Grooming a nervy lionhead.

I have a lionhead bunny who needs to have her bottom groomed. She is not that keen on human interaction, she is a paired up house bun who has a large living area and all the love and food she could ever want. Whenever I try to stroke her she will just about tolirate it (some times) for a few min's but will then run away. She has lived here a few months now and we spend a lot of time on the floor in the living room where they spend their time but she does not seem to be warming to us.

She does not have any poo stuck around her bottom that I can tell but after using the litter tray there is megazorb stuch in her fur. What can I do to make this easyer because I really dont want to have to traumatise her as this would make her more afraid of us? But grabbing her and wrapping her in the towel is starting to look like the only viable option.

I find putting a towel over mine and wrapping her up *far* less traumatic [for me as well as her!] than trying to pick her up! It means I don't get slashed up with her super sharp claws too.. and she seems to feel a bit safer that way.

I agree using a towel makes things much easier.
I would also recommend changing the megazorb.
My lionheads used to look like they'd rolled in it everytime they used the litter tray.
If i'm honest I also got fed up combing it out every day.
I have used Hemcore for about 18 months and it's too heavy to stick to their fur, so we're all happy. I use it for my house bunnies aswell and it doesn't smell at all.
Price wise it's about the same as megazorb.

Yeh I'd say to change the Megazorb to stop it getting stuck in the future - or what I do is have a big layer of hay over the litter, as the hay tends to keep the litter in the tray and not in their fur!

As for the grooming... i think you'll have to bite the bullet and give her a good groom and possibly trim the fur off a bit to make it easier to keep her groomed too. Give her lots of treats when its done!

Pippa used to hate it so i'd wrap her in a towel I also gave it a trim and since then touch wood she hasn't had much of a problem

We have a fluffy lionhead and are currently using Megazorb. We have no problems as the litter tray also contains straw and hay. Without this I know the litter would stick to Herbie - if you are not using hay then I agree with everyone else and suggest think about changing the litter.

I have tried pine cat pellet litter but found this gets really dusty and is a pain in the house as the dust gets everywhere. My favourite I have tried is Back 2 Nature (paper based) from the Hay Experts but this is pricey compared to Megazorb.

I sympathise on the handling problem - lionhead Rosie does not want to be touched but yesterday we had to catch her to remove some hay from her eye - we all got somewhat stressed!

I have tried to change the litter in the past but it just ended up with the buns un litter traning them selves, which is not good in a house bun! I might try the hempcore though cos have not heard of that one before, where can you get it from?

I have baught some carrot pellet type treats from the naturals range which is helping with the handeling because she loves them so much, i am putting them on my lap so she has to come right over up onto my lap, where I can stroke her. I am gonna try to towel thing tonight I think and trim her rear end at the same time. I just hate distressing her.

Hi,

My Lionhead is exactly the same he hates being groomed. I find that I either have to trick him by feeding him with his bowl in front of him and me behind him. He is so preoccupied with the food that I can usually give him a good groom round an under his tail (if your bunnys fur is matted I would carefully trim it away).
Or the other thing that has been working recently is I get him totally relaxed by stroking him for ages round about his forehead and behind his ears. (after a few minutes he starts to close his eyes and seems to be in a bit of a trance). Once he is in this relaxed state he will let me groom him no problems at all as long as I move slowly, if I see him starting to get jumpy again I stop the grooming and pet him again on the forehead.

Enzo hates being wrapped up in a towel and struggles constantly to get out of it so I understand what you mean when you say you dont want to stress her out.

I also find that if I take him somewhere unfamiliar he will just sit and wont move (he was at the vets when I noticed this) so this may be an option for you.

The last resort is to take you bunny to the vets to get trimmed - they are usually very good with nervous bunnys and you'll probably find she will be very well behaved while the vets trims her.

duracell said:

I have baught some carrot pellet type treats from the naturals range which is helping with the handeling because she loves them so much, i am putting them on my lap so she has to come right over up onto my lap, where I can stroke her.

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I do exactly the same with Nala, my nervous lionhead. She does anything for food and also adores those pellets! Burns also do dried carrots which she loves too! I have to groom her bottom as she will insist on weeing on the floor and sit in the puddle so her fuzz underneath gets all crunchy :? She will grunt at first but she goes into trance on her back and once i have her on my lap stroking her she will often chose to stay on me for a while before running off again. Towels definitely work to begin with.. its what i used to use with Nala.. ive had her 2.5yrs now!

I used a towel the first few times I groomed Scarlett, her fur around her bum was very long and I also got the vet to trim it because she was getting litter stuck in it I still use megazorb though and it hasnt got caught in her fur for a long time now, and I think her fur has grown back to the length it was. She must be grooming and pulling it out herself if it is getting stuck because its been a long time since I have seen any and I check her every day It does get stuck in her mane though and I have to get that out :lol: