Care of Satin Rabbit’s Coat

[Love4Bunny]

Hi all,

When I first adopted Thor, my vet told me he was a lop cross.  He’s approx 6lbs. I’ve since deduced that he is probably a black satin mini lop. 

My first question is, does anyone have any advice or experience with maintaining the shine and lustre of a black satin coat? His coat was super shiny in the beginning, but he experiences numerous sheds which leave his coat somewhat uneven, and he’s lost some of that shine now.  Am I doing something wrong? Thor has this one minor bald patch which exposes some of his white undercoat, but I’ve read BB threads that say that the Hairbuster comb can make them a little bald if you overdo it, which I may have.  I live in a drier climate, and we do use the heating function a lot, so I know that that’s probably a factor in why he has a bit of an an uneven coat.

Which brings me to my second question – how can I speed up the shedding process to get rid of the tufty man-tutu (or butt skirt) near his butt? I’m able to gently pull out the “fluffier” grey hairs from just above his tail, but it’s this sort of clumpy mass that doesn’t really come out, even with combing.  It seems like the process is a little stuck.  The underside of his fur is actually whitish-grey. Thor also gets good quality greens, hay, and pellets daily, but I plan on switching my buns to the Sherwood pellet brand, which was recommended by a bunny rescue volunteer (has anyone tried that company?). Apparently this is supposed to improve the coat.

This post probably sounds like vanity, but I can’t seem to find much info. on satin rabbit coat care, other than breeder sites that I can’t make heads or tails of, and was hoping for anyone who has experience with their coats to share what is normal and abnormal.  Just want to make sure Thor is as healthy as he can be.

I would post a pic but I am having problems resizing down to 500kb.

[Sr. Melangell]

I’ve never had a bunny with a satin coat, but I had a Cashmere Lop that was an Ex show rabbit, I had to brush her a lot, after brushing and combing I used to use a baby brush on her and her coat would shine, I don’t know about the rabbit food as I’ve never heard of it, its it an American brand? Shedding s a normal process even we loose hair on our body, I’ve never stopped my hair dropping out (Must be getting old) Make sure his bottom is clean so he does not get fly strike, there are wipes you can buy for bunny bottoms so they are nice and clean, or a clean cloth and some water, don’t use anything in the water like washing up liquid, that is just for us for cleaning the dishes, it could irritate bunny’s bottom,luckily my bunny does that area himself and his boy bit, he doesn’t let Mummy go there, but he is a bunny that doesn’t like to be picked up, so if I see something, I say. “What is this?” and point and he will sort it himself.

[Azerane]

I’ve never used Sherwood but have heard good things about it, that being said just looking at their website their adult pellets seem to be alfalfa based, which is a bit of a surprise. Would be worth doing some research I think.

[Love4Bunny]

Pinky, can you get fly strike if your bunny is primarily an indoor bunny? I thought it was purely an outdoor thing. Thor doesn’t have clumpy clumps or anything. Maybe that wasn’t the right word – a thicker mass of fur on the posterior is more accurate. His stools are good, and he is consistent with hay consumption. I think it is a company based out of Utah. That’s all I could find.

Azerane, yeah, I’ve been doing research, and I was surprised to find that it is alfalfa hay in their main pellet line. Not sure what that is about. I may email the guy and see why that is, if I decide to go that route. Thanks for flagging that, though.

[Sr. Melangell]

Love4Bunny any bunny can get fly strike, indoor and outdoor that is why we have to clean litter boxes fully too, I’m sure your bunny is not sat in a mountain of poop, every time Olly goes to the Vet they check his bottom, its just routine, like when we see a doctor they check for bugs and things.

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