My only experience (with sheep shears) is the one you saw in my thread about my dog. (They took off a garbage can full of fur.) And he came out with a few nicks and scrapes…if the fur is seriously matted, it may be unavoidable. I just don’t recommend scissors…I took more skin off than fur on my dog with those. ;_;

Would it be possible to use a furminator first and then clip away the stuff after it’s less tangled? Or do you have a very good electric clipper/razor handy? (it has to be well sharpened and cleaned a few times I would guess, but probably a short blade would be best)

Poor little thing. I identify with animals who just have too much hair! More than a few of mine have been miserable without a full body shave. Hugs and good luck to you!

Poor bunny! I would suggest using electric clippers, this would probably be a bit stressful but quickest and easiest in the long run. I know they make small ones for puppies and cats. I have a battery-powered puppy trimmer I use on my horse and it works really well and was only $15.00. I think it’s made by Wahl and it would be a good size for bunnies.

You have to post before and after pics!

Help me out here, guys. I remember a thread within the last couple of months that was about an Angora that was shaved in parts, and someone was really worried it was bad for the bunny. Others chimed in and said it was fine, and actually gave some advice on the care, shaving, trimming and grooming of their long haired buns. BB, do you know which one I mean? Can you do a focused search to find it? It might have the right advice handy.

Pam, only one I can think of is was when Lion_Lop got her Angora…Carona(?) Was a thread about feeding it seeds etc too. Member clevername gave some advice as she raises angoras.

I would definitely start trimming and shaving – the matts are more detrimental than the trimming. Be careful however about matts too close to the skin – you may want to work those out slowly and let them start going away from the skin to start shearing them. I had a friend trim a fuzzy angora for me that was terribly matted and one of my vets had dematted an angora we had in the past.

I recommend clipping her manually, you will definitely need a helper. When I adopted my ginat angora cross his fur was in bad condition also, and he was infested with wool mite for which my vet treated him with Ivermec orally. I had to trim the coat right down, using surgical scissors, the kind that come to a dull point. Angora wool will jam up electrical clippers, don’t use them for this reason. I now keep his fur trimmed all the time in areas where he scratces and his ‘skirt’, too, because he gets everything stuck in his hair. I look forward to photos soon!

lol…k&k, its funny he says no to his razor….Jared is THREATENING on a daily basis to use his razor to shave Boston….naked bunnies can’t shed apparently

Can’t wait for pictures! She sounds so sweet!

Can you find a vets office that has a groomer ?  Maybe that person could do it.   May be 45-65 dollars though.  And no no bath.

Personally  I would try to groom with the comb that haswide  spaces between the teeth.  Start at the of the hair and work your way to the skin if possible.

If the tangled mass of hair is not too close to the skin I would take  small sharp scissors like haircutting scissors and trim a little bit day by day. As you trim some the tangles and clumps may start to loosen.  I dont’ know how close to the skin the matts are.

I am a do it myselfer and have not cut a bun yet. If it is right against the skin I would let a professional do it though.  Just work on it a little at a time. It may loosen up.  She sounds so sweet. Awe. Very patient too.

http://home.pacbell.net/bettychu/care.html

http://www.heorotrabbits free hostia.com    these are the 2 sites a member here showed me.  Hope it helps.

It sounds like you are taking every precaution available- but I would recommend trying to do this- especially if you are using scissors during a time when your vet office is open (I know that may not be possible).

Plan on giving the bunny a couple of breaks if needed- it might be hard to sit still for so long and be so patient (both you and the rabbit- )

I am pretty anti-scissor for grooming a coat short- when I “groom” the only thing I use scissors for are thinning shears and they are not close to the skin- I use them on longer hair that is staying (doggie feet and feathers on back of legs).

Are you planning to get all the coat off and start over from there?  Or just to groom the mats off?  If you are planning on taking all the coat off- I would think you would need clippers.  I have done Lion Cuts on Persians and other long haired cats before and one thing you really need to watch is that the blade does get hot- so having some cooling lube spray helps alot- spray the blade while it is running and it will lube the moving parts and cool the hot blade.

I would take along some Neosporin- you might find some areas that are irritated by the mats.

If you do use clippers there are a lot of pet sets that come with “guards” that fit on the blade and will keep the remaining fur longer than a shaved to the skin.  (Real groomers have different blades- but I mostly see kits with the plastic guards for home use).

When I first got Raymond he was covered in bunny pee because the bunny that was next to him at the shelter had been spraying him…poor little bunny!…Anyways, we had to eventually trim the matted pee off because it was already dried and we couldn’t wash it off. What Brian and I did was a team effort of holding and trimming. Brian would hold Raymond for awhile while I trimmed, and then we would switch. We would only do about 10 minutes at a time, but we did get most of it out.

Aw! I like the name Clover! *pouts* ^_^

Ah well…I remember those fluffy bunnies…(misses angoragrl)…They do look like big balls of cotton…or living bunny slippers! ^_^

Hehehe…. ^_^ I’m happy!

I have to say, you are so lucky to have Dave to help you and be so patient. Now I can’t squawk about the hubby, he drove me into town TWICE yesterday to help Mimzy, bu I think he draws the line at grooming. We tried having him help me with the anal glands once…that was enough for him! 0_o

do you have one of those combs where the teeth spin? hard to explain, but works great on clyde(jersey woolly). they catch the knot/matt, but as you slowly pull the teeth pull through the matt without getting stuck. I don’t know if it would work on severe matts but it helps with the matinence.

hard to explain, but if you have one i’m sure you know what i mean

goodluck, poor thing, grooming is important!

I had been interested in adopting an abandoned female English Angora last summer and after reading about KokaneeandKahlua’s new rabbit’s coat condition I looked up the page about that rabbit again. They’re being fostered in Saskatchewan still. I will put the link here because it kind of fits the topic. This is not pretty to look at. Makes me mad someone would let a rabbit get into such deplorable condition! http://www.happyhopsrabbitry.com/abandoned.htm

I definitely have a weak spot for angoras, so, yes, I am still thinking of adopting one of the abandoned E.A.’s, the blue doe, Sophia, I was interested in. I will see if Hoppy Acres will come to the Edmonton Rabbit Show in August and maybe bring the blue doe along. I haven’t been in touch with Hoppy Acres recently, I thought it would be best to wait and see how my two males bond after my mini rex’ neuter surgery. Bonding a trio? That would be a first for me!

ooops! I mean HappyHops Rabbitry not Hoppy Acres…

I’m so lame I go on the Hoppy Acres website from time to time just because their buns are so gorgeous! But it’s been down for a while now.. not sure why..

OH K&K!!!! wow…both gorgeous! What a sweetie in dave’s lap..looks like she likes it

Petzy, we both posted at the same time. I was wondering about that because I didn’t think Hoppy Acres had angoras, but that makes more sense now

I bet Clover will be GORGEOUS when her fur grows back. She’s already beautiful with that haircut of hers.. or should I say HERR-cut?

awe no Cotton?  Clover sounds like a nice name too.   She is absolutely beautifu.   OH gosh I want an EA.  Eats heart out.  So hard to find in Florida.

Great job on her coat too.  Yes those pro scissors are the best for this stuff. 

look at her snuggle into dave’s arm!!! awwww!

What a pretty little English baby! –ok I’m biased

Hmmm…you could totally felt some of that fiber and make yourself something nice ^_^

Any clue how old she is? If they haven’t sheared/plucked her before you could be dealing with just the baby coat there. Her adult coat would contain more guard hair and be easier to groom.

She’s beautiful and so is Baby. So you and Dave are keeping her?

I’ve always wanted an English Angora and now they keep popping up on Kijiji…so tempting. I never used to see or hear about that breed around here. I think they are, unfortunately, becoming popular to the impulse buyer for their unique appearance, and of course, the pet stores take full advantage of that.

They are popular among craft folk (at least that’s how I got into them). I’ve never heard of a pet store that actually carries them, I figure its too much of a liabilty, plus too much upkeep to keep them looking good for sale.

The breed is actually makes a very good pet. They are extremely tolerant and afectionate. I’d reccomend them to most people interested in rabbits if it wasn’t for their coat care requirements which absolutely must be performed.

Clevername- Well I hope your right and my local pet stores do not carry them. I assumed they were since the recent Angora ads began popping up. I never go into the pet stores that sell animals here because I because so terribly outraged and sad, so I don’t know for sure.

So you groom your Angora and then spin it into yarn yourself?

LittlePuffyTail- Oh yes. I periodically harvest from them and spin their fiber. It makes the warmest winter wear!

grooming tools  I was cruisign through fav’s deciding what to delete.  I ran across    bunnybites.com   I looked on the grooming section.  There are tools for you there

The first comb is like the one I use on Ruby well 1 of the 3 combs I use anyway.  They ahve scissors for shearing less than 30.00

Kokaneeandkahlua – I appreciate the offer but I’m sitting of about 5 bags on fiber right now.

Hehehe I absolutely LOVE angoras but my allergies would not agree with having one! I will admire yours constantly, though!

yay!!! can’t wait for more beautiful pictures!

c’mon… you know you want to. 

i mean… what if you just… “forgot” to post her on petfinder or the website? and what if you could not groom her daily at the rescue, she’d have to come stay (as a FOSTER) at your house? or what if some of the other bunnies teased her b/c of her haircut?

we wouldn’t want that now, would we? ;o)

My guess from what you have said and the way she acts is that she’s one of those buns who knows how good it is to get all cut and trimmed up so she sees it as a good thing when you start working on her. I’m surprised you haven’t heard a tooth purr during it. If you do, don’t suddenly think it is a pain noise. There’s a long haired bunny at SaveABunny that simply purrs up a storm while she’s being brushed.