Identity, Contacts, and the Clinical Timeline
Open the handover with the basics a new file needs: rabbit's name, breed, sex and neuter status, age or best estimate, colour, and your contact details, followed by the previous practice's name and phone number for direct record confirmation. Then lay out the clinical timeline in date order — illnesses, procedures, significant findings, and how each resolved. Weight history belongs in this section as dated figures, not adjectives, since a Lop who has quietly slid over six months tells a different story from one who has always been slight. Where memory supplies a date you are not certain of, mark it approximate rather than inventing precision the new vet might rely on.
Dental History Deserves Its Own Paragraph
Holland Lops' short, rounded skull shape makes tooth alignment a lifelong watchpoint, so gather every dental detail you hold: examinations that found spurs or uneven wear, any corrective work with dates, episodes of drooling, selective eating, or dropping food, and how each was resolved. Note the early signs your particular rabbit shows — favouring soft greens over hay is a classic individual tell — because a new vet who knows the tell can act at the right moment. Include current hay intake honestly, since hay chewing is the engine of natural tooth wear and a Lop eating little hay is dental information in itself. If x-rays or skull images exist at the old practice, name them in the handover so they are specifically requested in the transfer.
Ear Findings in a Folded-Ear Breed
Lop ears fold the canal away from easy view, so hand over every ear-related note: wax build-up found at checks, any irritation, head shaking episodes, scratching at one side, tilts, and what treatment or cleaning routine your previous vet advised, with dates. State what normal looks like for your rabbit's ears as far as you know, and who currently checks them and how often. If your Lop has ever been treated for ear mites or an ear infection in the past — describe it in the previous practice's own recorded terms as transferred, rather than re-diagnosing in your summary. A sequence of minor ear notes across years is exactly the pattern a new clinician needs laid out in order, not scattered through a thick file.
Questions the Handover Should Help You Ask
A good handover makes the first appointment a conversation rather than an interrogation, so add a short question list shaped by the Lop's own history: how often the teeth should be rechecked given previous findings, whether the ear-cleaning routine you were taught still suits, and what weight range the new vet considers right for this rabbit's frame. Write the answers into the record on the day, with the agreed recheck date, so the plan survives the journey home. That habit — questions derived from the animal's actual file — is what turns a change of practice into continuity of care rather than a restart.
Diet, Behaviour, and the Reason for the Visit
Finish with the practical picture: hay type and actual intake, measured pellets, the greens in rotation, housing and exercise routine, and temperament with handling — whether this Lop freezes, wriggles, or relaxes when picked up, and how the ears are best held during examination. List anything currently being monitored and the recheck rhythm your previous vet set. If a live concern prompted the change of vet, give its honest timeline: when you first noticed, what changed since, and what the previous practice found. Bringing the Lop's identity, dental and ear threads, diet, and handling notes together in KinsLe through Pet Passport hands the new practice a complete, readable packet at the first visit.