Bunny grooming

[Haru the Lionhead]

I have a question, how can you guys brush your rabbit! As I said before, haru hates it and as soon as she sees the brush she runs like crazy. I can only brush her when she’s sleeping or resting, and i can only brush the fur that is on my side, and only for 5 minutes maybe. So I’ve been brushing her back and sides as much as I can every day. I watched people brushing their rabbits and when they do, they only brush their back, I’ve never seen anyone brush their rabbits belly or butt, is it not necessary?and if it is, how should i do it?because all the videos that I watched they always say that their bunny is very aggressive or that they don’t like getting groomed, but at the same time.. the bunny is staying still!! Haru would never do that!
another question.. how do I clean her butt?the fur i mean. It looks very dirty and brown.
Even if she’s resting, if anything touches her tail she would get up and run away.

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

When you do manage to brush her, even if its for 5 minute, give her her favorite treat,
the more you brush her the more treats she gets, eventually she’ll learn that the brush means treats.
Can you put her between your legs and pet her head, she’d be more relaxed that way.
You’d also be able to get be able to brush both sides

You do pluck the hairs off
butt, back, sides of legs.

Arrows show lose fur,
lose fur will look different as it is sticking out, these are ready to be plucked, you can use your hand to pluck,


They are lose because the new fur is pushing the old fur out.

 

[Blue eyes]

Her bottom should never be dirty and brown. That could be indicative of either perhaps dirty housing or something wrong with the diet. Rabbits are great at keeping themselves very clean. If she isn't clean, then some adjustments need to be made. How is her litter box setup and her enclosure? How do her poos look?

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Do you mean the area where their poo comes out,
sometimes that area can have a little bit of dried cecotropes.

https://bunnyapproved.com/cleaning-a-rabbit-how-to/

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

Do you mean the area where their poo comes out,
sometimes that area can have a little bit of dried cecotropes.

https://bunnyapproved.com/cleaning-a-rabbit-how-to/

No i mean all of her butt, there isn’t cecotropes just hay

 

[Lucas the Bun 💕🐇]

Can you take a picture
what Blue Eyes is talking about is “Poopy Butt”.

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

Her bottom should never be dirty and brown. That could be indicative of either perhaps dirty housing or something wrong with the diet. Rabbits are great at keeping themselves very clean. If she isn't clean, then some adjustments need to be made. How is her litter box setup and her enclosure? How do her poos look?

The house is clean, she isn’t trained so she pees and jumps around and the pee gets everywhere, so i wash the floor every day. About her diet, she gets hay all the time, i give her 1/8 cup pellets, one cup of mixed leafy greens, and one tbs fruit. She groomes herself. And about the litter box.. I put a pee pad and hay, and I would change the pee pad two times a day and clean the actual box 3 times a week, her poop is normal. It used to be different shapes and sizes but I changed her diet 10 days ago and since then it’s been okay. When she pees outside of the box she sometimes sits on the pee or when she’s playing she would step on it before I clean it.

 

[Haru the Lionhead]

Can you take a picture
what Blue Eyes is talking about is “Poopy Butt”.

I can’t take a picture, she doesn’t let me even see it. I only saw it twice since I got her. There’s matted fur and maybe poop sticking in it. I saw the poop once and I couldn’t take it out, its like when gum sticks on hair, so my mum cut the fur that was sticking with the poop

 

[Hermelin]

If it really matted fur and poop stuck to the fur, it’s a diet problem. But if it because bad diet since before and stuck, your bunny might need a bum bath where you spot clean the bum and trim off the matted fur. But that will be a struggle when your bunny isn’t used to be handled. It all comes down to how bad the matting and poop on the bum.

Myself first started to brush my bunnies when they got use to be handled. Before I only trimmed the claws and if they let me cuddle with them, I would cuddle for a while until calm and while keeping them distracted I pluck the fur or trim matted fur with my right hand while my left kept on cuddling. It often helps when it’s two people, one distracting and me going wild with plucking fur.

I’ve done a few spot cleaning with my bunnies before they got use with handling, those baths was a real struggle. But I noticed it help giving them food and being two people when doing the spot cleaning.

 

[Blue eyes]

Here's more on poopy butt and an explanation on how to clean/bathe just the bum.
https://myhouserabbit.com/rabbit-health/poopy-butt-in-rabbits-causes-and-treatment/

 

[Vee]

One of my bunnies had some poop stuck to her fur near her butt, I just clipped it off with a scissor. It took two tries, but I got her clean and now she is spotless. I use coir for the potty. It readily absorbs liquid and my bunnies seem to enjoy the softness. It can be ordered on line and needs to be rehydrated in a bucket of water, then drained and dried. I put straw on top. I change the potty every two days. I found a great brush for brushing my bunnies. It is made in the Czech Republic and sold by Ikea of Sweden. the model number is 502.903.37. It has a long hand and I just comb the back and sides and, if allowed, a bit of the cheek fur, which on my mini lop is somewhat thick. (I suspect there may be a bit of lionhead in the past). The brush is soft, but works well and is easy to clean. Then I use a lice brush made of plastic by Safari to finish the brushing. I try to groom the buns every day and for a treat, they get Ti leaves, which almost everyone here in Hawaii grows and which they love. A bite of banana as a reward would probably spoil your bun completely.