How long should brushing/grooming take?

Rabbit Talk  Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

GBov

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
2,616
Reaction score
63
Location
Cumbria, UK
I had only just started on our new French Angora doe when hubby said she was shaking and was getting too stressed.

As he was helping me I just put her away to try again tomorrow when she and I can be alone together :roll:

But how long should brushing her take and how do I know if she is getting stressed?

She was sitting alright for me with her legs tucked under her and well stretched out in her body. She did twitch and flinch when I brushed her sides and shoulders but I slowed down and went more gently and she stopped flinching.

And oh yeh, she has patches of flaky dry skin under her pretty white fluff, what should I do about that?
 
With the younger ones, you want the sessions to be short and end on a good note. But you can do multiple sessions per day like one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Depending on how much matting, you may want to break it up across several sessions. If not much matting, just run the slicker brush over her from head to tail, top to bottom and you are done ... 15 minutes?

If you are seeing flakey skin, she probably has a case of fur mites ... they can get them from "anywhere" so you will want to keep either Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) or a mite/lice powder that can be used on Chickens onhand. You can also dose adults with short-life bug powders such as Sevin Dust.

If she doesn't have mites, blowing her coat out with a blow dryer (on high cool), or a shop vac, or a pet blower ... what ever you have. There are several videos on youtube to demonstrate, but basically, blow from back to front, cover/protect the ear canals, eyes/face with your hand.

Sounds like you did just fine, and her shaking might have been from being held ... I find that on a small table (I use a folding workbench with piece of carpet on top), I don't have to hold them, and only need to move them around from one side to the other.
 
I like to keep my casual groomng sessions to about 10 minutes max. For more serious work involving the removal of dead hair in a heavy moult or trying to get stains or matted hair off the base of a pelt, it will obviously take longer, but normal grooming needs to be short, sweet and to the point IMHO.
 
AnnClaire":7gdkgwat said:
With the younger ones, you want the sessions to be short and end on a good note. But you can do multiple sessions per day like one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Depending on how much matting, you may want to break it up across several sessions. If not much matting, just run the slicker brush over her from head to tail, top to bottom and you are done ... 15 minutes?

If you are seeing flakey skin, she probably has a case of fur mites ... they can get them from "anywhere" so you will want to keep either Diatomaceous Earth (food grade) or a mite/lice powder that can be used on Chickens onhand. You can also dose adults with short-life bug powders such as Sevin Dust.

If she doesn't have mites, blowing her coat out with a blow dryer (on high cool), or a shop vac, or a pet blower ... what ever you have. There are several videos on youtube to demonstrate, but basically, blow from back to front, cover/protect the ear canals, eyes/face with your hand.

Sounds like you did just fine, and her shaking might have been from being held ... I find that on a small table (I use a folding workbench with piece of carpet on top), I don't have to hold them, and only need to move them around from one side to the other.

Do I dust her down with it? I have a bag of food grade DE on hand already.

And does ivermectin work on fur mites? It works great on ear mites.
 
Applying a small amount of DE will kill the mites if she has any. They usually concentrate at the nape of the neck, so if you are seeing flakiness on her entire body it is probably due to lack of grooming and loss of air circulation to the skin caused by matted fur.

Ivermectin kills any blood sucking parasite.

Brushing or stroking the coat of any animal stimulates blood flow to the skin and spreads the oils on the skin and coat. Using your hands to put a final finish on the coat is a great way to give it a sheen. If you have ever seen the gleaming coat on a performance or halter horse, it is due both to good nutrition and daily grooming, with an emphasis on stroking the coat with your hands to distribute the oils and add your own.
 
MamaSheepdog":3f6les2s said:
Applying a small amount of DE will kill the mites if she has any. They usually concentrate at the nape of the neck, so if you are seeing flakiness on her entire body it is probably due to lack of grooming and loss of air circulation to the skin caused by matted fur.

Ivermectin kills any blood sucking parasite.

Brushing or stroking the coat of any animal stimulates blood flow to the skin and spreads the oils on the skin and coat. Using your hands to put a final finish on the coat is a great way to give it a sheen. If you have ever seen the gleaming coat on a performance or halter horse, it is due both to good nutrition and daily grooming, with an emphasis on stroking the coat with your hands to distribute the oils and add your own.

Her worst flaky spot so far is right between her hips, the hair just pulled gently off and its now bald there and very patchy lower down tward the tail.

She looks like she is wearing pantaloons, very long silky hair in her upper body but the farther back you go the poofier she gets.

Am looking forward to brushing her today as hubbs is gone for the afternoon. I dont think Matilda was bothered by being groomed, it was more he wanted my help with a filter :roll:
 
It wont hurt to apply the DE just to be on the safe side.

GBov":2uz1o3n4 said:
I dont think Matilda was bothered by being groomed, it was more he wanted my help with a filter :roll:

:lol: Men! :roll:
 
She did pretty good but I think I am the one being too tentative in my brushing but I dont want to hurt her.

Havnt flipped her over to get her belly and I still cant get that poo pancake off of her tail!

I keep nibbling away at it with a tiny pair of blunt nosed sisors but we have a loooooong way to go before it comes off.
 
Best you can do ... just keep working at it until you get the whole thing, but be sure not to stress the bun. Also, once you get the pancake off, you might want to keep the "tailgate" area trimmed a bit shorter just to help her with her grooming.

As for the tummy area, I find that some I have to hold upright on my lap and brush that way, or some, I hold in a cradle in one arm with the head pinned under my elbow and that hand holding the upper thigh to stretch the bun out so I can brush the tummy.

I do my grooming outside, so the buns are not willing to let me roll them over on their backs for the tummy brushing.

But, with my buns, I don't really hold them down while brushing, I let them move around on the grooming table, just brushing on whichever area is presented to me ... the older buns will actively turn so I can get particular areas. The babies, well, they are still learning and will only tolerate a certain amount of grooming on an area for just a little while LOL

And, take plenty of breaks with the younger/new buns to pet and love on them, that way they don't associate the grooming table with being manhandled :p
 
AnnClaire, what do you do about pee soaked fur along the inner thigh?

She seems to be wet and icky and I am afraid its going to scald her.

Treated for mites so that will give her some relief but I want her happy and CLEAN! Finally got the poo mat off yesterday YAY!
 
GBov, I keep that trimmed ... however far up the tummy, over the base of the tail, along the back of the thighs, even some of the fur along the side of the bellies. I try to time the trimmings so that they will have at least an inch of fur in those places when the first freeze happens. Then, we usually get more warm weather before the next real cold, so I keep it trimmed every 4 weeks until the real winter cold sets in.

In Florida, you could probably keep it trimmed all year round. And, in the heat of the summer, if you don't shear down to a short coat all over, do get the tummy, chest, legs and over the tail. It will leave the prime fiber on the back/sides for you to harvest, and when coming up on a show, even if that fiber is shorter, it should not be so short that the judge cannot determine the density of the fiber in those areas.

Others that show EAs have said that most judges will not DQ or mark down for such a clip, but I haven't shown yet, so I have no direct knowledge as of yet.
 
Ann, thanks for all your good information....I have babies that I am teaching to let me groom their tummies....lets just say that some are more adaptable than others....but whomever ends up with these buns is going to have no excuse not to groom from the rabbit's stand point!
 
Tummies and cheeks/neck areas seem to be the hardest to convince them to tolerate grooming! I also have one that is so ticklish/sensitive low down on the sides that I have to hold that one in a bunny pretzel to get it done :p

Also, if you plan on showing, forget the slicker brush and go to blowing the coat with a blower! If you keep it up regularly, you can use a "pick" to tease the mats out ... you know the one I am talking about ... used to be called a " 'fro pick"?

Basically, I use my slicker brush when the bun is blowing it's coat to "pluck" ... it gathers up a perfect size wad of fur for my spindling. I know some folks make a big 'to do' about laying the fiber in parallel swatches, but I find that I get just as nice a single from a "wad" as from parallel fibers. YMMV
 

Latest posts

Back
Top