Grooming without sedation? (Update: SUCCESS! finally..)

[corpathina]

So MJ’s fur is officially out of control. It wasn’t so bad in his younger days (and he would let me brush and groom him) but it seems the longer his fur gets, the more he disapproves of me brushing it. I’m very careful to hold it as I brush the mats out, but for some reason he has become petrified of the brush and the scissors. It has gotten to the point that if he even SEES the brush or the scissors he runs and hides. I’ve tried to brush him when we’re on the floor having a long, calm grooming session but as soon as I so much as tug on his fur the tiniest bit, he bolts. I’ve even tried to sneak up on him and brush little bits at a time while he’s eating, but I am only met with furious foot flicks.

I’m not sure what to do. He has got to get groomed at some point and I just don’t think it’s very ethical to get him sedated just so he can be groomed. I read the post about the Brach’s Rescue Remedy and am somewhat tempted to try it, but I must admit that I am skeptical it would calm him down enough for me to groom him. But at this point, I’m willing to try just about anything.

And let me emphasize, when I say his fur is out of control, I mean that he has developed 3″ long wings on the sides of his haunches, a skirt around his backside that drags the ground, a mane that is 5-6″ long, and fur around his face so long that it probably impairs his vision. I would never shave him or anything, but I would love to trim the fur back a bit so it’s more manageable.

Thoughts? Experiences?

[kralspace]

I confess I had to read your post to see if it was you or the bun that needed the sedation for grooming 😉

That is one fluffy bunny!. My rex Lola doesn’t have long hair, but she’s got that double coat that always seems to be molting and trying to brush or pluck her on the sly usually just gets me bit.

I put a towel and all my stuff on the kitchen table ( I have it pushed into a corner so escape is cut off on three sides at least) and pop her up there. She’s learned that when she’s in that spot, she WILL be brushed and it’s no used fighting (like her butt baths) She flatten out, glare and cuss me and yank the treats out of my hand, but she’s learned she’s not getting down until I put her down. I have some rescue remedy, I may give it a try next time, it may at least tone down the rabbitude.

[Andi]

I am SO lucky my long haired rabbit likes to be brushed. But with that being said, he’s about the only one of my bunnies that is OK with grooming.
I sort of do the same things as kralspace, i have one selected space for grooming, and so the bunnies know this means business. I groom them on my lap though, with my supplies at a short reach.
I keep the sessions no more then 10 mins MAX, and if i have to I will let them relax a bit and do it again afterwards. I use a small comb and my hands to pick through the fur. I find the pinch and pull meathod works wonders for the shedding undercoat.
Once we’re done we get cuddles and a treat, and i place them down, i never let them jump from my lap out… otherwise they’ve won LOL

[RabbitPam]

I don’t know if he’d be OK with this, but you might consider getting him professionally trimmed and groomed at this point. Sort of a Summer cut. Then, once it’s much more comfortable and manageable, begin your grooming sessions with him again. Possibly try a clicker technique: give him a treat each time, so he learns that grooms = treats. Don’t have to be sweets. A carrot slice, or apple, banana or craisin can work. Just let him learn that if he wants a treat, he gets to be groomed.

[KatnipCrzy]

I would get him in a space for grooming that puts him out of his element- and that he would maybe rather be groomed and be close to you than away from you.  Up on a table or somewhere else that is not his normal place to be.

I don’t recommend people using scissors to groom a pets hair- as it is too, too easy to accidentally cut the skin.  I recommend a mat rake- which has blades to cut thru mats- but the blades are pointed away from the skin.  IF you are going to use scissors- at least do it when your vet is open/during regular business hours- that way in case of an accidental cut- you at least might not be charged an emergency fee.

Shaving/clippers- although the noise can be scary- is actually less likely to cause harm to the skin or be painful that scissors or combing/yanking on mats.

I would only ever recommended sedated grooming if absolutely necessary- it would have to be done at a vets office.  And after you get it done once- you should really work from that point onward to get the rabbit to allow grooming.

It certainly won’t hurt to use Rescue Remedy- I think you could try it.

[corpathina]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

I’m definitely not interested in getting him sedated by a vet or anything. That’s just overboard and not a long-term solution. I would happily bring him to be professionally groomed, but to be honest, I don’t think he would behave any better for them than he would for me and I don’t really trust anyone around here to know how to handle a rabbit for grooming purposes.

I think I’m going to try the suggestion of putting him on the kitchen table or somewhere out of his element.

Katnip – don’t worry, I’ve only used the scissors on mats that have been very far away from his skin and only a few times. And when I have, I’ve been careful to put my fingers between his skin and the blades of the scissors. But he hasn’t let me do that in a very long time. I’d be happy just to be able to brush him right now.

I’ll see if we can make some progress with brushing and then perhaps progress to using clippers.

[Deleted User]

Mops is the same way. He doesn’t like being touched so grooming him is a tough job. I do use scissors on him but the ones I bought are dull-pointed and made for professional grooming. Most scissors, even hair ones, don’t cut angora and you need to get a swift snip or the risk of injury is high. I plop Mops on a my lap and put my hand over his head with wisps of his hair sticking out between my figers. Those I can cut safely. His underskirt — forget it: I cannot cut there and it is all mats. I just brush lots and lots. Mops is not the most well-groomed rabbit, that’s for sure. Sometimes I have put him on a tiny stool and been able to trim under his chin, but again, I wrap my hand around the area and cut the hairs that are sticking out between my fingers.

[Deleted User]

corpathina, this was Mops when I managed to really trim him down. I like him like that but it was a struggle.

[Andi]

aaawwwwww mops .. lol
The skirt hair is the worst isn’t it? (We call it Baby’s Tu-Tu)
I like the fact my Jersey has regular hair on his ears and face, as that grooming would be much more difficult. I had a pair of Lionhead fosters, one had the crazies of hair, long fur on his ears, that you just have to use a small comb for but he did not like it.

corpathina, just a heads up if you do use electric clippers at once point, know the blades can only handle so much rabbit fur before they get dull. Mine are dead now and need to get sent in fro sharpening. When I needed to get a rabbit clipped after my toasted i took her to the vet and wrecked their clippers :p

[corpathina]

Update: I have made no progress whatsoever in getting MJ to let me groom him! Haha! The up-side is that he is currently running around the guest room/office like a madman. I only let him back here when I’m here to supervise him but I forgot how much I need to bring him in this room. You’d think carpet is the biggest gift to him ever! Traction is such a glorious thing.. hehehe. I can’t count the binkies. I tried to take a video with my phone but the phone couldn’t keep up with his speed! Anyway.. that has nothing to do with him being groomed. Just a report that he’s a total goofball.

Petzy – MOOOOOPPPSSS!! What a doll. He’s so cute. I haven’t seen that picture of him before. It’s crazy how much he looks like MJ in that photo! They both have the same sort of lighter fur on their feet, the same style mane, the same face shape, the same eyes, the same tufts on their haunches, and the same skirt. And of course, the same disapproval. Hehe.. I think they must be long lost cousins. It sounds like you have to kinda groom Mops the way I did with MJ (before he suddenly because afraid of the brush) – guerrilla style grooming. You just have to get as much as you can when you can. Oh well! Better than nothing, right?

Thanks for the heads-up, Andi! I had no idea rabbit hair was so rough on clippers. I don’t think he’ll let me get close to him with clippers ANY time soon. It’s so strange, because he’ll let me pet him and groom him with my hands but not with a brush. Maybe I should try one of those glove brushes? Hmmmm..

[corpathina]

Update: All grooming attempts with MJ have gone very badly. I have tried the calm, relaxing approach and have tried the forceful approach and neither have worked. I picked him up and put him on the kitchen table and he actually jumped off. Thankfully, I caught him, but still.. Not doing that again.

I bought one of those glove brushes hoping he would react better to it because it was more like me petting him and not brushing him. He didn’t mind it, but it only picked up the loose fur and didn’t really de-tangle anything. I’ve tried to do hit-and-runs on him by quickly making a pass at his fur with a brush when he’s not expecting it, but he immediately runs off and ends up yanking out his fur and I’m afraid to tackle the big matts that way because I know how delicate their skin is.

I really don’t know what else to do. I can try to put him in a bunny burrito and get to his back half, but I’d have to do it VERY quickly.

I’ve considered taking him to the vet, though, because in addition to the grooming, he also needs his nails clipped, I’d like the vet to check out his teeth (no problems are suspected, I just think it would be a good idea to check them now that he’s over a year old), and he’s got some strange little bumps on top of his head (that I can’t examine because he freaks out if I mess with his mane too much). I feel so lame for needing to take him to the vet for these things, but I can’t stress to y’all how incredibly uncooperative he is. I’m not worried about the damage he’ll do to me, I’m just concerned that he’ll hurt himself either trying to kick away from me, wriggle out of the bunny burrito, etc.

What do you guys think? Do you think the vet would even be willing to do these things? Would they try to do it without sedation? There’s only one vet that works with rabbits here and I know that she wouldn’t personally groom him.. one of the techs would no doubt do it, but in that case, I find myself to be probably more qualified and experienced in handling a rabbit than them.

Thanks for everybody’s input.. I’m really in a quandry about this.

[Sarita]

Would your vet even do grooming? My vet doesn’t groom rabbits but they will do a sanitary cut. I wonder if those bumps in his heads are actually matts.

I had a fuzzy lop once with very silky hair and to be honest, I hated grooming him. It didn’t matter, I would comb him and then a minute later, he was all matted again. I found a good home for him with a friend who loved the long haired rabbits thankfully and was happy to groom where I was not.

I always groom in the “rabbit” bathroom and on the floor with them – there is no escaping there. Yes, they hate the grooming and brushing but I know I have to do it and I feel eventually they get over it – they don’t hold a grudge.

[corpathina]

Sarita – I haven’t tried to trap him yet in a room yet, so that might be a good approach. Especially because he doesn’t ever really go in the bathroom and maybe if I do it in there he won’t hold it against me as much. Also, perhaps the unfamiliar territory will calm him down a bit. What about putting him the bathtub? Hmmmmmm…

[corpathina]

Oh and I have no idea if they would groom or not. I actually don’t want them to groom him, I want them to trim him. I’m not sure it counts as a sanitary cut, though, because he doesn’t have poop stuck in his fur or anything like that.

[Sarita]

I wouldn’t put him in the tub – it would be hard to work on him there. Is your flooring in the bathroom tile? That usually keeps them from going far. You do have to be careful that you block underneath the toilet though – my rabbits love to crawl in the space between the wall and the toilet and it’s hard to get them out.

[foxtailskies]

I don’t know if it would help, but I absolutely love the Kong ZoomGroom brush for cats and dogs on my rabbits… they object to it much less strenuously than other brushes I’ve tried. It’s basically a glorified curry comb, rubber with extra long teeth, and it pulls out a LOT of dead undercoat once you start working it in. Won’t get mats out but just my two cents, if you find it useful

Also, if MJ ever got to a point where his fur made him uncomfortable or became a problem of any kind (I once saw a Jersey Wooly with his back feet actually matted together!!!), it’s ABSOLUTELY ethical to put him under anesthesia for a good shavedown and cleaning up. Otherwise, he’d either stay a matted mess, or endure longer and undoubtedly tougher grooming sessions while awake until he was better. But of course it’s up to you to judge when it’s impacting his quality of life as well as your own personal mess-o-meter I actually DID NOT want a long haired rabbit for this reason- mats drive me CRAZY!!!!- but this crazy little Lionhead selected me… Nutter hasn’t had serious matting problems yet but I can already tell he’s going to be a felt ball at points in his life I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there…

[Chazz]

Animals often times behave differently when they aren’t on their “turf.” So your bunny might behave better if he was taken somewhere to be groomed. Or maybe if you were able to move him to a spot where he isn’t familiar with his surroundings….like people do when they’re bonding two bunnies. Say on top of a dryer that is spinning. Just a thought…….

At the vet office I used to work at we had people bring in rabbits for nail trims and ear cleanings all the time.  As long as the people who work there are familiar with rabbits. 

[Sarita]

What about Rescue Remedy? Have you ever tried this?

[corpathina]

Great suggestions, everyone.

I have tried the Rescue Remedy yet, Sarita, but I’m going to order some tomorrow and give it a shot. I made a little progress with him tonight, so I’m encouraged that if maybe I try to groom him more frequently he’ll become used to it. I try it about 5 times a day, so we’ll see if there’s an improvement.

[Deleted User]

If it’s any consolation, corpathina, I tried last week to trim Mops like I had done last year… but he won’t have any of it. I am basically not allowed to touch him, and there are some mats sticking out of him that have got to get cut off. I did trim him drive-through style: I just kept the scissors handy and trimmed a chunk at a time…but as soon as he catches on what I was doing he’d take off. I was just sitting on the floor with him hopping around me. His style looks really weird now and is not all done but…. alas, it’s a start!

[corpathina]

Petzy: that sounds EXACTLY like what I have to do with MopsJunior (lol!). I managed to get about 3 mats off last night, so that was major progress. I think I’m going to have to put him in a bunny burrito to really groom his butt, though. He’ll let me trim his skirt a little bit more than his backside, but as soon as I so much as look at his rear, he bolts.

Oh and he finally sat still long enough for me to check out the bumps on his head (with the assistance of a very distracting, tasty apple). It just looks like dry skin? I guess bunnies can get dandruff too? lol.. Doesn’t seem to be anything major, though.

We’re going on vacation tomorrow, so I guess any more grooming efforts will have to wait til I get back next week. But when I get back….. it’s ON. =D

[corpathina]

UPDATE:

Success!!! I’m thrilled! I psyched myself up and managed to trim MJ’s entire backside tonight. Here’s how I finally did it:

I coaxed him over with a carrot and then nabbed him. I quickly carried him to the bathroom and my boyfriend shut the door behind me. I had a towel on the floor ready to go, so in one swift motion and tucked MJ into a bunny burrito and then let my boyfriend hold him down. I worked very quickly and made sure to keep my fingers between where I was cutting and his skin as not to cut too closely. He amazingly behaved very well and only tried to wriggle away a few times.

This being said, he looks AWFUL. His fur just looks terrible.. it’s un-even and well.. it’s just bad. BUT! He has no more mats and you can actually see his little tail again! Also, he doesn’t have wings anymore! Yay!!!

I think the most amazing part is that he has quickly forgiven us. He usually is very bad about holding grudges, but after a few minutes he came over to me and let me pet him again. I gave him lots of treats, of course, right after we trimmed him, but he turned his nose up at both the apple and carrot because he was so angry. Haha.. He has since gotten over it and readily accepted both from me.

So tomorrow I will try to brush out the uneven fur and possibly try to trim his mane a bit. As for now, I’m very pleased. I was most just concerned with his bum being mat-free. His mane is unruly and out of control too, but it doesn’t mat like his backside does.

So a big thanks to all of you for your suggestions! Hopefully he won’t be so resistant to me brushing him now that his fur is shorter.. We’ll find out!

[jerseygirl]

Lol. That sounded like a well coordinated operation. Finally you can stop pulling your own hair out about this now!

[bunnyluvr]

Hooray! Now you can both feel better! Congrats on getting it done! Hopefully now it will be easier on both of you to keep him mat free.

[Sarita]

Congratulations on your achievement :~) I bet he feels better too and is maybe thanking you for grooming him (okay, he’s probably not, but it sounds good.)

[corpathina]

lol, Sarita, that’s what I choose to tell myself!

Here’s a photo I took this morning to show you guys how crazy his fur is even AFTER I trimmed him.

I’m not sure he even has peripheral vision anymore! However, you can actually see his feet in the back now, and that’s a big improvement. His skirt was so long that it drug the ground and you couldn’t see his tail or feet. It was pretty funny, though, because when he would run it would flop up and down. I thought he’d learn to fly.. lol..

His mane is so out of control that it’s hard to tell where his ear stop and his mane begins..

Poor little guy.. he is just furry beyond belief.

And here’s one more so you can see the awful job I did on trimming his back side. I’m sad I didn’t take “before” pictures, but trust me, this is a vast improvement!

I am definitely not a professional groomer..

[MissKris&Koji]

Hahaha – so funny.

What a shame grooming is such a disaster with many rabbits. I LOVE the look of a trimmed furry breed, all shaggy and strange, but that warfare scares me off somewhat.

[mrmac]

He has a butt and feet! I think there even MAY be an ear in there somewhere! He is soo furry and adorable!

[MimzMum]

This happened to me when I spilled some Pen-G on Mimzy’s back. Cut out a whole chunk of fur from his right shoulder-blade. Down to velvet. He looked terrible until the next shed, which he just finished, and now it’s all even again. Sooo…no worries…everything you trimmed will be back as soon as he completes a new shed. ^_^

Yeah, you didn’t need to hear that did you? lolz…anyway, great job! Although I have to admit he reminds me a bit of a guinea pig now just the way his fur is shaped.
I didn’t realize how long his neck fur was. Did his whole pelt look like that? 0_o

[Author]

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