This lovely female Cashmere lop rabbit was dumped at SARR because the owner, after only 6 months, realised they could not cope with a long fur coated rabbit. They bought this lovely bunny from a pet shop with no warnings of the outcome of NO grooming, or even that this bunny would need any grooming.

The fact is that long haired rabbits need a minimum of once a week grooming session and will fall into a neglected state within weeks. Even an 8-12 week kit requires grooming as it changes from kit to adult coat.

This particular rabbit was so matted that its fur is being pulled away gradually in a matted sheet and its bottom is matted with a combination of faeces and urine which is rock solid needing to be cut away from the bottom and tail area with great care. Many people have accidentially chopped off tails which are part of the spine of the rabbit and can cause permanent damage. Other injuries such as cutting the genital area have also occured. A man once removed a testicle from a rabbit, which died of severe bleeding within 10 minutes, as a  main vessel runs into the testicles.

A lovely white cashmere came in this week with severe matting caused by neglect and the owners hosing the rabbit on hot days to help cool it. In fact the moisture made the matting worse and provided the perfect environment for a nest of maggots to infest the skin under the matting, the other issue with this rabbit was that the matting disguised that the rabbit was underweight by 1/5th of its recommended breed weight which is dangerous for the rabbit. The other hidden issue with this rabbit was that grass seeds from its hay (or from free ranging in the garden) had worked their way into the skin and caused skin abscesses which, without cleaning, draining and disinfecting would have also killed the rabbit through poisoning/infection.

Please, if you find that you cannot look after your rabbit properly, either surrender it, ask for grooming advice, take it to a rabbit groomer or Vet for three monthly grooming sessions just to keep bunny in check for its comfort and yours.
We do grooming at SARR/Wildwood Rabbit Stud and we are also very happy in helping you with advice to make your life and bunnies happier.

RESPONSIBLE pet ownership is what you need to guarantee for your pet rabbit. If you CANNOT COPE with a long haired furry bunny, you DONT have to MISS OUT as there are many other lovely breeds of rabbits to suit all family situations.

Under the Australian Animal Welfare Act, legislation states that GROOMING is a part of all animal maintenance, fines and seizures of animals will result if animals are not maintained in a satisfactory manner to the breed and environment of Pet or Farm animal.