Bathing Rabbits?

[Luviae]

I am seeing a lot of contradictory ideas on whether to bathe your bunny. We have bunnies outside and will be showing one for 4-H at the county fair next month. Do we need to wash our bunny before the show?

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

How dirty is your bunny? Usually its best to avoid washing bunnies unless absolutely necessary.If you have to here is a good article on how to do it: http://www.ehow.com/how_5635916_wash-pet-bunny.html

Would it be possible to wet your hands and pet your bunny with them? I think that it would be less stressful on them. I actually did that yesterday to help my Ash's fur come off as he is shedding and he just gave me a weird look but he didn't really seem to care.

 

[Watermelons]

It really is best not to bathe them. Bum baths are better if they get dirty bums. But usually using a wash cloth is best. What colour is your bunny? sometimes you can do stuff to make certain colours like white look bright and clean with out actually bathing them.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

You do not need to bathe your rabbit before a show, but you can if needed. It's best to fill a shallow sink or bathtub with just a half inch or so of water and just rinse/wash the areas needed. Don't submerse the whole rabbit in water because it's very difficult to dry their coats thoroughly. A mild pet shampoo or hand soap is fine on the soiled areas, just be sure to rinse it all out.

It's important to make sure their coat dries completely. Towel dry as best as possible, and you can use a hair dryer on the low/warm setting to dry a bit more. If you house your rabbits outside, keep the bunny inside at room temperature until they're completely dry...it may take overnight.

And if you choose to bathe them, do it about 2 weeks before the show. That allows the coat to replenish the natural oils.

 

[Luviae]

Mr. Chips is a black and white mini lop (my current avatar picture). He's managed to stay fairly clean so far, though I think I will have to give his backside some cleaning. Our fair is in 4 weeks. If you have advice for making him look cleaner without too much washing. I have a feeling he wouldn't appreciate it much. Thanks so much for all the advice. It's hard to know what to do when every place I look says something different. :bambiandthumper

 

[Jayombie]

A good YouTube video here showing bathing, with lots of links to others to the side.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnninZ_itAU[/ame]

I think if the rabbit hated water it would scramble away like some rabid hay muncher, but looking at this rabbit it seems to actually enjoy it.

Down to the rabbit maybe ?

Plus I suspect your taking the natural oils away from the skin/fur when you bathe so it would not be advised to do it often but once in a while it be no more like a rabbit stuck in a down pour which happens in the wild.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

It's best not to water down the whole rabbit, unless the whole coat has staining or needs to be cleaned. But that isn't usually the case. It's difficult to thoroughly dry the coat, so better to spot clean or do "butt baths" as needed.

 

[majorv]

Agree with Julie, spot cleaning the areas that need it would be better. You might search this site for stuff you can use to clean urine stains etc...I think someone mentioned corn starch. Your rabbit's coat won't look good for show if you do a complete bath too close to the show date. It might also stress your rabbit out, which wouldn't be good.

 

[Luviae]

Great! Thanks for the advice!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

The only bathing we've ever done is a "butt bath" which was done with a minimal amount of water and just the very hind portion. Every thing we've read said not to and if you have to to keep it minimal.

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

Yeah, I think spot cleaning would be best. Its not good to put a lot of water on a rabbits coat.