is it possilbe to over-groom your bunny?

[dlscanne]

So Franklin has been shedding non-stop since Thanksgiving.  At first her undercoat was molting, so I used a shedding comb and went to town.  I brushed out tons of that soft downy undercoat.  I thought she was done late December, so I stopped daily grooming.  Then I noticed her poops were strung together a week later, so I decided to do another grooming session.  This time it seemed like it was the longer topcoat coming out.  I brushed off almost an entire rabbit’s worth of hair. 

I thought she was slowing down again until recently, when I bought a Furminator to really get the situation in control.  This takes off so much hair.  Seems to be the undercoat again.  I mean, through all of this she had one tiny temporary bald spot, but other than that no matter how much I brush with the furminator tons of hair comes from a seemingly endless  source.  She’s definitely healthy, happy, and loving life.  And her coat always looks healthy despite the heavy shedding.

Just wondering if I could possibly be overgrooming her?  I know the furminator has blades….does it take off hair no matter what, or should it theoretically stop some time?

If you’ve seen my pics of Frank, she’s a lop (I wonder if part Satin maybe?) and her fur isn’t particularly long.  It is quite dense though.

[bunnytowne]

I do believe you can overgroom with the furminator.   I overgroomed Cotton and he had 2 red rashes from it.   Also I completely groomed off his skirt.  It grew back pretty quick though.  

I do believe I overgroomed him so I am using it very lightly since he is lightly shedding again.

[dlscanne]

ok thanks thats what I was skeptical about. I use it very slowly and gently, but Frank’s undercoat is so dense I think sometimes it takes off a lot just because it is there. Winston’s undercoat is much lighter so it hasn’t been a problem with him.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

You want to be careful about not irritating the skin-you may find bald patches while they are having a heavy shed and that’s normal-they often shed in funny patterns and will have little bald patches. So that’s not an indication of over grooming but like BT said to be gentle with the furminator.

[KatnipCrzy]

I know it is possible to over-furminate a cat- my cat Swizzle loves to be groomed and he has super thick short fur.  I was furminating like crazy- clouds of hair everywhere when I noticed that he had a thin patch on his shoulder when one of my common starting points was from.  He is an orange/red tabby and all of his longer guard hairs were there but all the soft lighter fur was missing.  If you have ever seen a case of flea allergy that is what it looked like, but that definitely is not what it was.  I was so embarrassed as 2 days later I took him into work (I work at a vet clinic) to be a donor cat for a blood transfusion- and I had to tell everyone before they saw him that I accidentally did that to him.  It did not hurt him and his skin was fine- but it did not look very “pretty”.

About 3 months later one of my co-workers admitted that she did the same thing to her cat- even after seeing what I accidentally did to Swizzle. 

I really like the Furminator-  but my rabbits seem to dislike it more than any other grooming comb/brush.  I like the Hairbuster for them as it will not remove too much fur and really seems to “grab” the shedding hair.

[bunnytowne]

OH nooo…  I hae groomed Cotton with furminator every other day and I see an area where the hair is thing just behind his ears on his neck.   I dont’ knwo if I over groomed him or he is just shedding and that made it bare.

A while back Ruby’s was like that and she was shedding    also I think Cotton had pulled some hair from her neck there too.     And I didn’t use the furminator on her at all.  

Maybe I am just being paranoid since I over groomed Cotton’s underside last year.  Also I saw a bare patch on his underside while he was grooming himself.      I have to check tomorrow to see if it is red.  Cotton is in bed already.  

Gosh and I use such a light hand too. And few strokes.

[BinkyBunny]

Yes, we have also overfurminated our cat! We were like – wow this furminator thing is amazing – taking off so much fur and our cat loved it, but we too noticed on our cat’s back that the fur was too thin afterwards, not normal – so we definitely use it more carefully now.

[bunnytowne]

Yeah that furminator is something else   You would think for the price of those things they would not make the hair thin.  So I am not the only one overgrooming with it. 

That will lead me to figure out how to use the hairbuster on Cotton.  Maybe he isn’t shedding enuf for it to catch all the loose hair.  Or maybe the furminator makes his shed worse.

I think I should not use it anymore. 

[Moonlight_Wolf]

By the way. Which brush is the best for taking off hair, without the problem of over-grooming, I have a normal brush and it does not take hair off very well at all! I always end up plucking Fern’s hair, but I wanted to try a good brush.

[dlscanne]

I’m going through a phase of trying lots of brushes when they go on sale online….right now I’ve tried a shedding comb (a simpler version of the hairbuster I think? It doesnt have the sleeve part), a slicker brush, the zoom groom, and the hairbuster. So far I think the zoom groom is a great overall brush, and is still very gentle. I haven’t tried the hairbuster yet but I hear good things. I still like the furminator, but I’m going to save it for heavy shedding periods only.

[bunnytowne]

hair buster   slicker brush  and a handled flea comb.   Yes we all have this issue going through grooming tools to find what works.  So far this is what I am stuck with

There are these glove things with rubber bottom for shedding. Found mine in the dog section.  It does work  to me it takes so long.  But then again with a major shed everything else I use takes a while too.

[Moonlight_Wolf]

Where did you guys get the hairbuster? I can’t find it anywhere.

[BinkyBunny]

http://www.hairbuster.com/

I originally bought mine at SaveABunny, and the ones they use are the Red ones.  (shown for dogs) but it works really well .

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