Bath times

[bugsy]

I was wondering if you could give me your views on bathing rabbits!  not sure i am ready for the challenge and i’m worried that it might scare by Bugsy to an early grave..  any suggestions, he’s not really grubby but he is getting black from newspaper!  any help would be appreciated x

[qzobevmama]

i don’t bath bunz unless absolutely necessary, and then only the part(s) that really needs it.  so that means mostly "butt baths."  or an occasional foot bath.

wet rabbit fur takes forever, and i mean *forever*, to dry.  i have yorkies and they have long hair, blowdrying them is time consuming but very doable.  rabbits, on the other hand, are a whole different story.  just doing a butt bath and blowdrying after that takes a good long time.  it’s not a good idea to brush the fur when it’s wet as it can pull the hair right out of the skin, so there are these clumps of wet fur and the air doesn’t really get to the individual hairs.  plus, i think the fur just has super suction and hangs on to the water!

what you might want to try is a soft brush, or whatever you use for grooming.  also, you can take a warm moist (not wet) towel and gently clean the affected area.  if there’s a clump of something that has dried on the fur and you can’t brush it out, you might just want to snip it out with scissors.   if the clump is close to the skin you have to be ultra extra careful;  having someone else hold the bun and using good lighting might help.  and by scissors i don’t mean big paper scissors, rather little manicure scissors or the smaller scissors that are available in the grooming dept. of pet stores.  make sure they have rounded ends on them, not pointy sharp ends.

hope that helps!  😎

[bugsy]

Thanks for your views on that, i will have a go at the weekend!!

[Gravehearted]

qzobevmama’s ideas are right on – it’s much better to spot clean your bunny paws – as baths really stress them out.

[BinkyBunny]

FYI regarding blowdrying.  Even when you are drying just one area be very careful with blow drying.  Bunny skin is very sensitive as well as rabbits can easily get overheated.  So use a dryer on low, and use a dryer that has a cool setting so you can go back and forth between both settings to create mildly warm air.

 

 

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