Bunnies: Moult, Bathe and Fur Care

Tips and Tricks about Bunnies: What Do You Need to Know about Moult, Bathe and Fur Care!

How often do bunnies moult? Can you bathe bunnies, and how often to do that? What is the best way to provide proper fur care for your house bunny? 

If you are owner of one or more of these precious creatures, you have asked these questions at least once. Here you can find the most important information on these topics. 

I like to compare rabbits to cats. In many aspects, those animals are quite similar. They self-groom, they are odorless, clean animals, and pretty much silent. 

That is why I love rabbits. They need minimum of the care, and lots of love and cuddling. They basically clean themselves by constant licking. They do it all the time, when these is nothing more important to do. 

After this it is easy to assume what the answer to those questions would be. But in some specific situations, things get complicated. 

What to do in such occasions? 

Please, keep reading!

What Should a Bunny Owner Know about Moulting of Rabbits? 

Small tricks of bunny fur care!

Bunnies have thin, soft hair, and the season of moulting causes head aches to their owners. This is understandable, because it is quite difficult to clean it of your carpets and furniture. There are few simple fur care tricks that can be applied during moulting seasons.

How often do bunnies/rabbits moult and how  to prevent the consequences?

They moult few times during a year. It depends on the outer temperature. If they are kept in house, they shed every 2 to 3 months, with the peaks in the summer and during the winter (central heating).
Younger bunnies shed discretely, but with the years coming, they star loosing more and more hair, making this process more and more problematic for their owners.
You have to have in mind, that not every moult is the same. In practice, it is proven that every second shedding is more intense.
In older rabbits, it is not rare for them to loose fur completely from their back, or side. This is nothing to be afraid of: it is completely normal, and the fur will return in few weeks, after the shedding is over.
Above and to the right, you can see couple of Amazon products. Those are brushes for proper grooming of your pet. They are perfect for taking away the success of the hair. Since rabbits self-groom, they ingest lots of shedding fur, which can be dangerous in the way of forming clogs in their gastrointestinal tract, and thus leading to gastointestinal stasis (complication of severe moult in rabbits).


To prevent this, and annoying hairballs on your carpet and furniture, use these special brushes to groom your pet once of twice a day. They will love it, and you will ease the pain moult is causing to you. 

Should You Bathe Your Bunny/Bunnies? When is the Rabbit Ready for Bath?

Every pet owner should know that their pet rabbits should never be bathed. Not just that they don't like the water, which is an other similarity to cats, but the water can be very dangerous for them. Even if there is only small amount of it. If immersed into the water, rabbits can suffer from shock and die. This can happen even if there is just an inch of it in bath tub. 

But our pets are known for curiosity, and there are lots of situations when they get so dirty, that something has to be done. So, in those cases, you can bathe them, but you should read how.

You need to place a towel into the bath tub, to prevent your pet loosing a grip.
Don't use shower, and don't immerse bunny into the water. Never shower his head. When bathing, only back, legs and tail can be in contact with water. Try to keep wet area at the minimum size. Use small bottle or cup as water holder. 
On the right side you can see the best choices for shampoo. Use one of those, that are mild and organic, to wash out the dirt from his fur.
After you have gently washed filthy are of bunny's fur, wrap him into the dry towel, and lift him into your arm. Hold him tightly to prevent moving, and jumping (they can hurt themselves in attempt to run away).
Don't use hair dryer, but keep bunny in warm til hi dries up. 
Always offer treat, to ease the stress caused by bathing. 
Note: your pet will keep licking himself after bathe is done. This is more like defense mechanism, and this is nothing to be worried about, if the proper shampoo is used, and washed out properly.

More about bunny hygiene: Bunny as Pets: Improving Hygiene.

I hope this post was helpful. Feel free to ask anything that remained unsaid.
Cheers!