Matted Bunny – No judgement please

[Meatloaf N Bunnito]

I come in need of assistance. My two buns are senior buns now at 12 years old. My girl bun, Meatloaf, is blind now due to what appear to be cataracts and I can’t really handle her much anymore.

I went through a very tough phase of my own with my health and sadly didn’t do my due diligence to maintaining my bunnies’ coats. Loafie’s is much worse as she is super floof where Bunnito is more silky.

I am just at a loss as to how to dematt her fur at this point. I can buy a pair of hair clippers (shaver) if someone can recommend me one. I also need tips for trimming over grown nails…

Again, please just judge me silently, I know what I did wasn’t right, but I didn’t even take care of myself during this time… I just need help right now.

[Bam]

I’m sorry you’re gping through a rough time. It’s wonderful that you can deal with your rabbits’ fur and nails now, bc it must mean you’re gaining back some strenght and energy!

For matted fur I’d cut with scissors first. You can hold your fingers as close to the skin as you can and cut “above” them so you don’t risk nicking the skin. It’s obv best if you can get someone to hold the bun when you do this. When you’ve finished cutting msybe you can brush the remaining fur out very very gently with a plastic slicker that has those tiny knobs on each bristle. Don’t use one that doesnt have those plastic knobs.

As for clippers I cant recommend any bc I’ve never used clippers on a bun. One time my very fluffy bun Vilde needed his belly shaved for an ultrasound but his fur was so fine the vet’s clippers wouldn’t cut it. (They weren’t a rabbit specialist vet though. They ended up just using a tonne of ultrasound gel instead of shaving him.)

As for the nails, if they’ve dark nails I’d cut the tips and do it again soon. The quick gets longer if nails arent trimmed, so you cant clip too much at once, or there will be blood 😔 Have some styptic powder at hand if you accidentally hit the quick. It’s not a catastrophe if you do, but it’s obviously best avoided, it hurts and can bleed quite a bit.

Again its best if you have someone who can help you hold the bun whike you do the clipping. It’s quite difficult to clip bunny nails yourself unless you have a very docile bun.

Wishing you the best with this and everything else!

[Author]

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