really matted bunny

so my mini lop buck is...well. grooming challenged. he is about four years old, but he is very, very lazy. he spends most of his day sleeping - heavily enough that sometimes i think he is dead until i poke him and he jumps up and glares at me. he doesn't really groom himself very well at all - he also thinks the smell of his own urine is the finest lady-catching perfume. he was kind of icky looking at the breeder's when i brought him home in march, but he's just gotten worse.

up until a few months ago, every cage had a tile in it for the rabbits to lay on and cool off. however, all of them began using it as a great poo and pee spot, then laying in it. they all got messy butts, stained feet, and smelled bad, so i took the tiles out. everyone but my lop buck quickly improved in cleanliness, shedding out the gross fur. however, because he doesn't seem to groom, he now looks like this:





it looks like he's moulting, which is fine, and i was hoping that he'd just moult the mats out (not sure why the moult is turning into dreads though,) but i'm noticing now that the new fur is matting up too. is there anything i can do for him? i've tried coming/cutting the mats out but he hates being handled and my clippers are unable to handled fluffy rabbit fur. or do you think he'll just moult it out and it'd be fine?

also, if anyone can tell me what colour he is that'd be great. the breeder had no idea - apparently he was born one colour then suddenly turned this colour at about 6 months old or a year, and nobody could decide what it was. the yellow in his fur is from him wearing his "perfume." it makes his fur a gross texture, but bucks are just gross, i know, haha.

What about one of those Furminator combs for dogs and cats? I got a knock off on Amazon for under $20 and it works wonders on our dogs. I have a buck that looks absolutely awful and am going to try it on him tomorrow.

I think this is the one I have... just in blue.

https://smile.amazon.com/Grooming-Drama ... furminator

Id just try to sit with him on your lap for a while and gently pull apart the mats until you get to the point where the old hair is separated enough that you can pull it off. Try not to cut them - they can thin skin that get caught up in the mats. Work on just one or two mats a day if he isn't liking it.

I like to use a sewing seam ripper to cut open mats. They are designed with a protected cutting edge so you wouldn't cut the skin. Use a good one. I bought a cheap one that was dull and broke after little use.

bucks shouldn't be gross, there's no reason they can't be as clean as anybunny else.

Around here with grooming, it's not required that they like grooming, it's required that they put up with it. You're bigger than he is, he shouldn't have any choice about the matter. If he were mine, I'd put him on the grooming mat and use embroidery snips to cut off the mats. Those are the tiny snips that look like little bitty hand sheep shears. The cutting edges are held parallel to the bunny body and I've found they don't end up cutting the bunnies anywhere near as often as actual scissors.

Once you've gotten as many mats off as you can while he's upright, then roll him over on his back (scoop under the tail, lift the chest and then hold him a moment until he quits squirming). Not sure how big he is, the rabbits here are about five to six pounds so they'll fit nicely tucked in along the arm that isn't using the scissors. Then you can clean the undercarriage and snip off any mats there. Good time to trim toenails, too. Then roll them back upright and a nice ear rub will usually settle them down again.

Come to think of it, there's a couple buns I should be trimming now. Got one buck who should probably meet up with a girl bun or two and it won't work unless he gets a haircut first. I don't think angoras would do well as feral rabbits.

Shazza

Time to bunny up.... I'd pull him out and subject him to a full brush down.... after you get him cleaned up and matts taken care of .... periodically sprinkle a tiny bit of corn starch on his back... it is supposed to encourage grooming....

But can him up first, that much could cause a fur block.

This thread is from last august...he's fine now

he still loves to pee on himself but he moulted all his mats out and is nice and healthy now. he just isn't very big on personal hygiene.

shazza":39ljs1qd said:

This thread is from last august...

Click to expand...

:lol:
I noticed that this thread had gotten had gotten dug up again...

But I'm glad your boy is happy and healthy now!