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grooming advice

Tamara

New Kit
Sorry if this is in the wrong section, but I'm hoping a more experienced bunny owner may be able to help...

My little lionhead mix, Donnie, has been getting medication for 3 weeks now for snuffles (1 wk left) but the past few days he's been especially grumpy about it and is spitting some of the medicine out and add a result his mane is getting a wee bit matted round his mouth. Do you have any advice on how I can get him to take the meds from the syringe without spitting them out and/or the best grooming tools for a very wriggly bunny who doesn't like being held but will quite happily sit on my lap or next to me and let me groom him anywhere but his chin/whiskers.

He's only 12wks and is otherwise fine. Responding well to treatment (eventually!) And generally a happy wee bunny!

Thanks in advance!
 
Ive never had a long haired rabbit, but i have long haired dogs and a must is a comb with rotating prongs so they don't pull. Ig he's on medication for a bit, why not snip the hair away to save him the stress of getting it groomed, it'll soon grow back if he's only young.

Hope he makes a speedy recovery.
 
What medicine is he on? Often you can mix it in with mashed banana or syringe it into a small piece of bread and that encourages them to eat it for themselves.

If he'll sit still enough I'd use some rounded ended scissors, something which won't jab into him if he moves, and trim the fur back. Or very gently use a comb to tease it out.
 
grooming bunnies

u can use some luke warm water to loosen any hard bits of hair under his chin, and either towel dry or blow dry the hair, please do not get bunny too wet or stressed as this can make the snuffles worse, once the snuffles are gone u can bath bunny, i use johnson's baby shampoo, to bring the coat back to a lovely shine.
 
I always mix meds with Ella's kitchen to make it tasty and then hopefully he won't spit it out! I'm not sure about grooming, sorry, but I certainly wouldn't recommend bathing him - snuffles or not
 
Sheldon had snuffles and refused to be syringed his meds - his meds mixed in with mashed banana worked a treat though:thumb:

My lion head Harley hates being groomed so I do end up just cutting out any matts. If you can - I would try VERY carefully to cut any matts from around her face.

But don't bath the bun - not necessary and getting them properly dry afterwards is impossible especially with a hairy breed and they could end up getting very cold and sick - buns keep themselves very clean all by themselves! :thumb:

If it becomes a problem - don't be ashamed to take bunster to the vets - I take mine in for nail clipping and she behaves perfectly for them - and most vets don't mind helping out with a bit of TLC with an animal and won't charge much, if anything.
 
I have a few long haired bunnies and one very hairy Angora and we usually very gently cut any matts out round the face but be very careful. You find when syringe feeding most buns get a bit of a mucky chin and get a bit of cotton wool and some warm water in a little bowl and just wipe it gently and we just dry it by dabbing it with dry cotton wool until it's nice and dry. I don't advise you to bathe your bunny.

I have one like Harley we call him Kenzo hairy bunster :D

Look :lol:

 
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Thanks all, Donnie doing much better now but still not symptom free :( . No snotty nose anymore but still a wee bit sneezy. Changing to fitch in the litter tray definitely helped but still a bit to go.

He's had 4 weeks of baytril, 2 anti inflammatory injections in the first fortnight and the last 2 weeks he's had metacam via syringe. Vet wants to treat it aggressively since he's so young and holds p@h responsible for him being so poorly (they're paying for the treatment) - planning on treating till he's 7 days symptom free, does this sound about right?

I've gone with adding the meds to food, much less stressful for him (and us!) and he's back to his fluffy wee self (will add some pics soon).

Considering how grumpy he is when being held, he's starting to enjoy being groomed and will sit quite happily on my knee and let me groom his head and back, still a bit to go before he's totally comfortable around his mouth/chin being groomed but since I stopped giving the meds via syringe he has been less matted. Good suggestion to get the vet to help out - his vet is fab and Donnie has him wrapped round his paw!

I'm a first time bunny owner so this has been quite a steep learning curve but I have learned to not buy pets from p@h again. I just feel so bad for them and want to give them all a better home...

Thanks again!
 
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