Rabbit Grooming

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Rabbit Grooming Tips: How to Survive the Process with Your Bunny

Hello friends, hope you all are doing great with your beloved pet. Today we are going to talk all about how to survive bunny grooming. Now, I don’t mean to seem dramatic when I talk about surviving grooming, but let’s be real: a grooming session can be a lot. So I am going to share all of my tips and tricks for, like, a normal grooming session and tips on what to do when your bunny is going through a molt.

Understanding the Different Types of Rabbit Grooming

Now, before we go into my actual tips about grooming, I want to kind of lay out the different types of grooming that you’re going to do with your bunny throughout the year. Because yes, there are different types. Bunnies are extremely complicated creatures, as any bunny owner has learned, so I’m going to kind of break it out through your bunny’s lifetime so you can understand when you should be doing certain types of grooming and when you should be really adding on to that.

Baby Bunny Coat: So when a bunny is born, they are born without fur, but that fur quickly comes in, and around eight weeks of age, they have their full baby coat that’s grown in. Now, this baby coat is really, really soft, really cute, and it actually doesn’t shed that much. Now, depending on when your bunny starts to age into their bunny maturity, they’re going to start to transition from their baby coat into their adult coat. Now, this again can happen anywhere from three months of age to six, seven, eight months; it just kind of depends on your bunny and if they’re a late bloomer, early bloomer, whatever.

Transition from Baby to Adult Coat: Now, don’t confuse this with a molt. A baby bunny losing their fur is not really a molt. The transition happens really slowly. There’s less of a big shed. Of course, you need to be grooming them during this time, but it’s a much slower process, much less hairy, if you will, and it kind of just happens seamlessly. You’ll see that line on your bunny’s fur changing, but there’s not going to be a lot of clumps of hair coming out; it’s going to feel like a pretty normal shed.

Adult Bunny Coat and Regular Shedding: So once your bunny reaches adulthood, they are going to have their full adult coat. Now, this is the coat that really starts to shed. You’re going to find hair all over your clothes, all over everything—that is your typical bunny shedding. Your bunny is shedding all the time. It’s not a lot, but you’re going to be finding those hairs around your apartment. But the thing that bunny owners know all too well is a molt.

The Molt: Twice a Year Rabbit Grooming Challenge: Now, a molt usually happens twice a year. Again, it can change bunny per bunny, but really, it happens twice a year in the spring and in the fall—that’s those big seasonal transitions. And a bunny molt is when they lose all of their fur and grow it all back. So your bunny is not going to go bald, but they are going to be shedding at a rapid pace. Now, this can last anywhere from two weeks to two months, but really the average is about two to three weeks, and you are just going to be finding bunny hair everywhere, literally everywhere. It’ll be coming off in clumps. You will not be able to ignore when your bunny is molting.

Essential Rabbit Grooming Supplies

To get started, you are going to want a really good brush. Now, this is the brush that I have seen everywhere, and I really do think it is the best bunny brush out there. This is the FurBuster. You can get it on Amazon. It has rubber elements that gently grab loose fur while the teeth comb through your bunny’s coat. It’s perfect for sensitive bunny skin and gets the job done without yanking.

How to Groom Your Rabbit Properly

Here’s how I groom my rabbits:

Use a High Surface: Place your bunny on a table or a high surface. This prevents them from squirming away and makes grooming easier for you.

Be Gentle: Bunny skin is delicate. When brushing, avoid yanking fur. Let the brush glide smoothly through their coat, catching loose fur without pulling too hard.

Cover All Areas: Start with the back and work your way to the chest, tummy, and even the paws and head. Support your bunny’s chest gently if they’re squirmy. Distracting them with a chew toy also helps.

The more you can practice brushing your bunny, the more used to it they are going to become. So don’t be discouraged if your first couple of grooming sessions are kind of a squirmy mess. The more you normalize it for your rabbit, the more normal it will become in their routine.

Grooming Frequency for Your Rabbit

Baby Bunnies: Okay, so how often and for how long should you be grooming? In the baby phases, I honestly don’t recommend grooming your bunny too much. When they’re a baby, they’re not shedding that much, and their fur is still growing. For baby bunnies, groom about once every two weeks for 5-10 minutes. This isn’t crucial for shedding but helps them get used to the grooming process.
Adult Rabbits (Non-Molting): Now, during their normal adulthood life, when they’re not in a molt, I groom my rabbit about once a week for about 15 minutes. That’s really all that he needs. If you notice in their poop, if you find the poops strung together with hair, that’s a sign they need more grooming, so you might want to add on to that. But my baseline is about once a week for 15 minutes.

Molting Bunnies: Now, during a molt, this is where the hard work comes in. You need to brush your bunny every single day. That’s right, every day. There is going to be so much fur coming off your bunny, and it can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on how thorough you are. So I recommend just doing a 15-minute session every single day with your molting bun, and it will be over before you know it.

Preventing Gut Issues from Fur Ingestion

Rabbits groom themselves; they lick themselves clean, which means they’re ingesting a lot of fur. Now, unlike cats who do the same thing, rabbits can’t regurgitate. So any fur that goes into their body, they have to poop out. A lot of fur building up in your bunny’s tummy can actually lead to gut slowdowns and potentially lead to GI stasis. Here’s how to prevent this:

Monitor Your Bunny’s Poop: So it’s really important that you monitor their poop, how often they’re grooming themselves, and notice if you see anything irregular. By irregular, I mean those poops strung together with fur. Sometimes, it can be called a string of pearls because it truly looks like poop-covered strings of pearls. I know it’s very gross, I’m sorry, but if you’re noticing a lot of these strings of pearls in your bunny’s poop, that’s a sign you should brush your bunny more because they’re ingesting more fur than usual.

Add Supplements During Molt: It may not seem like a big deal—just a little bit of extra fur in your bunny’s tummy—but that stuff can clog up very quickly. So it’s really important to do everything you can to groom them and keep their gut moving so you don’t get those slowdowns. Now, there are a few extra supplements you can give your bunny, especially during molting time, to help with gut movement.

Recommended Supplements for Rabbit Grooming

Laxatone for Cats (Bunny-Safe): My vet recommended Laxatone, a hairball remover for cats that is safe for bunnies. It helps break down hair in their stomach. Since it contains molasses, I only give my rabbit a tiny amount (2 milliliters) once a week or every other week. Increase the dose if you see more hair in their poop.
Oxbow Digestive Biscuits: These all-natural biscuits promote gut health. I give my rabbit one daily, even when she’s not molting. They’re high in fiber, which keeps her digestive system moving.
Timothy Hay Cubes: Hay cubes are high in fiber and great for keeping your bunny entertained. They support dental health and help with digestion. I give my rabbit one hay cube daily as a boredom breaker and a gut-friendly snack.

Final Rabbit Grooming Tips

Molting season can be overwhelming, but with these tips, you’ll be prepared! Monitor your bunny’s poop, brush regularly, and keep their diet full of fiber. Rabbit grooming is essential for their health and well-being.

I hope you found these rabbit grooming tips helpful. If you have any additional advice, share them in the comments below.