Here are 3 TOP care tips for rabbits owners to care for your bunnies during this warm season!
For many rabbits, their fur thickens up to prepare for the cold weather in winter, and it will shed off when the temperature rises, as they don't need so much fluff anymore.
Even though an adult rabbit typically shed every 3 months, each time lasting about 2-6 weeks, it doesn't really require much attention as many times it's only light shedding.
But when it's summer, the shedding becomes more apparent, and extra care is needed to ensure your bunny will not get ill.
This is also applicable for rabbits living in tropical countries like Singapore. Even though, it feels like summer all year round, bunnies living here seem to shed according to seasons as well.
Here's something to read if you are interested in the how and why animals shed: "Why Do Dogs, Cats and Rabbit Shed"
Tip #1: Ensure Good Drinking Habits!
Shedding produces lots of fur balls.
From what I know, rabbits are not like cats, cats are able to cough out the fur balls if they accidentally ingest too much, especially after cleaning themselves up.
But for a rabbit, they can neither digest nor cough out the fur balls. If too much fur get into their digestive system, and they are not drinking enough water or taking in enough fibre, they can die from G.I. Stasis, which is a deadly condition caused by a slowdown in their gut system. ("GastroIntestinal Stasis, The Silent Killer")
If you notice having more than usual fur around the corners of the house, or lots of matted fur sticking out of your bunny's body, you may want to ensure your bunny is drinking enough.
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| For example, thick loose fur sticking out like this. |
To ensure she's drinking enough, I usually track the amount of water Dou Dou drinks in a day. Usually, I'll have to fill her drinking bowl 3-4 times a day. So whenever she is undergoing a big shed, she tends to drink a lot more water, sometimes I may even need to fill up to 4-6 times a day.
What if my bunny doesn't like to drink water?
There was a time where I had to travel overseas, and Dou Dou was put up at a boarding house.But after she came back, Dou Dou, who was a huge drinker, somehow stopped drinking from the bottle.
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| We used a water bottle when she was young |
I panicked and frantically searched for ways to coax her to start drinking again.
Here are the things I did:
- put a water bowl near her eating area, which provided an alternative way to drink water
- added some fruits into the water, to add some sweetness
- wet her veggies even more before feeding it to her
- added ice into her water (somehow she likes to bite ice cubes!)
Anyway, I realised I did exactly what this website suggests ("How Do I Get My Rabbit To Drink More Water"), but you can check out their other alternatives as well, like feeding them watermelon! (Dou Dou doesn't like watermelon, by the way)
After a few weeks of struggling, she finally started to drink regularly!
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| Now she prefers to drink from a bowl and gave up drinking from a water bottle |
Tip #2: Make Sure to Brush Daily!
Here is something that all bunny owners may forget to do. But honestly, during their huge shedding season, it's hard to neglect the messy matted fur around the bum area.
It's caused by the bunny trying to groom itself, and the loose fur became cluttered up because of its saliva.
I would suggest getting these 2 items for grooming:
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| You can get the softer slicker brush if you want. |
The flat one is for removing the matted fur, while the wide brush is for general brushing.
What if my bunny doesn't like to be brushed?
Some naughty buns like to run around, or even become aggressive, when you are trying your best to remove its loose fur.
Dou Dou is similar as well, she doesn't like to be brushed, probably because she generally doesn't like people to touch her bum, but that's the most problematic area during shedding season.
What I did was to do it when she's eating.
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| She will let me do anything while eating. |
I feed her pellets the first thing in the morning, and she'd be so happy and so engrossed in eating that she wouldn't care about me brushing her. Even though she might keep changing her position, she will not leave that delicious bowl of pellets.
One important advice is to NEVER do it when your bunny is in the potty. Rabbits consider potty as their area of comfort, some territorial ones may even bite you if you try to come near them when they're chilling in the potty.
Another way of grooming is to get these huge lint rollers.
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| I'm sure all of us have one this right? |
It was a gift from a friend from Ikea, Daiso has a smaller one, and refills are available in both places.
This does not remove stray fur as effectively as brushes, but I find my bunny accepting this roller much better than brushes. So you guys can try this during desperate times.
Tip #3: Make Sure Your Rabbit is NOT Overheating!
Rabbits are very fragile and heatstroke may lead to brain damage. Also, if not treated early, it may even eventually lead to death :'(This is a constant problem for rabbits living in tropical countries.
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| My beautiful and sunny island: Singapore |
And it is said that heatstroke may occur in temperature above 27 degrees!
I'm so sorry Dou dou you have to live in such a hot country with me.
How to know whether my rabbit is overheating?
So far, there were 2 instances where I noticed Dou Dou was showing signs of overheating.
And during these 2 times, she was very lethargic, reacted slowly to food, and would keep lying down whenever she can.
There was one time, we realised she kept lying down, even though it was night time and she's supposed to be more active. We gave her some ice to lick and sprinkled some ice water around her ear and body, and she recovered in a few minutes.
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| Bunnies that drink water are good bunnies! |
I let her down and noticed her lying down breathing really hard. Rabbit's body do shake a little when they breathe, but at that time, Dou Dou's shaking looked more like trembles.
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| Ears too hot! (Taken when she was young and still living in the cage) |
Rabbits cool off their body temperature with their ears. So when I saw that she flapped open her ears and placed it against the metal panels, I suspected she was overheating and immediately turned on the air-con. After a few minutes, she was happily jumping around again.
So these are some signs of an overheated bunny:
- Lethargic
- Slow
- Lying down, half-asleep
- Fast breathing
- Flaps open their ears (for lop eared bunnies)/hot ears
You may also read this article for more details: "Rabbit Haven-On Overheating"
Shedding Is A Big Deal!
Dou Dou had a major shed during springtime. It was during Chinese New Year and all my guests had to bear with all her flying fur in the room, fortunately nobody was allergic to rabbit's fur. But I was really worried that she might choke on her own fur, as rabbits are clean animals that groom themselves a lot! |
| Remove those loose fur! |
And now that it's Summer, she is undergoing another round of big shedding time, so get ready all your brushes and ice cubes, and fight the heat!
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