Shaving bunny

[kcomstoc]

Alright so everyone on here should know who Wally the shaved angora rabbit is, the owner keeps Wally shaved down so that she doesn’t have to deal with all the fur (I think there’s other reasons too) but anyway I was wondering if I could do this with Caleb since he gets hot fast. He’s a holland lop though not an angora so I’m not sure if it’s ok to do that for him or not. *I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING YET* it’s not too much of an issue right now because it’s not too hot right now but in summer you can tell that the heat is bothering him. 

Of course we give him iced water bottles and ice packs (in socks so they can’t bite them) but I feel like shaving him could help him out more if it’s ok to do that.

[jerseygirl]

I love Wally! He must be so good about being shorn by now.

I’m just chiming in to say I’ve often wondered if regular fur buns could be shaved also. Especially when moulting. Not super short though.
My feeling is it wouldn’t be best idea but I’m curious, all the same.

Can’t say I’ve seen it done for a non-wool fur.  Only seen pics of those that had sanitary shave or terrible mats.

[kcomstoc]

Thank you jerseygirl I do want to add that I’m not gonna shave ALL the fur off just shave down like a couple inches. I’m not gonna touch his head/ears at all just his body. I was thinking because the fur is different that it’s NOT ok either but I wanted to check because if it is then it would probably make it easier for him

[Q8bunny]

My understanding is that the fur is vital to buns since it protects their incredibly fragile skin…

[kcomstoc]

So is it ok or no? again I’m NOT gonna shave all the fur off, just a couple inches

[cinnybun2015]

Hmm… I don’t think a rabbit would do well without fur. Like Q8 says, buns have supremely fragile skin that can break easily. In fact, they “stress-shed,” which is when they shed in hope of a predator biting on fur, not skin. I don’t think it would be the best idea, but maybe a couple inches would work? I’m not exactly sure…

[jerseygirl]

One thing that might help is wetting the outside of his ears and having a small fan blowing so there’s an evaporation cooling. (Provided he wants to stay in front of a fan). They regulate temp with their ears.

[Gina.Jenny]

When we got Podge, he had a long mane, and I noticed that when he’d been out in the garden, he was caught between wanting to enjoy lying in the sun, and needing to keep cool in the shade. When I checked his ears, they were really hot, even though it was only early spring sunshine, and also, the hair directly behind the ears was matted, and there were small tangles throughout his mane.

I ended up gently using a pair of thinning scissors, and it turned out he enjoyed me using them and he just sat and let me carry on. I guess he counted it as grooming him, and very welcome grooming too. I took three sessions to get the mane thin and short enough not to bother him. The thinning scissors did the job nicely, and without me worrying so much about catching and cutting his skin. I plan to do a mane thinning once a month, on claw trim and weigh days!

[kcomstoc]

So the answer is probably no, we also along side of giving him iced bottles I give wet his ears with cold water and also put ice in their water just to keep it all the bunnies cool. I don’t want to put a fan in there because I don’t know of any good fans that use batteries but no cords where they couldn’t reach it but it still blows on them.

[Sr. Melangell]

OK Do it yourself cooling system for bunny.

you will need.

Damp towels or blanket
Clothes horse, one of those old fashioned things for drying clothes in front of the fire
Bunny in a cage or playpen (Very important to have a bunny if you are cooling one down)
Electric fan
Put bunny in cage or playpen
Put clothes horse near cage
Direct fan towards clothes horse with towel or blanket on
If bunny is in playpen you could just put blanket or towel over pen and direct fan towards that
There is no way bunny can chew wires of fan this way if he’s in a cage or pen

Never put bunny who is hot in cold water, it can case shock, but you can put a tray of water down like a paddling pool for bunny to step into.
A few little ice cubes in his drinking water can help, but not in the tray of water.for him to stand in.

[jerseygirl]

LPT uses a little square battery-operated fan for her condos. I’ll see if I can find the name from an old post.

ETA:  I think it’s something like these. http://www.lcsupply.com/Crate-Cooling-Fan/productinfo/FAN/

[kcomstoc]

Jerseygirl that fan is awesome but won’t they chew on it if it was inside of their cage? Also thanks for the idea Pinky I’ll try that out too this summer poor bunnies just get so hot and I feel so bad because we don’t have AC

[Azerane]

Posted By kcomstoc on 4/10/2016 8:50 AM

Jerseygirl that fan is awesome but won’t they chew on it if it was inside of their cage? Also thanks for the idea Pinky I’ll try that out too this summer poor bunnies just get so hot and I feel so bad because we don’t have AC

I believe they hook onto the outside of the cage and blow inwards

[jerseygirl]

Yep, as Azerane said. : )
I’ve also wondered before if those gel cooling mats would work. Set in a box with litter box screen over it like Binky Bunny store has. Waste of time of a bunny doesn’t want to sit on it though. 

[Author]

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