Do Not Bathe Bunnies!

[DaisyBunz]

For some reason people think they should bathe their bunny because people bathe a dog or cat.

Do I need to bathe my house bunny? NO – NO BATHS!

Why not? A bath can throw your bunny into shock, or the bunny may thrash around and injure himself, fracturing a bone or his spine.

Bunnies are meticulous little self-grooming machines. What you need to do is brush them once or twice a week. If you have certain breeds that have more hair, they will need daily grooming (like a lionhead or an angora).

They do need regular mani-pedis so their nails do not get too long such that they hurt themselves.

Baths? NO. Okay, in very limited special circumstances, a bath or partial bath may be needed. For example, if your rabbit has “poopy butt”, you may need to wash their little hineys – but that’s a special purpose need.

Here are some links for more reading on the subject (with a few excerpts):

Bathing a Bunny “Poopy” Butt – What to do if this is the situation (both a dry and a wet procedure are explained).

Bathing Bunnies – Rabbits also tend to panic when in water, and can easily fracture their spine or a limb if they thrash around whilst in water. On top of this, when wet rabbit hair clumps together, making getting them completely dry a very difficult task, and rabbits who are left damp are potentially prone to respiratory infections and hypothermia …

Routine bathing – This is totally unnecessary and potentially very harmful to rabbits …

Rabbits are clean animals and will groom and wash themselves. Companion rabbits will wash and groom each other too.

The Well Groomed Rabbit – We do not advise flea baths or baths of any sort for rabbits. Bathing a bunny can often cause her to become quite upset, sometimes causing her to go into shock; plus it is the nature of bunny fur to take a long time to get wet, and an even longer time to get dry.

Cute? NOT!!

[Cochin]

From what I’ve heard, a ‘bathed’ bunny is just misting it with a water bottle, and then rubbing it in (warm water of course) – for Rexes at least. For something with long fur this certainly wouldn’t help, but the Rex coated and fly back coats this should be enough to give them a sheen

[DaisyBunz]

A Rex rabbit will need particular grooming, and a slight mist with water is generally okay. I like to keep the bun’s grooming time as short as possible……due to….this below.

[marinabunny]

I’ve seen YouTube videos of people dumping their rabbits in swimming pools and saying that the rabbit “loves” to swim when in fact it looks terrified. Just awful.

[DaisyBunz]

I know! Rabbits can swim, but shouldn’t. Their back legs aren’t designed for swimming. Only a type of wild rabbit, sometimes called swamp hares, can and WILL swim in water. I think these guys are found in Florida, but not entirely sure. Might be Kentucky. Anyways – The only reason they swim is to get away from predators.But pet bunnies should not be placed in a pool of water of any kind. 

[marj01]

Thank you for this information. I couldn’t agree more. My bunny got loose once and got some oily dirty on her. This fell under the category of “special purpose” bath. I just used a wash cloth soaked in warm water and washed down the dirty spots. She was a little put out that I did this, and prefers to groom herself. I definitely would never put a bunny in standing water.

[rayray]

Ziggy likes to lay in his litter box so sometimes his fur will get stinky. Usually once a month or 2, I will use a rabbit dry shampoo on him. Just spray it on and brush him. He doesn’t like the spray part so now I spray the brush and then brush him. Leaves his fur really soft and gives him a “baby” smell. lol!

PS I also used it on my bangs when they were looking a little greasy.  Worked great! haha!

[Muffinluv]

Haha rayray! Multiuse shampoo! Good for Humans AND Rabbits!

Also agree, big baths no good for bunnies. When I first got Muffin he was used to living in a wire cage, he would pee on the floor and stay sitting there for a few minutes, long enough for the pee to soak into his fur. Back then he was still shy of me so I waited till he flopped (Bunny is definitely relaxed) and got a tiny bowl, (the kind you could only fit one fist in) and filled it with warm water. Then I took a wash cloth, made it damp, wrapped it around my finger and groomed his bum like a bunny would. It was very awkward for me cause if you looked at it from Muffins perspective, I was licking his butt. He must have thought of me as a total creep XD

[Diamond]

Thanks for reminding me that my ex really had no idea how to care for a rabbit.  Aside from giving them muesli pellets and yogurt drops, he gave his bunny a bath and suggested we do the same to poor Lily.  I had to explain why it was a bad idea.

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