Grooming Your Bunny

Rabbits are very clean pets and tend to spend a lot of time cleaning and grooming themselves. While bathing your rabbit is unnecessary, brush your rabbit on a regular basis will keep his coat in good condition and help prevent hairballs.

Brushing

For short haired rabbits. It's probably best to brush your short haired rabbit once a week with a bristle brush. Do not use a brush with metal teeth because this may hurt his delicate skin. Rabbits shed every three months. During this time, you should brush your bunny more frequently. After thoroughly brushing your rabbit, run a damp washcloth over his coat to catch any stray hairs.

For long haired rabbits. Long haired rabbits will require more frequent brushing. At the very least, you should brush him twice a week. Some breeds of rabbits need daily brushing. Check here for more information about your particular bunny. It is also easier to take care of your bunny's coat if it is trimmed to about 1" in length. You can take it to a professional groomer or trim his coat yourself. Be careful with your scissors because a bunny's skin is very thin and can be cut accidentally.

Matted Coat or Tangles

If your bunny has a matted coat or tangles that you can't untangle, don't use scissors to cut it out because you can easily cut his skin. Instead, use a comb and slowly and patiently work it through the tangle. Do not tug on the comb as you will irritate and hurt your bunny. If the matted hair is too much to handle, take your rabbit to a professional groomer who can fix the problem areas with electric clippers. After the matted hair or tangle is removed, increase the amount of grooming time to prevent this from happening in the future.

Baths

Bunnies DO NOT need baths and find them very stressful. If you find that his coat is dirty enough to need a bath, just do some spot cleaning with a wet wash cloth. If absolutely necessary and it seems like your rabbit is getting dirtier by the minute, you can bathe your rabbit.

You will need a shallow plastic tub, rabbit safe shampoo, a couple bottles of tap water (don't use a spraying shower head since this may scare your rabbit even more), a hand towel, a blow dryer, and hopefully a friend to help.

NOTE: Avoid getting water or shampoo into your rabbit's ears. This will cause infections.

1. Place your rabbit in an empty shallow plastic tub.
2. Wet your rabbit's coat.
3. Thoroughly lather the rabbit safe shampoo.
4. Rinse. Make sure all the shampoo suds are gone.
5. Gently towel dry.
6. Use a dryer on low heat to completely dry your rabbit.

Rabbit fur takes a long time to dry so blow drying him will help the process. Use low power to avoid startling your rabbit and low heat because rabbits easily overheat.

After drying your rabbit, replace him in his condo and leave him alone for a while. This will help him calm down. He may be cautious to approach you after a bathing experience. It's best to avoid bathing your rabbit.

Nail Trimming

Trimming your rabbit's nails will seem like a very daunting chore to do. However, it is easier if you do it often instead of waiting until they get extremely long.

You will need a towel, trimmers, cotton swabs, Kwik Stop, and a friend to help.

1. Wrap your rabbit in a towel.
2. Release one foot from the towel.
3. Place the trimmers on the nail where you will make the cut.
4. Make a firm cut.
5. If bunny starts to bleed, apply Kwik Stop with a cotton swab.
6. Repeat for all nails.
7. Take a short break between feet.

It's better to take off to little than take off too much. If you cut a nail too short, don't feel too bad because this is really common. Just make sure the bleeding stops. It's important to take a break between each foot, especially if your rabbit is struggling inside the towel because this can lead to overheating.