Rabbit becomes very still – calmness or his way of showing stress?

[Theodorusrex]

Hi everyone,

I have another question about my Theodore – I feel like I am asking so many but there is such good advice from everyone on here. 

Theo has been moulting so badly over the past week or so – the fur is coming out in clumps and flying all over my kitchen and living room!! We have been grooming him daily which is a real challenge as although Theo will let you hold him for about 30 seconds to steal a cuddle he isn’t really one for being handled as many rabbits are – we’re trying to use positive reinforcement to train him to at least ‘tolerate’ it so we can do health checks, trim nails etc etc. 

Anyway, the most of his fur seems to be shedding from his belly and back leg area. He won’t let us near there so we had just been grooming where we could – until a few days ago when we noticed the tell tale ‘string of pearls’ in his poops. I was really worried if we couldn’t get his belly groomed he was going to end up with a blockage so I spent about 30 mins grooming him – I was lifting him and tucking him really securely against my tummy (I was sitting on the floor with him) so that I could gently pluck/brush the fur on his belly. For the first while he really squirmed and tried to nip me a few times but then I picked him up again and he was so still and let me brush his underside for about 10 mins without budging. He wasn’t on his back or anything so he wasn’t tranced. I noticed he did the same thing and eventually went still when I was trying to get him to sit in the bowl so i could weigh him the other day too.

Has anyone else noticed this with their buns? If I persist trying something he will go really calm and still and let me do it until I’m finished. Does anyone have any insight – has he just thought if I give up and let her groom me maybe she’ll leave me alone or is this his way of showing stress? I would never really persist with something he hates so much if it were not for my worries over a blockage from ingesting too much of his fur. 

[LittlePuffyTail]

Olivia will sit super still when she is stressed. And grooming her stresses her very much, despite being in my home and groomed regularly for like 8 years.

There is absolutely no way I could groom either of my buns without putting them on the table. I set up a towel and my grooming stuff and do the “torture” there. For the belly shedding, and all over after a brushing, I wet my hands in a small bowl of water, shake off all the excess and smooth over the fur. This works great to get off all the tuffs left from brushing that would otherwise get licked off. Its great for doing under the belly and armpit areas.

Grooming is a necessary evil, even though it’s stressful to some buns. It helps to give a tasty treat after. My buns get a “candy” (dried papaya) right after grooming.

[Theodorusrex]

Maybe it is stress then. He lets me lift him and do whatever I need to after a while. I was hoping it was him coming round to the idea that grooming/getting weighed etc is a necessary evil but perhaps that’s a bit optimistic.
I’d never heard of the wet hands trick – tried it during our grooming session last night and it was really very effective! His back is starting to moult now so I’m hoping this moult is coming near an end. He looks rather homeless at the moment with little bald patches on his ears.
He gets his little treat every night after grooming.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Yeah, they can look quite pitiful during a shed.

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