Question for long haired bunny owners

Sweetpea is a cashmere lop - she needs regular grooming - is it normal for her to have bald patches? There are no mites or flaky skin - one patch is at the back of her neck and the other is lower down at the bottom of her back - the neck one is quite bald whereas the other has fur growing back. Just wondering if this is normal/common? Also I use a fine comb with 2 width sizes and tease out any knots - if there are any bad ones then I cut them out. Just looking for advice or guidance as to whether I am grooming her correctly x Thanks x

I groom Herbie with a metal comb, sounds like the one you use....two widths of teeth. Anyways I need to brush him quite a bit and so much fur comes out, then I have a wee look about him and I have noticed that he does have bald patches. I wonder if I am being too heavy handed with the comb.

Thanks for responding - sounds like the same comb too - I am always as gentle as I can be holding the skin and gently teasing out knots and there is a lot of fur as you say - my buns do not seem unhappy with the grooming but I am wondering about the bald spots like you - anyone else share their thoughts with us??

Aye, I am gentle and Herbie actually likes it but then I am sure that if I kept brushing then there would be a bald bunny on my lap!!!!!

:lol::lol::lol: or in my case 3 bald bunnies x

suzibunbun said:

:lol::lol::lol: or in my case 3 bald bunnies x

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You never know, might suit them.....emmmm....

Not in this weather Are we the only ones with long haired/bald spot bunnies??? :lol::lol:

I'm following this with interest, as we're in the process of adopting two bunnies and one is a MAJOR lionheaded floof-ball who will need regular grooming. When we met to meet them at the foster home we left coated in fur, as she's in the middle of shedding. Her bonded buddy grooms her, but I'm going to give her a nice little groom once a week to try and keep in under control. I bought a slick brush to start, but we'll see what we end up needing!

I use the anacol cat comb on my cashy, on the wide side.

Seems to be the only thing I can get on when grooming her coat out. She too has bald spots when she been groomed especailly if I was a bit late and she's got a bit knotty. Although she never gets a bald spot under her chin or on her tummy/arm pits just on her back.
Strange I'd never realized that.

Yup - my bunnies with long fine hair tend to show up with bald spots at times. Those with coarser but long fur don't seem to show up as much - probably as they have a different coat structure with a thicker undercoat and distinct top coat. The floatier / finer coats seem to be more even in texture so any gaps show up more. As long as the skin is OK, it is just one of those things and will grow back.

I also use a metal dog comb with wide teeth on one edge and finer ones on the other. I use it on all the rabbits, cats and guinea pigs - all long haired. With the rabbits, you really need to get right down to the skin to stop the fur matting. Anything that only tweaks the top layer will cause problems later as matted fur is awful to get out without tearing their really thin skin.

The dog has a double sided brush - but he is much shorter furred and the comb won't get into all his crevices without hurting him. I have enough with brushing the other furries without having to sort out a large muddy, wet hound with tonnes of fur as well.

I'm pleased I started this thread the brushes are no good for Sweetpea as it 'pulls' rather than combs (if you know what I mean) and doesn't get to the roots, also it might scratch her skin underneath. It is indeed correct that you do have to get down to the skin and comb from the roots. It does take A LOT of time and attention to do it properly on Sweetpea as her fur is long and fine all over whereas my fluffy lionhead and lionlop only have a smaller amount of long 'hair' and the other section can be brushed.

Hi,

We recently brought home our new rescue bunnies, who are settling in great. Emerson is getting comfortable with us very quickly, while Peabody is a bit of a nervous nelly. If we are in their space she always needs to be near her hidey-box, which is fine. I'm okay with her being a shy bunny! However, she is a lionhead and she is going to need regular grooming. The first experience didn't go well: Bonding w/ New Bunnies [Post 9]

When we were hanging out with them tonight, I did notice again that smaller matt in her fur and it is going to need grooming (if not removing again). She is catchable, but she runs away from it, and she's not happy being held. I really don't want to traumatise her everytime I groom her. I don't mind if she doesn't like me much, as long as I can keep her healthy and happy (and I know grooming is a big part of this). But I don't want her being stressed by the whole situation, which is probably going to have to happen at least once a week. Does anyone have any suggestions?

They were brought to the rescue centre because of being in an over-crowded home and were very neglected. Poor Peabody was very matted and the rescue vets had remedied this, but I know while they were being fostered (only for about four or five weeks before we fell in love with them) she wasn't being groomed. I think with regular attention, matts won't be a problem, so it'll be less difficult, but I need to get it under control first.

I would appreciate any advice, other than what we've already tried - treats during and after, and constant soothing talking... :?

I notice my lions get bald patches sometimes at the back of their mane but not normally at this time of year, normally more in the summer months when their coats are thinner.

As for brushes I now use a slicker brush which also has shorter bristles. I'll try and find a photo, unfortunately it was from Jolleys though so some people may not want to give them their money.

Aatkin,

My Smudge used to hate being brushed. I'm pretty sure it was the picking him up and moving him somewhere else which he didn't like as well as the brush pulling too much. Now instead of giving him a big groom once a fortnight or so with a brush that got out all the moulting fur including undercoat, I brush him every other day with the brush I mentioned above. He enjoys being brushed with this brush so will sit on the floor in their room nicely for me and let me brush him. He doesn't let me do round by his tail which sometimes needs doing but I do his mane and cheek fluff every other day and then the tail when it needs it. Nutmeg is similar, though her coat is quite short, it's just her mane which is long and gets tangled every now and then so I brush her about once or twice a week.

I have a cashmere lop too and he regularly has bald patches!

His fur moults so often he can be bald while the new coat comes through.

He is a nightmare to stop matts in though. The area around his bum is one big clump!

Nd

Elena said:

I brush him every other day with the brush I mentioned above. He enjoys being brushed with this brush so will sit on the floor in their room nicely for me and let me brush him. He doesn't let me do round by his tail which sometimes needs doing but I do his mane and cheek fluff every other day and then the tail when it needs it. Nutmeg is similar, though her coat is quite short, it's just her mane which is long and gets tangled every now and then so I brush her about once or twice a week.

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Thanks for the reply! This morning I tried just gentle brush strokes, on her body, while she was hopping about looking for the pellets I scattered around. Every time she felt the brush she'd hop away or go into her box for a bit. I decided to try and groom Emerson lightly, who actually seemed to be enjoying it! Maybe her seeing that will help, and I'll just keep trying with her every day at feeding times, until she realises it is not a bad thing. She still thumps though, sometimes when we're not even in the room!

They are such different personalities. Emerson is giving nudges left, right, and centre, already, and enjoys being stroked, while Peabody doesn't like to be near us and runs away (unless we have food).

I use this comb



I comb twice a week and the amount of hair could make you a long coat after a year :lol: But they don't have bald patches.
Teddy widders are such easy going bunnies, I can groom them endlessly, they always keep still

I am trying to let Peabody know that I'm safe to be around and when I'm cleaning or feeding them she is fine, although she does still run away a lot (and she is definitely a thumper, but I'm not sure it's always to do with being scared).

If I have to catch her to groom her tonight (it needs to be done and I'm aiming once a week will keep everything under control with her), will that trust I have built up totally destroyed? I have read that taking her out of her area may help and I'll reward her with a treat afterwards, but is there anything else I can do to help the process? I just know how scared she gets of being touched, let alone picked up...

I am planning on Monday nights to be grooming night for her, as I won't be working in my home office (their home) on Tuesdays - so it'll give her a breather from me after grooming for the night and day (although I'll still be in the clean, feed, and then visit in the evening).

You just have to be firm, gentle and persistent. None of my 4 cashies exactly like being groomed and, if it is the wrong time of day for them, they will try to escape but, they are resigned to it and usually lie down and let me get on with it. It took about a year to get to this stage - they were much harder when they were younger.

Even if they are unhappy about being groomed they seem to forgive me pretty fast afterwards especially if there are treats involved. If anything my relationship is stronger with them becasue I am handling them so often. The important thing is that they do get thoroughly groomed all over whether they like it or not - it is just the nature of the breed unfortunately.

I alswo use a small comb and often have bald patches with the older ones when they are moulting.