to be that many pictures out there of the rabbit breed.
This is because there wouldn’t really be that much of a purpose of actually sharing them.
They aren’t meant to look cute, and nobody is trying to sell them. The images of the rabbits will simply be of a sick rabbit, although there are some images when the experiment called for it.
The Japanese White Rabbit seems to be similar in look to the New Zealand White rabbit breed. However, the Japanese variant does seem to have ever so slightly longer ears.
The body is also going to be a lot less compact. As you can probably guess from the name, the rabbit is completely white. It also has the typical albino rabbit eyes. This means that they are pink.
What uses does the Japanese White Rabbit have?
It seems like the only time this rabbit breed is ever used is in laboratory experiments. There seems to be no information out there of them being used anywhere else.
This isn’t to say that they aren’t. However, if they are used for other purposes, then nobody really talks about it.
If the Japanese White Rabbit does come from the New Zealand White or is similar in function, then there is a strong chance that they can be used for both meat and fur.
We are not saying that they are, but this is a breed that does have the potential to be used for both of those things if the heritage is going to be exactly the same.
We would never recommend a rabbit bred for laboratory use to be used as a pet.
They never really have the right temperament bred into them. Some of them may have health issues later on in their life, as they are never really going to be used for that long.
What happens to Japanese White Rabbits in the lab?
Again, this is something that not a lot of people talk about. However, we do have an idea about what would happen to a lab animal.
Rabbits are still used for testing cosmetics and soaps.
This is where cosmetics or soaps are put into the eyes of the rabbit to see whether it causes any sort of eye irritation.
In addition to this, they are used to test the impact of certain drugs on human diseases. This means testing brand new drugs before they are given to humans. This is to help test their safety.
Are there breeders for the Japanese White rabbit?
Except in Japan by some local enthusiasts, one would assume that there are other Japanese white rabbit breeders out there. After all, the medical industry will require quite a few of them to carry out their experiments.
However, it seems that none of these rabbit breeders will talk about what they do. They certainly will not sell their rabbits on the open market.
This means that if you want to purchase one of these rabbits, you are going to have absolutely no hope of doing that.
Since the United States already has its own lab rabbit in the form of the New Zealand White rabbit breed, you almost certainly wouldn’t be able to find a Japanese White rabbit for sale in the United States.
The reason why there is a lot of secrecy about where these rabbits are bred is down to the fact that breeders do not want to put themselves at risk of being protested or robbed of their rabbits. It could destroy their business overnight.
It is also worth noting that if you could find a Japanese White rabbit for sale, then it would be one of the most expensive rabbit breeds that you can buy. The cost of lab animals is incredibly high.
This is because the breed standard is incredibly strict in order to ensure that there is uniformity across the experiments that are carried out on them. Of course, since these breeders are most likely going to be selling to businesses, they can charge a little bit more for them too.
