Angora Questions from a Dummy- mainly grooming.

Our house pet English Angora Buck is a total doll baby - Love him to death and he is just a lot of fun. I know that many Angora keepers use a blower for grooming but with just the one fellow I don't see myself buying one - I do have a hairdryer that is for curly hair and it blows with more force and less heat - the cool setting really is just forced air. I've used it once on PFU but I'm not sure if it really helped much.

Mainly he gets stuff stuck to him! bits of paper or sometimes pellets wrapped in his wool - I've been just using my fingers to work these out and a cat slicker brush that has soft tips... he seems dense underneath and Im not sure if I'm just not getting down far enough with the brush or what's going on. overall I don't find many knots... a few on the top of his head and around his ears. they're usually small - smaller than a pea. I'd say he gets a total brush down once a week - to every 10 days.

He's 13 weeks old - I've been told that baby coats are more problematic than adult wool and he may require a ah bikini cut . I don't see us showing him although we may take him to ONE show in October for kicks.... don't expect a lot of wool breeds to be there.

any advice on keeping him maintained? Am I doing okay? I'm just worry about him getting a serious mat and having to do something drastic.

also - I know his Maternal side is molters but there are non-molters on his Paternal side. Is there any real way to know what you got other than one day finding half bald angora?

Well, first of all you are NOT a dummy - because you cared to ask the questions. That makes you wise.

I don't own a blower, but sometimes I wish I did! I would advise you to commit to combing your bunny daily. Save the wool when you see it shedding out. A hair-cut for a pet bunny is a good idea. Be careful cutting. The skin is very, very thin and can be loose in some tender areas.

I cannot help you about telling if he will shed or have to be sheared, but you will begin to know within a few months. Just keep grooming and you will see.

I've had long hair rabbits that got terribly matted and had to cut them out. Probably a daily quick groom with a slicker would be the best. I use the hard wire kind and all my rabbits seems to enjoy the grooming as they calm down and just let me use the sharp tip slicker on them. I also sometimes use my electric leaf blower on them.

Usually I clip down all my buns after 10 weeks if they are not going to be shown. The jr coats vary, some are ok, some are not, and even though I have a line of French that do not pluck, sometimes the weanings pluck and sometimes not. Even if they pluck young it doesn't mean I can pluck them as sr coats.

For just a pet, you may want to consider keeping it clipped at 2-3 inches if he turns out to be a non molter.

Thanks- I'm going to do my best to give him a brushing every day- love his 'floof' Hope that I can keep it up!