After the groomer takes care of the matts, her grooming will be much more manageable. And without matts to deal with, you can “renew” your grooming sessions with her, as she will learn that brushing is not painful when you’re not brushing out matts. Maybe you could reintroduce her to the brush? (ie. show it to her and let her smell it without grooming her, then after a couple days brush her with it for just a few strokes, then increase the amount of brushing as she gets more comfortable) Just make sure to still keep up with brushing while reintroducing her to grooming.

She might be giving you the bunny butt treatment now, but I don’t think your bond is ruined .

Sorry, I meant for a few minutes, and then if she isn’t wanting to run away at the end of a few minutes, keep brushing. Most buns have a “limit” to how long they will put up with being brushed. If you can find her limit (ie. 15 minutes), then you can push her limit by a couple minutes each time. Kind of like when you run a little longer than the time before to build up your stamina.

If she tries to run away the minute the brush comes out and doesn’t put up with grooming at all, then I would try grooming her on a high surface in an unfamiliar area (ie. kitchen table). Most buns won’t feel comfortable there and will be less likely to try and run away/squirm. However, you might need another person to help you initially to make sure she doesn’t try to jump off the table.

Do you corral her in any way when you’re grooming her? I always put Wooly in my lap. I was just curious because you said she tries to run away.

I can relate to feeling overwhelmed with grooming. Wooly will go through periods where he simply doesn’t want to be groomed. I don’t want to stress him out too much because of his breathing difficulties. At some point though, he needs to be groomed. So I usually corral him in my lap and brush him for as long as he will tolerate. I’ll give him a break if he’s getting too upset. If a mat it too difficult to remove, I just cut it. I don’t want to pull his fur too much because I feel like I’m hurting him. Plus, struggling with mats just makes the grooming take longer. Is Storm a wool breed? Maybe I can give you some tips.

The good thing with Wooly is that he knows he gets a treat when we’re done. So even if he is upset, he will immediately turn around and look for his treat when I return him to his room.

Oh, she’s a fuzzy lop! How cute! Does her coat have guard hairs?

That’s one big pile of fur and one very disapproving bunny!!!

Have you tried using a pocket battery-powered trimmer? That’s what I use for Bindi’s mats. You can get them in the dog section at Walmart for like $10.

Once her mats are under control, her fur should be fairly easy to maintain moving forward if her coat has guard hairs. You will see wool in her coat and then coarse, straight hairs mixed in. Those are the guard hairs. French angoras and Jersey woolies have guard hairs. When I groom Wooly, I follow the molt line where the loosened wool is sliding down the guard hairs.