Toronto English Angoras

In the world of animal breeding, the word "papers" is a slang term for any papered documentation that might accompany an animal. It's a very general term and doesn't really stand for any thing in particular. Papers can refer to a printed copy of a pedigree, a registration certificate, records of any show winnings, even veterinary records, importation documents, or a bill of sale. People some times ask if an animal comes with papers because they don't know what they should actually be asking for. They have heard this terminology before, and assume this some how equates to a quality animal and hence they should be asking for it. "Papers" don't always mean quality, but if you want to ask for them when buying a rabbit, at least know what sort of papers you want to be asking for and why. Here are two examples of the pieces of paper that are most likely to accompany a rabbit, a pedigree and registration, and what they signify.  A pedigree is a summary of t...

Some people believe that for a rabbit's pedigree to be considered complete, that simply means that all possible ancestors over the previous 3 generations have to be listed. However that isn't entirely correct. If all you have is just a listing of names, you're actually missing a fair bit of important information and information is where the value of having a pedigree lies. A list of names is next to useless as a breeding tool. You need to know some minimum basic about each of those animals. Additionally, if you want to officially register your rabbit with ARBA (The American Rabbit Breeders Association) and by doing so confirm that the rabbit is at a minimum an adequate representative of it's breed, ARBA has very specific requirements as to what information must be included on the pedigree in order for it to be recognized as part of the application process. In order to be registered with ARBA, a rabbit must pass an in-person physical examination by an ARBA registrar who ...

A pedigree is a basic summary of an animal's ancestry record. A standard 3-generations pedigree will list the animal's parents, grandparents, and grand-grandparents, as well as some very basic information about each of them. A pedigree is NOT a mark of high quality and does not guarantee that the animal is pure bred. Both purebred and mixed breed animals can and do have pedigrees. Humans have pedigrees, in fact YOU have a pedigree as long as you know the basics of your family history. An animal's pedigree is nothing more then a simplified breeding record and it represents the utmost basic record keeping that should be taking place when breeding. It essentially means that a person put in a few minutes of effort to write down the names of the animals they were breeding.  A pedigree in itself is not a formal registration document, however registration documents do include a copy of a pedigree. A pedigree is always prepared by the breeder. It can be a fancy printout from a comp...