How do you groom your bunny?

[JackRabbit]

So, how and where do you groom your bunny?

Got the hairbuster from BB – love it for my lops, haven’t figured out best angle for my rex mix yet so using the furminator on her. My problem is figuring out how to long to go per grooming session (24 hrs a day would still be getting loose fur!) and how to keep them still long enough. We currently brush them during salad time and then give them oat hay tops so we can keep going a bit longer.. I’m afraid to put them on a table because they’ve been known to jump off even at that height. Is 5 minutes brushing a day enough? Using food definitely keeps them still, but I dont want to make them fat either!

Ideas?

[Stickerbunny]

Depends on the bunny.

For my girl, who is a rex, I just pet her with a wet hand and it gets the fur off enough. Her fur doesn’t shed much and it’s so short.

For my boy, who is a I *think* NZ white – I use a human hair brush (one of those black bristle ones) because he tolerates it the most. Pet him on his head and brush him and he’ll sit there for a while.

[manic_muncher]

I just got my hairbuster from BB out of the mailbox today. For the last 9 months, my “grooming” has only consisted of plucking loose fur off his head. He prefers not to be pet… Soooo… I’m gonna be watching this thread too!!

After I groom the dog, I’ll attempt Bumpy. If I’m successful, I’ll let ya know.

[KytKattin]

I can’t use the hairbuster on my Rex. I either use wet hands, as suggested by Stickerbunny, or use a lint roller. I tend to just hold my girl down on a table or counter. Sometimes the floor. She does not shed very much though. My cat is a much larger problem. I use the wet hand method on him too. Wet hands, rub cat (or rabbit) until hands are covered with fur, rub hands together for fur to bunch up, rinse in bucket of water, repeat until one of you gets tired of it. Which might work better for a cat, as my bun is pretty docile and would let me go for days (or at least dinner time!).

[JackRabbit]

It looks like we’re sticking with the furminater for our rex-mix for now. If we really angle the hairbuster it works ok on her though.

Manic – you should be good with the haurbuster on Bumpy. It works so well on Moshi. My husband uses it on Mosh while I’m using a second onw on Marlee. Hubby is getting a handful of loose fur off of Moshi the past two nights (could get more each night but Moshi is way too busy to allow more grooming time . . . Too many projects to work on!) I’m getting a bunch off Marlee but not as much as hubby is getting off Mosh. Going to switch off tomorrow night and see if its just me. Marlee has been shedding heavy longer than Mosh so it may be that.

Can anyone provide a time length of your grooming sessions as well as how often you’re doing the sessions (ex. 10 minutes daily during molt and 15 minutes weekly when not in molt)?

Thanks!

[LongEaredLions]

When my bunnies aren’t implying, I only brush them lightly a few times a week, mostly to get the icky stuff out of their names. During a molt, I brush them 10-15 minutes a day.

[LongEaredLions]

Manes, not names. I can’t edit on my kindle, but I’ll fix it later.

[manic_muncher]

I have tried the wet hands on Bumpy, and really, it didn’t do much of anything. The hairbuster works amazingly though! I have been unable to get any fur out of him with all other combs and brushes. And I’m not exactly a novice to grooming, I spent several years grooming dogs and cats at the vet hospital where I worked, but I’ve never groomed a rabbit. I would have bet money that a flea comb would have done it pretty easily, but nothing would grab that fur.

I did 3 BRIEF sessions with Bumpy with the hairbuster. The first swipe grabbed so much fur that I had to back off and take shorter strokes. By the time I managed to pin him to the chair for the 3rd session (and I DO mean PIN him down) the hairbuster was gliding nicely in the area I was combing.

Each brief session ended with thumps and LOTS of foot flicks. I plan to continue aggravating him in short stints several times a day for the rest of the week. Hopefully once we get all the heavy out (my god its a LOT of undercoat!), he will be better adjusted to the sessions. Thankfully either he has an extremely short grudge-holding ability, or he loves me so much he’ll forgive anything. Thumping and footflicks, followed 10minutes later by lots of feet and leg licking. LOL.

I’m saving the fur to show progress! I also must add that I can’t WAIT to see what color my bun actually is!

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