Grooming a Woolie question

[kmc5]

I have one woolie with weird fur that easily mats. Any suggestions for good grooming tools? What can I use to pull out the mats or cut them out. Can he be sheared? The other woolie has wonderful fur. Routine grooming twice a week is all he needs. His fur is perfect. The matted woolie's fur is hard to describe. When you pet him, the fur sticks to your hand. When you take the fur out of the brush, it sticks to everything. The wool barbs are doing their work! The second woolie has soft fur, not at all sticky.

The brush I have is a small bunny wire brush with nubs on the ends of the wires.

The grey one is the one with the matted fur, the white one has beautiful soft fur.

HELP! Poor bunny is starting to hate the brush!

 

[pla725]

We have a wholly in the rescue I volunteer for. We may have to have him shaved. I had one for about ten years and sometimes would have to shave him because he hated to be groomed.

 

[kmc5]

I called a couple of groomers in my area and neither will do him. To me he would be like a tiny dog, but they say no. Shrug. I will look into a little shaver, I have never shaved a pet before.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

If he is matted down to the skin, it would be best to take him to a vet and have them do it. It is not a good way to start learning how to shave a rabbit if it is severally matted. You would need really good clippers (ones from Walmart will not work), and they tend to cost $150 and up. Severe matting can be painful for the rabbit as well. A vet would be able to sedate him if needed.

If the mattes do not go down to the skin, you could try shaving, but again, you would need a good set of clippers. Some grooming scissors would probably be able to get the mattes out, but you need to be careful with them.

Another option is to find a breeder of Angoras or Wollies in your area. They might be willing to shave him for you, or at least help you learn to do it your self.

Once you have dealt with the current problem, I would keep his fur short so it doesn't matt as easily and is easier to groom.

I have an Angora and a good set of clippers. The blades I have don't do well with his fur. I would probably need to get a blade just for him. I will probably just end up using scissors to give him a hair cut when he needs one

 

[Flashy]

Is it maybe that he isn't grooming himself?

I knew a cross breed very fluffy bunny, and she didn't groom herself because she was feeling bad because she had pastuerella, so I'm just wondering if a vet trip might be in order to just check there is no unlying medical cause that could be causing the bun to be feeling rough in any way (such as teeth issues, infections, etc).

 

[kmc5]

The matting is not deep or bad yet. Just a few knots here and there. He grooms all the time. His last vet visit proved a squeaky clean bunny :-D

I truely suspect his cage mate is the evil groomer that is causing me and Stewie matting fits. Fuzzy grooms Stewie all day long. The mats are just where Fuzzy likes to groom and sleep on him. They have lots of wooden toys, a stuffed animal, balls, box of hay, toilet paper tubes and the like to play with. they get floor time and now that the weather is good, they are outside at least two hours.

I was thinking of getting a pair of scissors that has that rounded end on them. That way I dont get too close to the skin. He will look silly all hacked up but at least the mats will be out, lol.

Very good idea about an angora breeder. I didn't even think of that. The woolies are about 6 months old, so I see I have a looooooooong hairy road ahead of me --- lol.

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

 

[remanes]

I had the same problem with my woolie a while back. I just used scissors and gave him a short haircut to get the mats out and it seems to work. He looked really silly for a while but his hair has grown out since and he looks fine. Plus he is molting right now anyways so his fur is patchy.