English Spot and butterfly-marked rabbits: sizes, care and a genetic caveat

Veterinary note — This page describes a breed and a gene, not a diagnosis. Droppings that stay hard, sparse or irregular, a bloated belly or weight loss need a vet experienced with rabbits; no droppings at all is an emergency.

The English Spot’s markings — a butterfly-shaped patch on the nose, rings around the eyes, a stripe along the back and spots on the flanks — are first and foremost a pattern, carried by several breeds from the Dwarf Papillon (1.35 to 1.8 kg) to the French Giant Papillon (6 kg or more). The first thing to establish is therefore which butterfly-marked breed you are looking at; the second is the one health point specific to this pattern: almost-white rabbits usually carry two copies of the gene, which are linked to a congenital gut disorder.

This page covers butterfly-marked rabbits. The general framework of sizes and coats is in the main domestic rabbit breeds.

Which butterfly rabbit? Five breeds, five sizes

The French breed standard, which calls this pattern papillon (butterfly), recognises several breeds that share nothing but the coat:

A rabbit sold simply as “spotted” or “butterfly” could belong to any of these breeds, or be a crossbreed whose adult size is unknown. The rule is then the same as for every rabbit: ask for the parents’ weights (dwarf rabbits: adult size and real needs). A French Giant Papillon brings the same space and handling constraints as a Flemish Giant.

How the butterfly pattern is inherited

The pattern is produced by a dominant gene called En (for English spotting), located at the KIT gene. It all depends on how many copies the rabbit carries:

Breeding two marked rabbits together therefore gives, in theory, a quarter of solid-coloured kits, half marked kits and a quarter of very lightly marked kits. A solid-coloured kit in a litter of spotted rabbits is normal; an almost-white kit deserves a question to the seller.

The very lightly marked rabbit: the health point to know

A study published in PLoS ONE in 2014 on the Checkered Giant, a close relative of the French Giant Papillon, established that rabbits carrying two copies of the En gene are less viable than others because of a dilated caecum and ascending colon — a megacolon — with hard, dry droppings in most cases. The authors describe probably incomplete penetrance: not every carrier is affected to the same degree, and diet, stress and ageing appear to modify how the disorder shows.

Two caveats matter:

• the study concerns a giant breed; since the gene is the same in the other butterfly-marked breeds, the same caution applies to them, but how often the disorder occurs in each of them is not known;
• a lightly marked rabbit is not doomed: this is a predisposition to be aware of, not a diagnosis.

What to do, depending on your situation:

• You are choosing a kit: prefer one with full markings, and ask how both parents are marked. The questions to put to a breeder are in how to choose a rabbit breeder.
• You already have an almost-white butterfly rabbit: unlimited hay, regular weighing (how to weigh a rabbit at home), and a watch on the droppings — size, shape, regularity. Tell the vet about its markings: it is useful information if digestive problems keep coming back.
• When to see the vet: droppings that stay small, hard or irregular, repeated episodes of slowed gut movement, a bloated belly or weight loss (my rabbit has a bloated belly, my rabbit is losing weight). No droppings at all is an emergency: see rabbit GI stasis.

Care and daily life

The butterfly-marked breeds have short coats. The PDSA recommends weekly grooming for the English Spot, stepped up during moults (rabbit moulting: normal or not). Everything else — space, exercise, diet — follows the rabbit’s actual size, not its markings: see what size enclosure for a rabbit.

On temperament, the PDSA describes the English Spot as good-natured, friendly and inquisitive. That is a reported tendency, not a guarantee: health, past experience, socialisation, reproductive status and environment shape each individual’s behaviour.

Where to go next

A concrete next step: before committing to a butterfly-marked rabbit, ask three questions — exactly which breed it is and what the parents weigh, how both parents are marked, and whether the kit you have chosen carries the full pattern. Three clear answers rule out the two possible bad surprises: the adult size and the too-white rabbit.

For another white-based marked breed, see Hotot rabbit. Our other guides are gathered in the rabbit breeds section and on the rabbit species page.

Sources

• Fontanesi et al., PLoS ONE (2014) — the KIT gene, English spotting and congenital megacolon in Checkered Giant rabbits
• VCA Hospitals — Gastrointestinal stasis in rabbits
• PDSA — English Spot
• French rabbit breeders’ federation (FFC) — French Giant Papillon standard
• French rabbit breeders’ federation (FFC) — Dwarf Papillon standard