Inspecting the underside of my bun

[sealyah]

I don’t know if it is normal for my bunny to jump and kick out of my grasp when I try to touch his fur underneath his body.  Even if I have someone else who knows how to hold him, while I look, he still kicks out.  How can I look down there? I’ve heard about how bad it is to trance your bunny, so I won’t do that.  But how else can I look down there, or brush down there for that matter?

Thanks!

[Zombie-Sue]

I have no idea, I always flip/trance them. I’m pretty much convinced that’s the best way to do it. Until someone invents a hydraulic lift like for cars, except for buns, I don’t know how else you’d get a brush under there.

I think there’s a couple of other posters here that don’t trance, hopefully one of them comes along with an answer for you.

[Bam]

If you have access to another person, that person can hold bunny in his lap and make bunny sort of sit on its butt facing you. You don’t have to make bunny lie on its back to see the private parts. The other peron supports bunny against his body and holds up the “torso” with one hand around the chest. The other hand can go under the bunny butt and hind legs for extra support, you want to avoid all kicking backwards. This is probably not possible with a Flemish Giant, only with smaller buns.

Another possibility is to have quick look while your bunny is periscoping to reach a craisin. That would only let you spot real trouble, nothing subtle. You can also place your bunny on a mirror and try to get a view of his underside in the mirror.

I’ve one bunny who won’t have anyone touch his belly and one bunny who likes being pet on his tummy. I guess it’s normal either way but more common that they are reluctant to have their underside checked out. There is a reason why there is an underside, i e, theres no bony protection around the inner organs there so that area is more vulnerable to attacks.

[sealyah]

Oh that is a good idea bam, to look in the mirror while I hold him. I will have to try that. It definitely does make sense that they are protective of that area.
Also Zombie-Sue; I forgot to mention that he won’t let me put him in a trance anyway. Only once did I somewhat get him in a trance. Now he won’t even let me get him 1/3 of the way on his back. LOL

[Elrohwen]

Yep, that’s common. It helps to have another person hold them firmly. If they kick, keep holding because putting them down just teaches them that kicking is an easy way to get put down. They get used to it, but they never enjoy it and aren’t going to want you poking around down there for very long.

[Eepster]

Trancing is stressful to bunnies, so it shouldn’t be done all the time just for fun. However, if you need to do something that is important to your bunny’s health and well being, a few moments of stress is not a big deal. Just picking your bunny up at all is often stressful, so if trancing the bunny mean the whole thing goes faster and s/he is free to go off and do his/her own thing sooner, then the overall amount of stress may come out about the same.

[Author]

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