Shaving bunnies fur

[Eve]

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering if anyone here shaves or trims their bunnies fur.

Today it is 42 degrees celsius (around 107 degrees Fahrenheit). Summerin Australia can get quite hot. Even though I keep my bunnies inside inan air conditioned room, I am not able to leave the air conditioningswitchedon 24/7. I need to turnitoff atnight as it wakes everyone up, but my room is still very hot at thistime.

I have been thinking about shaving some of my bunnies fur off to helpthem keep cool, but I am not sure if this is a good idea or whatequiptment would be the best to use.

If anyone has any experience or advice regarding this, I would be extremely grateful

 

[TinysMom]

We do this with a couple of our lionheadsbecause their fur gets so matted (one is called Matt because of this).They literally have fur growing up between their toes...

My husband used his moustache trimmer (electric) last time....usuallyhe uses scissors to cut off the top part and then trims a bit more withthe trimmer.

Peg

 

[cheryl]

Hi Eve!

I don't know if shaving your bunnies fur is really necessary,maybe ifthey were a long haired breed it may be different..I never reallythought about shaving my bunnies in the summer before

Do you have a fan that you could keep on at night for them?,and maybeyou couldleave the window open as well,or give them somefrozen water bottles,if they are hot,then they will lay against thebottle

The weather has been in the 40's thelast few days,the weatherguy last night said that we have not had hot weather like that so earlyin the season since 1980,it's not sohot here today..but it'sSO! humid and sticky,it's just awful!

ugh! and this is just the beginning..we have plenty more hot weather to look forward to


Keep cool.... Eve,Rodney and Layla

cheryl

 

[Mikoli]

Hi Eve!

I was wondering the same thing. It doesn't get up to 42, but it oftengets up to 40 down here, which is still far too hot. The biggestproblem of mine is that Ollie is a outdoor rabbit. We bring him insidefor the hottest days, but he still gets pretty hot.

Just adding onto Eve's question ... Would it be alright just to take acouple of cemtimetres off the ends of some places where he often getshot [Like right behind his neck and under his belly ... he has somelong hair there]. It will grow back in time for Winter, and I'll givehim a blanket if it gets cold ... I'd like to hear some of the otherpeople's comments on this.

:threadhijacked::biggrin:

Thanks!
Rachel.

 

[hunnybunny63]

the only time daisy has ever been shaved is whenshe was spayed. dandy was shaved then too but when she had wounds fromattacks i have used a pair of human skin scissors to clear a bit fot ehfur away so i could see is a bit better and clean it up everyday!

your so lucky that you have really ncie weather at the min! gues its not too great fro the bunnies though!

 

[JimD]

 

[hunnybunny63]

JimD wrote:

nice shorts!

what did you do to that poor bunny? why did you have to shave them so much?

 

[JimD]

That's Sebastian.He belongs to RaspberrySwirl, another member of the forum (haven't seenher on in a bit)
Seb's is a wooly bun and his fur gets quite thick and long. Where helives (KS) it gets very warm in the summer. To keep him cooler (andmake it easier to groom him), they would shave most of his fur off. Hedidn't get shaved all the time, but got regular trims.

Here's a pic of him when's he's due for a clipping....

 

[Hollie]

Wow, I really feel sorry for you having toendure those temps at night without your AC! I'd die! It gets up tonearly 50C here in the height of summer. I used to keep my bunsoutdoors at night in the summer, but during the day they were indoors.We used to freeze a bottle or two of water and leave them in overnightfor them, so that they could cool down.

They were outdoors sometimes during the day (when we were on holiday),and they were fine for the most part - we did have one pass away ofheat exhaustion, though. I've never kept a bunny outdoors since then.

 

[cheryl]

Yes,Sebastian was the one i was thinking of wheni said that they could be shaved if they had long fur..Sebastian was myfirst thought lol,

I have never forgotten this picture..

cheryl

 

[Pipp]

I couldn't see the pic... I assume it was this one? I thinkRaz used the scissors, didn't she? A dangerousthing...Raz with scissors!

Sebby is a very hairy bunny, as Jim demonstrated. Idon't know that it's a good idea to bother with short hairedbreeds. Bunny skin is very thin, the trimmer cannip them and the headalso heats up very quickly and can burnthem.

Rabbits are actually air-cooled -- like an old volkswagen. If you have a fan on them making sure the air they'rebreathing is cooled, that counts for a lot. I ended up withtrays of ice or frozen bottles sitting under a fan aimed at Pipp'sface. (Of course I had to sweat it out). :rollseyes

sas

 

[pamnock]

I use small scissors to shear wooled breeds,however electric shears can be used. One drawback is thatshearing can be stressful to the rabbit and some rabbits may go intoshock and die if the shearing is not done properly.

Fans are very helpful because they keep the air moving, evaporatingmoisture from the rabbits breathing (it's primary mode ofcooling).

Frozen water bottles can also help to cool surrounding air. Misters are helpful in dry areas.

Pam

 

[Eve]

Thank you so much for all of your replies everyone!:kiss:

The reason Ithought ofshaving some of my buns furis because last night I thought Rodney wasn't doing too wellin the heat, even though I tried a number of ways to keep him cool.

My rabbit Layla has very light and fluffy fur, and there is not toomuch of it. She does fairly well in the warmer weather and doesn't seemtoo bothered by it. Rodney, however, has a much thicker coat and he waslookingvery uncomfortable last night.

I already have a fan for night time, but I think I will go and buy agiant one tomorrow.Mine is a bit too small and doesn't seemto helpvery much. I put frozen water bottles in thebunniescages and a few ice cubes in their water bowls. Rodneywas lying on his side and panting a lot during the night, so Ikeptwetting his face and ears with a damp cloth.

If you don't think it is a good idea to remove some of Rodney'sfuras he is ashort haired breed, I will just stickto doing what I have been doing now to cool him down.Iwillinvest in abigger fan tomorrow too and see howthat goes.

Thank you again for your help with this, your advice and comments were really helpful.

Edit: That photo of Sebastian ishilarious :rofl:

 

[Snuggys Mom]

If you decide to shave him, I would let a vet doit to be safe. Their skin is so thin and easily cut, itscares me.

My co-worker just took hers to the vets to beshaved.They've done it hundreds of times and theystillnicked his leg. At least they were prepared totreatany accidents, and he's fine now.

 

[pamnock]

Unfortunately, not all vet offices areexperienced at shearing rabbits. I know of one horrifyingincident when a rabbit died from the vet tech's attempts to shear therabbit's coat to remove mats. They ended up ripping andtearing the skin. The rabbit died of shock.

Pam

 

[Eve]

pamnock wrote:

Unfortunately, not all vet offices are experienced atshearing rabbits. I know of one horrifying incident when arabbit died from the vet tech's attempts to shear the rabbit's coat toremove mats. They ended up ripping and tearing theskin. The rabbit died of shock.

Pam

That's horrible! Thank you for sharing that Pam, Rodney will be keepinghis fur intact. I didn't realise trimming fur is so dangerous. I'm offto buy the big fan

 

[JimD]

Another great idea from one of our members(gypsy I think?) was to use ceramic tiles. She chilled them in thefridge and put them in the cages for the buns to lay on.

I used some tiles that were leftover from our bathroom renovation. Oneof our AC units had quit and the tiles kept the buns cooled until wereplaced it.

~Jim

 

[Bangbang]

JimD wrote:

Another great idea from one of our members (gypsy I think?)was to use ceramic tiles. She chilled them in the fridge and put themin the cages for the buns to lay on.

I used some tiles that were leftover from our bathroom renovation. Oneof our AC units had quit and the tiles kept the buns cooled until wereplaced it.

~Jim

that is a really good idea! I may just try that one myself

 

[BunnySlave13]

My rabbits (3 Netherland Dwarves) are shorthaired, but since rabbits overheat easily, when it's hot I give them each a few ice cubes. They'll lick them, bat them around, even lay on them! It's a fun way to help them cool off.

 

[d0tti]

It was very hot here today! Thankfully cooling down tomorrow. I just put a few frozen bottles (flat cordial type bottles are the best, the other kind i.e coke bottles etc. tend to roll away whenever she tries to lay on them!) in the room and have the fan pointing at Herman.
Sometimes if i have watermelon in the fridge, i cut it up into small cubes and freeze it and give it to her on hot days. Also put ice cubes in her drinking water!