Thursday, July 30, 2009

Is it safe to give my rabbit a bath?

My mom said he stinks. But im not sure if its ok to bathe him. Please dont just guess.
Answers:
I've answered this question before, so here is a copy of what I wrote to another person re bathing rabbits:
I've kept rabbits for over 15 years, including angoras which often need cleaning up.
Emersing a rabbit in water the way you would with a dog can be fatal, and is guaranteed to stress your rabbit in a big way! When my rabbits are dirty around the bottom, which is a common problem with angoras, so I have plenty of experience there, I wash mine in the kitchen sink as it's shallow. Only emerse the part of the rabbit that's dirty - it's bottom, and put the front paws up on the draining board, out of the water. If you set the temperature to be as close to body warmth or a tiny bit warmer, the rabbit will not really notice it and only make the water a few inches deep, so the rabbit's tummy doesn't end up all wet any higher than it needs to. I've had some rabbits eat treats while being bathed, they are so relaxed, and don't seem to notice what's going on, so give that a try as well. Place the treats where the front paws are placed.
Then, soak the dirty part under the water, and pour some small animal or rabbit shampoo into the water. Rub the dirty area with your hands or a cloth gently, until it's as clean as you can get it. Once you're done, empty the sink with the bunny still in place, and use some clean water of the same temperature that you've set aside in a container, and after replacing the plug, pour that slowly into the sink to rinse.
Then drain the sink again, try to squeeze out as much water from the fur as you can, then place the bunny on a thick towel, and use another towel to dry the area as well as you can. If you do this during the day, and the weather is warm, letting the bunny out to run free after using a hair dryer. Otherwise, use a hair dryer on the warm (never hot) setting, and low force, to dry the fur as thoroughly as you can. This can take a while, but needs to be done. If you don't think you're able to dry it completely, if bunny is being hard to get along with, keep her inside in the warm after you've dried as well as possible first. Having a friend distract your rabbit by rubbing her nose etc while you're bathing her, may help keep her calm.
I know it sounds like a bit of work, but once you get your routine worked out, it doesn't take too long, and in my experience, using this technique, your rabbit won't suffer any undue stress.
Best of luck.
EDIT: you also need to make sure the cage is clean- no point cleaning the bunny if it's the cage that's making him stink!
I do exactly as the person above says to do. I have owned and fostered bunnies for about 5 years now and I have had quite a few lion head bunnies which have very long fur and it gets pretty dirty down there sometimes. So i recommend doing exactly as the other person has said.

No comments:

Post a Comment