Its okay if its really hot dry days. But depends on your rabbit actually.

Rabbit are a clean creature by nature. Its not recommended to bath them with water but if your rabbit smell awful, you could use dry shampoo instead or I just rub a small bit of cornstarch in the fur and brush it off.

If you're worried about your rabbit's health, you could do a normal checkup (nails, teeth, feel the body, and turn it over to check the bum). I adopted a rabbit with scabies, matted hair, one missing fingernail, digestion problem (small dry poop) etc. First few weeks, its like taking care of a baby. Now he's better and healthier now.

I'm using chipsi strawberry scented wood chips because its the cheapest of the bunch and I have no problem with it so far. There are no reliable studies that prove softwood are dangerous for rabbits other than rabbit sites saying it. There are paper-based pet litter too which you can find on petstore.

The only problem with respiratory problem among rabbits was animal studies on occupational hazard or whether you and your rabbits are allergic to them.

Rabbit urine can have a lot of colors (like humans) but red urine is nothing to worried about and is associated by diet pigments. Hematuria (blood in urine) is a more severe case (can be kidney failure) but it will look more red-brownish (clot) than true red, painful abdominal palpitation and enlarged bladder but if you're worried about it, go to a vet.

This post has been edited by aoibhealFae: May 28 2013, 10:38 AM

problem with the frozen water bottles, it will condense and wet the fur. I have an adult lionhead with wooly coat so I don't really like moisture on him.

if possible, on really hot dry days or when you feel their ears became too warm to the touch, put him indoors or shaded areas and feed him water on syringe.

how about drypetz litter?

I use chipsi because my parents use the feces as fertilizer and the timber shavings are biodegradable. Yeah, its too messy for indoors and I have slight allergies to the dust.

I have more severe reaction to cats and dust than rabbits and the litter. There's no specific study that prove that shavings as bedding are hazardous either (COPD or HME). As long as the cage is aerated and you line your litter with hay, you let your pet out frequently, it still work fine. I used to handle animals in labs and do animal studies and seriously, I doubt the validity of the things in the internet.

As for my bunny, its been a month since I rescued him and now he's waaaay healthier than the time I fetch him from the shelter. His scabies are now completely gone, his nose's and face mane hair grew back (I think he's double-maned lionhead), his fur started to grow longer, darker and shinier now that I groom his fur daily and he had better disposition than he used to be.

My current problem was the matted hair under his chin. It used to be the size of a golf ball but now there's only a small line of matted fur. I use manicure scissors (dangerous thing), blunt-edge dematting comb and a blunt slicker.... and I still have problems getting these pesky matted hair out from under him.

Sometimes, I wish I had adopted him earlier before he got these problems.

I want straw as a bedding but hay is fine (it keep the wood chips in the box and there are less scattering). I might switch the type litter soon right after I finish the stock (I've been eyeing that drypetz too). I change the litter every 2-3 days so it can be tiresome.

Every night, I ball a fresh hay and put it into a cardboard ring on his feed. He finish that every day too. Happy rabbit. Happy mommy.

This is him around earlier last month right after I got him from the pet shelter. Scabies everywhere, matted hair everywhere. The pet shelter folk called him 'Grumpy' then.



And this is him today... with his smug Sherlock-face (I called him Benedict Cumberbatch) He's getting even more fur-ball like every day.



But just when I thought I had all of the matted hair under control, I found more nasty matted hair around his bottom (he never trust me enough until recently for me to touch him there).. even just now I found some bald spots around the matted hair near the hard to reach area... now I wanna ....

Been thinking about sending him to a proper groomer but I put that on a hold since I think he's been traumatized enough from the ride from the shelter (he's been dumped).

Anyone can recommend a good detangler or shaver or something? I have already have a slicker, brush, dematting razor.

Damn... I got a mites reinfection. Ear started flaking again.

I hope you move your rabbit elsewhere. Rabbits like to chew and it can chew those power cords when you're not looking.

I'm getting another rabbit after raya; a miserable looking 7month old fuzzy lop from a breeder. I have no idea that PAWS also have rabbits (I'm deathly allergic to cats) I might be getting an additional cage so I might be looking forward to adopt another bun. Their condition seems bad. Rusted cage. No hay. We totally need a proper rabbit shelter.

BTW, have anyone ever went to the UPM vet clinic at pj hilton for spay/neuter?

Its Holland Lop. Usually around rm200+ and over.

This post has been edited by aoibhealFae: Aug 29 2013, 08:18 PM

And yes, folks, you can rescue rabbits from unscrupulous breeder. Just recently I got myself a mix lop (which they branded as fuzzy lop but was actually a lionhead mix lop) and have been trying to fix the GI stasis she's been having for days (which was clearing btw). Not sure whether its normal for breeders to sell you sick bunny and the guy have been sort of desperate to let it go because he's been moving his business to other state. (suspicious)

Btw, my other adopted bun was on Cuni Natura when I got it and I dont recommend it. It have weird shit like orange skin, seeds and corn in it. I do recommend these puffed pallets types (better absorption and easier to digest) but not with added weird things in it.

I do give my bun banana and apples but probably once every two-three weeks as a treat. Nowadays I give them grape leaves from my mom's vines (she wont notice it anyway haha) and occasionally I feed them parsley but not everyday (tried it but the bun ignore them the next day).

And Devon, I'm sorry that Baby died. From the picture she does look like she's wasting and underweight for her age. My 4 month bun look exactly like that and I've been giving her a lot of pallets and timothy hay and gave her loads of fluids and been massaging her abdomen every few hours.

Its not about sugar fruits giving diarrhea. Its more to imbalance in the GIT's normal flora as too much sugar can cause the bacteria to bloat, especially in cases of GI stasis. Sometimes its not the feed's fault as bunnies can be susceptible to other parasites which do cause dysentery and/or diarrhea.

Its usually 100g/kg daily. I gauge the amount of pallets by several handfuls. Not sure how a person should define as obese (I've seen diagrams) but you could tell the differences by feeling their spine and their sides. I would be worried if it felt like all skin and bone. My male bun is an extremely wooly lionhead (probably mix angora) so looks can be deceiving.

for some weird reason, my male bun ignore carrots.

have you tried feeding black sunflower seed and rolled oat?

I think owners use them to condition their show rabbit's fur. But they're very rich for your bun as they're high in protein so feed them sparingly.

one day.. I will get a HL. le sigh...

btw, anyone going to the UM's ARBA event tomorrow? I'll be there to pickup some alfalfa hay

I got to cuddle with a bunch of rabbits. I did get a lot of pictures but a bunch of them are too blurry since I didn't use flash. These are some of the clear ones I got.










I hope they'll organize the event again and support more booth selling more stuff for rabbits (I won't go to Pet World next year, rubbish for rabbits). I got Critical Care for rm10 from a vet supplier. I adore English Angora so much...

supplements are not medicine buto be careful with how much you give her. if you think rabbit have medical problems, go to a vet asap.

and I forgot to introduce her to you guys. New addition to the house, Emily-Loo Cumberbatch. She's nearing 5 months old and I got her two weeks ago. After two weeks of trying, she's now bonded with my adult rescue bun, Benny. Yay!

Its an ARBA event mostly for breeders but there are rabbitries using their booths to sell bunnies and hay too. I think I could ask for the organizers to open up more booths but the event is mostly by word of mouth. I got to know about it from the Arnab Comel group in facebook. But by ARBA standard, you'd be surprised that a lot of gorgeous rabbits shown, a lot of them score fairly. There's also a holland lop with split penis last saturday which was disqualified.

Emily's a fuzzy lop mix. She does have some lionhead fur. My male bun is a lionhead and currently he's molting into his adult fur.

As much as I adore smushed physical characteristics on some breeds, I don't really recommend round face breed. Rabbit specialized vets are scarce in malaysia and for most cases, these breed are prone to malocclusion. For most part, almost all breeder recommend using nail clippers.

as a main diet? nope. they need good quality hay which provide them with a lot of fiber to graze. pet grass can be costly