Trouble grooming

[sophie_gretel]

I have had my rabbits since May and they have just now, I think, bonded to me. I can finally pet them without them scurrying away. They were mishandled before I adopted them so they didn’t like hands or human contact at all. Since they didn’t like us touching them, we couldn’t properly brush them. Gretel seems to molt more than Sophie does, but we basically just plucked the fur as fast as we could to deal with the extra ‘fur-age’.

 

I just bought a FURminator and wanted to try it tonight for the first time. I figured it would be a good time to start since they like me a lot more now and don’t run away from me. I started with Gretel and put a towel on my counter and put her in a burrito and brought her up. She was maaaddd. She didn’t bite or kick or thump, she just squirmed and tried to jump off the counter. I tried to calm her down and she did. I got a good stroke in and got a massive amount of fur off. I did have craisins nearby so I gave her a couple to see if that helped. The little piggy just ate them and resumed operation: escape the counter. I scooped her up and put her on the ground and gave her one last craisin so she didn’t hate me forever, haha. 

 

I didn’t even bother trying with Sophie. My apartment is full of rabbit fur and I just really want to properly groom them so they don’t get problems with hair blockage. I also tried to brush them on the floor before I brought her to the counter, which went better. But they move around too much and are more interested in sniffing the brush and the actually brushing, lol.

 

I guess it could’ve gone worse, but how do I make this easier on them so they don’t stress out? Any tips on difficult buns would be great!

[Silly Sungura]

Try waiting until they’re sleepy; that’s what works best for me. My bunny wags her ears at me and binkies away if I try to brush her when she’s fully awake. In the meantime, let them sniff the brush and get used to this strange new object that you’re trying to touch them with. Don’t worry; they don’t sound like they were too upset by the ordeal. If they clearly don’t like the Furminator, you can always try something else.

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