How often do you groom your rabbits?

[Lops4Life!]

Hey! 🙂
My rabbits have very healthy coats and rarely ever get knots. I usually pull out their moulting fur gently and (sometimes) groom their fur. How often should I be doing this and what are the benefits?

 

[DanaNM]

During a molt, you might need to groom daily or even twice daily. But when they aren’t molting they usually only need light brushing or hand plucking maybe weekly? You kind of need to gauge how much fur is coming off them. When mine are really molting heavily I pretty much brush them as much as possible, and I will occasionally pop one on the table for a deeper grooming if they aren’t being cooperative. Tough love, ya know?

Ingesting too much hair can cause tummy upsets. True “hair balls” are rare in rabbits, but it does seem like when they ingest too much it can lead to gas and stasis. My Bun Jovi got stasis prob a year ago, and when he started pooping again A LOT of hair came out, so the vet thought it was triggered by that.  A diet high in fiber (hay!) and moisture (water!) helps keep things moving along though.

. . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  

[Wick & Fable]

The only grooming need I really “schedule” is probably nail-trimming, which happens once every month for one of my rabbits and once every 2 months for my second rabbit (the latter gets very stressed by it, so we space it out more).

I think with fur grooming, it’s most important to simply be vigilant and always open to realizing “Ah, there’s a lot of fur being released. I should brush daily for a bit to help my rabbit.”

As Dana mentioned, the biggest benefit is hair ball prevention. Rabbits groom themselves as much, if not more than cats do. When cats ingest a lot of fur from their grooming, they can cough up hair balls so they don’t need to worry about it. Rabbits however are unable to do that. All fur they groom will end up in their stomachs, and sometimes during high shed periods, the amount can negatively impact their health, as Dana described.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Lops4Life!]

I had no clue about the hair balls! Thanks!

[LBJ10]

It also depends on whether or not your bunny “blows their coat”. Some bunnies will go through a heavy molt, shedding tons of fur all at once. This is usually a “seasonal” thing. Other bunnies don’t really do this. Instead, they shed small amounts 24/7 365 days a year.

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