Grooming:

By Sherry Ketzbeau

In order to make your grooming short and simple, you must first have the necessary tools.

1.Proper nutrition, 2. cleanliness, 3. grooming tools, and 4. the rabbit!

My rabbits are groomed weekly during show season. This takes on an average 5 to 10
minutes per rabbit. I use three tools; a slicker brush, a roller comb, and a high powered
professional blower.

I begin by using the blower. This opens the coat to the skin, blows off dirt and dust, opens
mats and webs, and shows you where you need to concentrate on your grooming. When
you begin blow from the rear of the rabbit forward, going all the way around, up the back,
and also the underside. You will be amazed at the amount of dust that will come off your
rabbit if a blower has never been used.

After thoroughly blowing the rabbit I then use my slicker brush. If I find any webs or mats
on the underside of the rabbit then that is where I start. Flip the rabbit over while sitting
down with the rabbit in your lap. The underside of the rabbit is usually free of any mats. The
tail area and skirting around the rear of the rabbit is usually the worst. Gently lift your coat
with your left hand and brush each layer down using your slicker brush with your right
hand.  Any fine mats by the tail and hock section should easily be opened up with your
hands and fingers and pulled out. This is usually dead coat. When done with this flip your
rabbit back over and place on the grooming table to finish.

Again start at the bottom rear of your rabbit by the tail section. The next bad area to mat is
where the rabbit’s tail rests on his back and the rabbit’s skirting. Start again by lifting the
coat with your left hand from the bottom and brush down with your slicker brush layer by
layer, working from the back forward to the front of the rabbit, one side at a time. You
should be working only halfway up your rabbit. Do not brush through the top of your rabbit.
This area is usually free from mats and webs anyway and is also the most fragile. The top of
the rabbit’s wool breaks easily and is the least dense. By brushing this area you will remove
the density of the coat and will make it uneven. You will use your roller comb behind your
rabbits ears at the neck and around the tail area for webbing and matting that you can’t get
out with the blower, slicker, or your fingers. Remember, the roller comb takes out anything
so use sparingly.

Now take your hands and smooth the coat down to give that nice, smooth outline. If you
have to brush the top of your rabbit, do it softly. When looking down at your rabbit check
the skirting around the bottom for unevenness, different color, thinness, balls on the end, and
pluck it out easily and evenly. You now have a nice, even colored coat. There is nowhere in
the Standard that calls for skirting. The coat should be even all the way around except for
the underside.

The morning of the show blow each rabbit out thoroughly before placing it in your carrier. I
hope your carriers are lined with newspaper and not shavings. When you get to the show
you should only have cosmetic grooming to be done. Your main grooming should be done
at home the day before the show, not at the show. If you only have to take 5 to 10 minutes
per rabbit, even with bringing 20 of them, it will take, at most, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If you still
find it takes you too much time then you may be missing a vital tool as stated in the
beginning of this article