Crunchy Fur

[agnesthelion]

Archie is a mini Rex and we all know how fantastically soft their fur is.

He is molting currently so I've been grooming him more frequently to cut down on fur balls and shedding.

Every time I'm done grooming, he runs back to the NIC condo,p and glares at me as he grooms himself back to his liking totally normal.

Okay my question is that when he is done grooming himself, the fur on his back is crunchy and stiff. Is this normal with Rex fur? At first I though he got something on him but now I realize it's only after I groom him and he is frantically grooming himself after.

So is it normal for Rex to leave their fur stiff after licking themselves? Oh and it's ONLY on his back. Everywhere else is still the soft, velvety Rex fur.....?

 

[JBun]

Just making a guess, but maybe straining to groom his back makes his nose run and gets in his fur making it crunchy. Or maybe excess drool coming out as he's trying to reach back there.:?

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Never had this with the 4 we've had. Coal's eyes used to run and the fur on her face needed cleaning or it got matted.

 

[ldoerr]

I have not noticed this. Sometimes their fur will get like that but I have never seen it for that reason. Often it is because they got sunburned (the black color gets this A LOT). Other times it is because you over groomed. That is what I think it is. It is really easy to over groom a mini rex. You should not be grooming the back that much. I have thought that a rabbit needed to be groomed a lot before so I groomed it a lot. I did this several times before a show. When the coat was in worse shape than when it started and on the day of the show, I asked my friend who breeds mini rex and wins nationally. She said that I had been over grooming. She grooms her rabbits 1x the night before the show for a couple of minutes and that is it. That is all she does even for the ones that are blowing coat (shedding). Her rabbits never have that crunchy fealing to their coats.

So what I am trying to say it, do not groom so much, stop grooming the back, and let him deal with it. He knows what is best for his coat. You are more than likely over grooming him.

 

[agnesthelion]

^^^^oh wow thanks Lauren I had no idea! I really don't groom *that* much. or at least I didn't think so! I mean, when I do groom him it's literally for a couple minutes......

I will lessen up though and see if it changes. I'd love to know the science behind it.....like how does too much grooming turn fur crunchy??

Ohhh poor Archie. Here I thought I was helping him!!

Bunny parent fail

 

[agnesthelion]

JBun wrote:

Just making a guess, but maybe straining to groom his back makes his nose run and gets in his fur making it crunchy. Or maybe excess drool coming out as he's trying to reach back there.:?

I'd love this to be the answer instead of over grooming cuz I feel so bad this makes sense though! Right.....?

Any other opinions??

 

[pamnock]

Possible secretions from the scent glands? Over his back would be the area that would have the most direct contact with the scent. I've noticed that the fur under the chin at the scent glands gets like that also sometimes. You can lightly groom by dampening your hands with water and gently run them over the coat a couple times from front to back.

 

[qtipthebun]

Q-tip says "I get crunchy sometimes, but it's usually if I've been nomming something before I groom. Like, if I was eating a bite of strawberry or something and then I groom, I may get a crunch patch. Also, I got really crunchy once when I stuck my head in a smoothie cup. But that's off the record."

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Taffy gets this crunchy fur too. I was getting worried something was wrong with her, so it's good to here other bunnies get this too. I worried more too, because my rabbit Speckles (mini rex) never got crunchy fur till later in her life and now as Taffy's older I've started noticing it.