Best way to comb bottom of rabbits feet?

[Vincent]

Seems odd yes. But my Angora mix, Acrylic, has very fluffy thick fur on the bottom of her back feet and it matts into these big round clumps if I don’t comb her feet a couple times a week. And they looked pretty painful to walk on

Thing is she really hates being picked up and hates it even more being twisted onto her back so I’ve tried to just lift up the back of her so her front feet stay on the ground but she just kicks the comb away in a panic and runs off.

And she just twists and flails about when I try moving her onto her back to brush.

But if I do manage to get her on her back she’ll calm down after a few seconds, then I’ll brush her tummy which she remains semi calm with (like she still seems stressing but she won’t freak out) but then as soon as I try brushing her feet she tries kicking which I know can be bad for their backs so I always have her feet secure against my hand

Anyways, any time I try doing her feet especially she just completely panics and I feel super bad for causing her so much stress.

I trim most of the rest of her fur so I don’t have to brush as often since she doesn’t really like being brushed in general, but I’m worried about cutting her feet accidentally since she tries flailing around whenever I get near them.

So I dunno if it’s a long shot but does anyone have a good technique of grooming feet bottoms?

Some background: Acrylic is a rescued bunny and she probably came from an abusive house from what I could figure

And I put her down whenever she gets stressed and give her a bit of treat to calm her down And a break

And I keep the grooming sessions short so like one day I trim (when needed) her back fur and brush the next time I’ll trim (when needed) her sides and brush, and the next day I’ll trim (once again, when needed) her chest fur and brush, and the next day I do her feet so it’s very short sessions and I’ve found this to be the perfect schedule for her fur to not matt either.

[sarahthegemini]

Hmm could you try putting her in a bunny burrito and just pull one foot out at at time? Or try letting her get used to her feet just being touched to start with and build up, though that would obviously take a bit of time.

[Vienna Blue in France]

My two hate their feet being touched…

[Vincent]

Bunny burrito! I have not thought of that. I’ll try that today and post how it goes!

If not Yeah trying to get her used to it might be best but I think it ways back fires when I have to comb her feet again cause I’ve tried that before

[LittlePuffyTail]

My little guy gets mats on the bottom of his feet. I suspect he’s half wool breed. You have to be really careful not to remove too much fur because this can cause sore hocks to develop. I take a small battery powered pocket trimmer and just trim the mat off.

[Vincent]

I never thought of trimming with a electric trimmer. Hmm, maybe if the blanket burrito doesn’t calm her down I’ll try that one. Thanks Little!

Not too much fur, check.

[Vincent]

Update: bunny burrito worked super well

At first she kept fidgeting and trying to twist and turn and stuff

So I covered her face up with the blanket too and then she just relaxed completely.

Think I’ll use this to do her nails too next time!

Why didn’t I ever think of using the bunny burrito before?

Thanks for the suggestion Sarah you’re a life saver, and Acrylic thanks you too for making her feet time less stressful

[sarahthegemini]

Was just checking to see if you’d updated…..Yay!   Really glad it worked! Good thinking with covering the eyes. I assume this is something you have to do regularly  (my buns are short haired so totally different) so hopefully the burrito keeps it as stress free as poss…for you and your bun 

[Vincent]

Yeah she’s my first long hair so this whole grooming feet thing is still new to me!

She’s also my first rescue bun so she has all these different triggers thag cause her to panic and I’m still getting used to it since all my buns in the past have been generally laid back (though my older male Sketch picked up on some of her panics after his depression of losing his first bond mate and then having this totally panicked bun next to him and I’m still re warming him up to me after that since he did drift away from me after that)

So I haven’t ever needed the bunny burrito before. Very glad I tried it though! She seems to not mind her nails getting trimmed as much like this too!

She isn’t panicked at all anymore she likes to cuddle a lot but there are just some things like this feet thing where she just panics to death. Thanks again!

[Author]

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