I’m sorry you’re gping through a rough time. It’s wonderful that you can deal with your rabbits’ fur and nails now, bc it must mean you’re gaining back some strenght and energy!

For matted fur I’d cut with scissors first. You can hold your fingers as close to the skin as you can and cut “above” them so you don’t risk nicking the skin. It’s obv best if you can get someone to hold the bun when you do this. When you’ve finished cutting msybe you can brush the remaining fur out very very gently with a plastic slicker that has those tiny knobs on each bristle. Don’t use one that doesnt have those plastic knobs.

As for clippers I cant recommend any bc I’ve never used clippers on a bun. One time my very fluffy bun Vilde needed his belly shaved for an ultrasound but his fur was so fine the vet’s clippers wouldn’t cut it. (They weren’t a rabbit specialist vet though. They ended up just using a tonne of ultrasound gel instead of shaving him.)

As for the nails, if they’ve dark nails I’d cut the tips and do it again soon. The quick gets longer if nails arent trimmed, so you cant clip too much at once, or there will be blood 😔 Have some styptic powder at hand if you accidentally hit the quick. It’s not a catastrophe if you do, but it’s obviously best avoided, it hurts and can bleed quite a bit.

Again its best if you have someone who can help you hold the bun whike you do the clipping. It’s quite difficult to clip bunny nails yourself unless you have a very docile bun.

Wishing you the best with this and everything else!

Fluffy buns can get out of control so quickly, even on a good day!

My old bunny Churro (a Fuzzy Lop) was a constant battle against mats. He was extremely matted when we adopted him (even after the shelter shaved a lot of them) and it was an uphill battle his whole life. I had some luck with grooming scissors (the kind with the little ball at the end, just the smallest size) and a couple of different clippers. One was a small one made for grooming from Wahl I believe. The other one is actually for humans, but its from a brand called Meridian and its just called The Trimmer. Its for “personal grooming” but its meant to be anti skin nicking and tugging, which I felt would be good for bunny skin. And it worked pretty well on Chu’s fur without clogging too much. I found it on Amazon. The other thing that helped was a metal comb or even a rat tail comb to sort of break apart the mats as you trim them.

The trick is to go slow. It can be uncomfortable for the bun as it tugs on the skin, so sometimes you have to just work a little at a time and not always in one day, depending on how bad the mats are. I know with Churro, we had to occasionally take him to the vet when they were too close to the skin or in areas we couldn’t do.

If the mats are closer to the skin or larger, I found that starting from the top and “splitting” the mat makes it a little easier to work with. You can make a “point of entry” along the edge with the scissors and comb and just slowly work into the mat until you have a spot you can use the clippers. Just watch the clipper blade will heat up fairly quick. There are also YouTube videos and articles online that show how to clip mats on bunnies that are very helpful. So, maybe try a search, too, to get an idea. 🙂

Like Bam said, its much easier if you have a helper or a very chill bun. You can do a bunny burrito for mats underneath, but I would sometimes put Chu in a laundry basket or the couch for the top. Whatever is comfortable (and secure) for you and Meatloaf. 🙂 Treats can also help when you’re finished with the grooming session!

I’m so sorry to hear you’ve hit such a rough patch. Honestly, some of my biggest guilt in life comes from times when I was too sick to properly care for my buns and cats and knowing they had it rough because of that. So, I can relate. I hope you are on the mend, though, and I know Meatloaf and Bunnito still love you just as much as they always have. 🙂 <!–/data/user/0/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files/clipdata/clipdata_bodytext_250608_111516_314.sdocx–>

I’m sorry you’re having a rough time. I agree that fluffy bunnies can be hard to stay on top of. Some fur types are definitely worse than others.

I always had better luck with smaller trimmers. Ones that are for “personal grooming” on humans work better. I found the ones made for pets to be too large and too loud. The smaller trimmers for people are easier to maneuver and are quieter (less scary). When cutting big mats, I would carefully dissect them with small grooming scissors (like Brunosmama suggested). Be very, very careful when cutting mats. You don’t want to accidentally cut the skin.

Nails can be tricky, even with light colored nails. I recently discovered how awesome toenail clippers for humans are. I found a pair that has a straight edge (instead of curved) and they work really well. Always use the press-press-cut method, especially if you can’t see the quick. As Bam said, the quick can grow longer if the nails are allowed to grow longer. This means you may have to remove small amounts, wait a couple weeks, then repeat.