Angoras

[Jessica]

Anybody else out here have angoras or angora mixes?

[Bam]

MoxieMeadows has an angora called Moxie.

I wish I had an angora. They are awsome. I follow several on Instagram.

[Jessica]

@Bam, if you ever have the opportunity get one! Everyone I’ve met is a sweet heart, they are a bit more work with dealing with the fluff but it’s not too bad. Breeds with a guard coat like Germans, Satins and French are easier to maintain, but English might be the cutest because of all their extra furnishings!

I’m just looking for others to see how they handle some of the angora specific stuff. Like do they use a special grooming set/table for brushing and hair cuts or if they just use their laps. My breeder just uses her lap bun her buns are not house buns who are in her lap when ever they choose. I’m curious how others are handling their dietary needs so that their wool production isn’t pulling nutrients their body needs to be healthy.

Right now I’m baffled at the difference between what my vet said and what my breeeder and other angora specific literature says in feeding. My vet was surprised that I still free fed her at 4 months old, and suggested she should be getting only 1/4-1/2 cup of pellets a day. However my breed said to free feed until 6 months and then giver her 1/2 cup twice a day. This is the same as what I did with my previous angora only it was 3/4 cup twice a day, since she was a German angora which is one of the large breeds. Everything I’m finding online that is angora specific says to feed satins 1/2 cup twice a day of a high quality high protein food. Right now she is still being free fed and eating about 3/4 of a cup of pellets through out the day, she is getting almost 2c of salad a day and she finishes a small bag of oxbow Timothy hay in 1.5-2 weeks. She is on the thin side, I can feel all her bones, but nothing is really sharp, the vet even said she was on the thin side but nothing to worry about. She’s a very busy active girl, running and binking, she is free run except when I’m in bed or not home. I work from home so basically she runs all day

[LBJ10]

I have a Jersey wooly.

[Jessica]

Jerseys are so Cute!

[LBJ10]

Hmm, I don’t really worry too much about his food, I guess. My other rabbit is a Holland. They live together, so they pretty much share everything. They get timothy-based pellets (Oxbow), orchard grass hay (their current favorite), and some spring mix salad. I wish his fur would stop growing, actually. LOL But I suppose it isn’t terrible. He’s just very fussy. Don’t touch my butt, don’t touch my feet, and if it’s matting then you can forget it. He “blows his coat” a few times per year, where are my Holland sheds continuously. I always have to watch for him to change color and for a shed line to appear. When that happens, then it’s “serious grooming” time. He generally sits in my lap or on the washing machine and I used a hairbuster comb to loosen the detached wool from the guard hairs. If I’m on it, then there are generally no issues and everything comes off in a few grooming sessions. If something starts to mat, however, then I just don’t worry about it and I break out the scissors or clippers. With his health issues, it’s just not worth stressing him out. If he has chunk missing, oh well.

[Jessica]

The wool can be a lot of work, my previous angora was a German and had to get hair cuts, their coat doesn’t shed, it will grow forever. Amelia blew her first coat at 11 weeks, and I’m guessing this one will blow in the next few weeks, its about 3.5 long now and I’m starting to get more out when I’m combing.

I just want to keep sitting in my lap a positive thing, I brush her out every day to every other day, so she rarely ever mats. I count my blessing that she is very tolerant of every thing but nail trims. She lets me do them but it can be a challenge. She also doesn’t like getting her wool comes out of her back legs, chest or right above her tail. But I’m considering a small grooming table for her, she seems more tolerant when I’m combing her on the grooming table I use when I’m grooming dogs. My thought is she will then know that that’s for grooming and lap time is purely for cuddles

[LBJ10]

Guard hairs are great! It’s what makes their fur more manageable. When Wooly sheds, the detached wool starts sliding down the guard hairs. The hairbuster comb simply grabs it and pulls it off. I do have to lift everything up though and comb from underneath and work my way up and out. Like I said, if I’m on top of it when he starts, then it isn’t too bad. Oh yes, his chest. Yeah, he doesn’t like me messing with his chest either. LOL The vet was laughing at me because she knows he is a feisty one and yet she doesn’t think such a small bun could cause so much trouble. If he doesn’t want to be groomed (which is always), he will fight me. It’s funny how sometimes the “high maintenance” ones can be the least tolerant of all the things that need to be done to them. You can forget about his nails too. The vet has to do those and it takes 3 people!

I do think the grooming table is a good idea so she doesn’t associate your lap with bad things. I do put Wooly on the washing machine down in the basement. It’s just weird enough down there and slippery enough on the surface that he doesn’t fight as much.

[Jessica]

Right now shes great about hopping up and flopping in my lap for attention, in fact shes all over me all the time for cuddles, she loves being held upside down like a baby in my arms. It’s ridiculous she puts herself that way when shes cuddling on my chest, i dont know if i even still believe shes a bunny, lol.

But i am thinking i will start table grooming her, mostly so she learns when shes there she cant leave on her own choosing.

When she released her first coat it went real easy, i just worked with my comb and 90-95%of the wool came out in a single session, she was great about. However it took me a good week to get used to seeing her with short hair! I’m not sure if jersey woolies shed out the same way, but satin angoras will release their longest coat and then there will be a shorter coat left that’s growing out. She went from about 4″ of fluff to 3/4″, and went from a blue grey color to looking like a wild bunny, that’s chestnut with black ticking and grey under coat

[LBJ10]

It’s not quite as dramatic as that, but his fur will look shorter (and less fluffy). He’s black, so his wool looks grey when it’s detaching.

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