Were you able to clean the oil from Sophie’s coat so she won’t ingest it during grooming?
Now you can gauge how crafty she is in getting herself in a jam… it will help you when you bunny-proof your place. Don’t feel stupid for it.

I have no idea how you can clean her – I’ve heard they use Dawn liquid dishwasher on wildlife who get into oil spills.

I was thinking of trying to absorb off the oil from the bunny by repeat application of shop towels. Like literally wiping the hairs. It will take hours. I am not sure that a commercial soap is safe on a bunny.

edit: Giuly, what type of oil was it? Just vegetable kind?

Well you wouldn’t want to use it without first speaking to the vet, but I imagine if it’s safe for wildlife it’s safe for a rabbit. Of course she may not need anything quite like this since vegetable oil is not quite the same as an oil spill.

Wait until you speak to the vet. What a mess :~(

Oh, poor bunny! What a thing to happen… Dish soap does have a powerful grease-dissolving action, and I think I misunderstood Sarita. I thought she referred to dishwasher soap, i.e. what you put into the dishwasher!
At the shelter I worked at we used plain dish washing liquid on kittens with fleas. You want to get all the soap out without using too hot of water, it’s kind of an art that way. –Did the vet phone you back, or could you try another vet?

OK. The problem is that if the vet doesn’t get back to you before Sophie grooms off the oil herself she will ingest it. It may upset her GI tract.

Bunny baths are highly discouraged because it can stress them too much, or they can get very cold as they take a long time to dry.

I found this info on how to bathe your rabbit if you absolutely must.

http://www.wikihow.com/Bathe-Your-Pet-Rabbit

edit: also, I would try getting her dry using the blow dryer on low setting so she can get back to her kits. She must be dry before you let her be with her litter.

It is OK to use a dish soap like Dawn for bathing her.  Normally I would not recommend bathing- but she looks greasy and unhappy.  Her oily coat will likely attract dirt and dust, and it would not be ideal for her to ingest that much oil- though I am not sure how much it would harm her.  I think some vets recommend givng mineral oil or laxatone at times which contains mineral oil.

Just make sure to get her as dry as possible after the bath.  After I had to give Cotton a butt bath- I dried her as much as I could and then locked her in the bathroom with dry towels on the floor.  If a hair dryer stresses her out- don’t use a hair dryer- but maybe put her somewhere warm and dry.

I have used Dish soap on cats that have gotten into oil (motor oil) and cats and puppies that have had a reaction to flea meds.  It is not a great all around shampoo but it works great for stripping the hair and skin natural oils- which is what is needed in this case.

Yes, I wouldn’t hesitate giving my rabbit a bath if she was in this condition. I wouldn’t be too worried about a gi upset from the vegetable oil but you do want to get it off her. Poor Sophie.

aww, poor bunny!

My rabbits are not afraod of the hair dryer, it depends on the bunny I would say. If you are going to try blow drying her, it has to be on the lowest setting. Have her wrapped in a towel loosely only exposing the part you are drying at the moment, say her back, and cover her face gently with your hand so she gets no air blown into her face.
High doses of any oil can have a laxative effect in a rabbit.

Maybe instead of bathing her completely in a tub of water, you could get some rags and soak them and rub her all over until the oil is gone. She might even think of it as a type of grooming.

No, don’t cover her face with a towel..that will probably scare her more. She may be fine with the bathing. Just do a little area at a time.

I’ve done numerous butt baths with my rabbits and sure, they hate it but I manage and they are fun, just pissed off at me.

If you bathe her in the sink put a towel down on the bottom of the sink to give her traction. You will probably have to soak it good to give the towel some suction to stay on the sink.

I honestly think the vet will tell you to bathe her as well. Most vets are in surgery and in appointments around this time.

Mine hate it too, but tolerate it. Just be prepared when you first ease them into the water, whether in the sink and especially the tub, they may try to jump up your chest and over your shoulder to get away. Lola always tries it a couple of times, then gives up and just sits there pouting.

 Sometimes covering their face helps to calm them.  OH my the things bunnies get into.  I would definitely try getting it off of her.  She is in her cage cause she feels uncomfortable with oil all over her. 

I wonder if cornstarch would absord the oils.  Cornstarch is used on buns with no problems.  Safe to use.  

IF it doesn’t work I would use that dish soap that was mentioned .   Or both.  In this situation a bath seems called for.  If the other stuff won’t work definitely bathe.   Dry real good too.  

If she panics over the hair dryer guess you have to towel dry her.   Takes a while. I doubt she will live this one down.  I hope she wasn’t planning on cooking her self.  lol

sorry to laugh, but after bunnytowne said that about cooking and cornstarch, it crossed my small mind that if you could call her Fritter now

Giuly, so much advice here … I think the most important thing is for you not to blame yourself and get real calm and make the bath time as enjoyable as you can. Sophie may fuss but you need to stay calm and focused so she can feel safe. Keep us posted.

I thought about cornstarch too BT but I was afraid too that it would make a bigger mess. I use this on Maxine’s fur for urine problems but I am not sure it would be good to absorb this oily mess.

Kralspace, that’s funny :~)

I don’t serve any vegetables to my rabbits that I wouldn’t eat so if it looks like something you wouldn’t eat, don’t feed it to your rabbits.

As long as it’s warm in the bathroom with no draft I don’t see a problem letting her dry in there.

Oh yay for poops!!

I love how excited we get for poop…

Giuly, did she mind the hair dryer? If she didn’t freak from being blow dried, I would dry her some more that way. The faster she gets dry the better.

Cornstarch or baking powder would be good to use as a dry shampoo to help absorb oil.  Sprinkle or dust it on section by section, then brush it off/wipe it off, instead of pouring it on all at the same time. Do it while they are feeding that way they aren’t distracted or fussy.

I’m glad to hear your bath worked out ok! Now that she is clean, I think the important thing to make sure she stays warm and doesn’t get a draft while she is getting dry. I have had to bathe chickens before, and I would just keep a towel around them (not wrapped tightly, just gently piled around them) so that they didn’t get a draft.

Were you able to get the baby clean?

Aww poor Sophie. bet she’ll think twice next time!

Her picture is cute like she is saying “haaa”!! Me dids it”!! I have used dawn on my bunny’s bummie. She always had “sticky poop bummy syndrome” unti lI found out that it was the sunflower seeds giving her sticky poop. She got used to me holding her on her back and running the facet over her bummy with warm water and I used dawn to clean her. Since she is not dark like your Sophie, I wonder how I can still get urine yellow color out of a little spot on her fur on the bottom. Dawn don’t remove that either so I am thinking of clipping it off.
I even have a “bummy bath song” for Hunny that I sing to her when I am going to wash her bummy.

I was very worried when I had to give Comet a bath too! he hated every second but was pretty good. And he actually didn’t mind the hair dryer…I think he may have even kinda liked it. I couldn’t get him completely dry but mostly and he did just fine! I’m glad it worker out okay!

Guily that picture is sooo funny!! She’s totally like ‘Oh Hai!”

Good stuff the bath went well

Ahh the end of the oil adventure  now she is nice n clean n dry.  HURRAH