Can you bathe bunnies?

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Well i was just wondering because my rabbits always smell and so me and my sister decided to give them a bath. We only bathed three of them because we didn't have enough time for the other one and Autumn (mom) we didn't want to bathe because she might get mad. So is this bad? We don't use dog wash but we just use the soap we use to wash our hair. we wash them in our bathroom in the tub with about 4-5 inches of warm water. Is there specific rabbit wash? thanks!

 

[Spring]

I don't recommend giving a rabbit a full bath where they get wet all over the body. Rabbits fur takes a while to dry,so they can get chills and become sick. Also it can very stressful, so it could put a rabbit into shock.

People shampoo is very harsh and rabbits skin because it's their skin is so delicate. It can dry up a rabbits skin and take away the oils in the coat. There is rabbit shampoo, but again I don't suggest giving a rabbit a full bath.

If a rabbit has a dirty bum, you can use just a butt bath. Here's a link and information:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/buttbath.html

Rabbits normally don't smell, so I would look at what might be causing it.It could besomething to do with it's environment, diet, or if there's an underlying health issue.

 

[naturestee]

It's not a good idea, especially with the soap. It might upset their stomachs if they lick it off. It also might dry out their skin, which is very sensitive.

There's really no need to bathe healthy rabbits unless they're muddy,etc. And then it's best not to do a full bath, just do a dry bath with cornstarch or a wet bath of only the dirty parts, like the butt.

The link Spring gave is great!

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

The rabbits could be smelling for a number of reasons. Keeping the cage clean is important and also cleaning their scent glands. You can use mineral oil to clean the scent glands.

I strongly agree that you should not give your bunnies baths.You could actually cause them to stress out and catch pneumonia.

Sharon

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Thanks alot. I'll try to look for rabbit shampoo, just in case we ever may need it, like before a show or something. This is only the first time we've bathed our bunnies with soap, usually we'd just let them hop in a pool of water in the summertime to keep cool. We make sure the day is really warm and then we washout all the soap making sure none is still in there fur, then we use up to three towls and our body heat to dry them off and then we let them run around our rooms for a little while to dry off and calm down. They really are good in the bath tubs, and we put down a washcloth so there feet don't slip. My sister gets in the tub with them, like neels down and then she holds them and helps scrub the soap into their fur. The main source of there smell is because they accidently got pee splashed upon them, and they stunk horribly. We make sure we clean there cages every 3-4 days and we scoop in between there.



Thanks again.

 

[gentle giants]

I wonder-what about that dry cat shampoo? I've never used the stuff on either cats or rabbits, but it was just a thought. That might be a problem for licking off too, I don't know how or if you remove it.