Grooming French Angora rabbits, and other hair-related questions

[DianeS]

Now that my litter is here and is 9 weeks old, it's time for me to get serious about grooming.

So far, I've been grooming each rabbit with a comb, getting all the pieces of hay out of the coats about once a week. Using a damp washcloth to remove anything sticky. Touching up with a brush to make the fur fluff out when I show them off to friends. That's pretty much it.

What else should I be doing?
Is a comb a good basic grooming tool for an angora? (It's a dog comb, if that matters.) Are there other implements should I add?
I hear others talk about blowing them out with a blower - what's involved with that, and should it be done on a regular basis?

I already add sunflower seeds to their diet to provide extra oils (climate here is very dry, and animals get dry skin if you're not careful with oil in their diets), anything else I can be doing to ensure a healthy skin? It looks good now, I'm wanting to keep it that way (of course).

The kits also get fed extra hay in addition to their pellets, for the extra fiber to avoid wool block. Anything else I should add to their diets to help prevent that?

Also looks like I'll need a little propane torch to get the shed hairs out of the wires of the cage when I clean it. Any other hair-related maintenance issues I should be prepared for?

I may not be asking enough questions yet - please do let me know if I'm missing anything else. And thanks in advance for your help! It's always appreciated.

 

[rabbitgeek]

Hi there!

Keep doing what you are doing! You are off to a great start.


Here are some links to good rabbit websites.

Angora Rabbit Online Technical Manual
http://www.angorarabbit.com/angora/angora-rabbit-manual/index.htm

Betty Chu's Angoras - Good angora care tips
http://home.pacbell.net/bettychu

Barbi Brown's Bunnies
Look for rabbit care and health articles
http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/

Showbunny - Veterinary Articles
http://www.showbunny.com/veterinary.html


Have a good day!
Franco Rios

 

[tortoise]

I don't waste any energy with junior coats. Thay're cottony (like cotton candy), matt up with any moisture or hay. They barely produce any wool, and it is sub-prime so what is the point?

I cut the coat of when it begins to get surface mats or molt. I usually do 3 baby clips before letting the adult coat grow in.

After the adult wool is in I baby it. Only my REW need combing. The rest have the nice low-maintenance FA coat. I PLUCK adult coats. If you don't, the coat will become more and more soft or cottony over time. Not good for showing.

I know a breeder that cuts his rabbits down. His rabbits are ALWAYS faulted in show for being to soft. He sells a rabbit to someone who plucks and the rabbit does very very well in the show.

I know you're not a show ring person, but if you pluck the wool, you will leave most of the guard hairs on the rabbit. Your wool is softer, and the guard hairs left on the rabbit help keep the growing-out wool low-maintenance.

I scrub down cages with a wire brush and it takes care of a lot of the hair problem. Anythin leftover I burn off with a propane torch.

Blowing them out is for th purist. Cornstarch is worked into the wool - particularly at the base of the rabbit's neck. Then the rabbits is combed and blown out with a forced air dryer. This is very different from a home hair dryer and usually $150 - $300. The purist and winning show people blow out their rabbits often. Some overyday. But not so much that you lose the kink of the wool.

I've found the backcombing with puffing air gives a comparable result. I'm a pet groomer, so I've got all the "toys" to experiment with.

 

[DianeS]

Thank you both! That was a lot of good information.

Tortoise - what age do they usually have their "adult" coats?

I'm definately in favor of plucking. I spin the wool, and plucked hairs have a more gradual taper at the end, rather than being cut off bluntly. They're nicer to work with.

 

[theawesomefowl]

*sneezes* Ha-a-a-i-r!!! Allergies!!!!!!!

 

[tortoise]

Thank you both! That was a lot of good information.

Tortoise - what age do they usually have their "adult" coats?

I'm definately in favor of plucking. I spin the wool, and plucked hairs have a more gradual taper at the end, rather than being cut off bluntly. They're nicer to work with.

... I haven't kept track of that. I think 8 months you'll get the first real coat?

Dbunni?

 

[dbunni]

Sorry about the delay ... between work (greenhouse ... if you want your flowers I gotta get it in gear!), rabbits and kids ... sleep is non existant! Hopefully this will be semi-coherent! Semi!!!!

I have been debating what to say on this since our main breeds are EA & GA (germans too). That said, we have had or currently have all of the wooled breeds on property including the ones that are not ARBA recognized as of yet. My preference is still the English. My daughter kicks a little @#@ with her AFL too. All the breeds are treated the same around here ... just different sizes of English!

Okay ... baby coats. The baby coat should be a strong representation of the adult coat ... just a little softer. Different breeds/lines bring the guard hairs in at a different rate. Some don't push through until well into the 3-4th months. But ... the good ones will have a good coat from birth. Because this is so important in the breed ... remember that in all of the Angoras wool quality is over 55% of the alloted points. And this is where we make our money. So ... a good coat is paramount. If I have a baby that is showing cotton coat it is gone. No questions asked. It will have a softer coat than allowed as an adult. Yes, it may ... may ... be manageable in the end, but still that is "may". Yes, the EA are softer & denser, but the quality is there from the beginning. My EA babies have strong guards at 2 months. Giants same. Many top breeders make the first cut on the quality of the baby coat. As one once said ... why should I fight with a bad coat when I can play with a good one!

Blowers ... not useless...necessary! You can purchase a nice blower for around $100. Or a small shop vac switched to reverse works on FA & SA nicely and can be purchased for a reasonable $. Just don't ever use it for anything but coats! But EA & GA & German coats require power to get through. Why is this important? The Angora coat is a magnet for dust. No amount of brushing will pull that away from the skin as nicely as a blower does. Most bruses also remove coat, lessening the density of your coat and often destroying the quality of the wool (breakage, drying, plucking, etc). If I start (and do routinely) blowing a young coat at 7 weeks the blower will push out the dirt, cutting down on the itching, and helps to remove the loose baby coat that is going to release. Done weekly the change to adult coat is gradual. Around 4-5 months I see the final push and then ... show coat! Whoooooo! Most of my EAs have several legs well before this time and we are just waiting for the 6 month senior win to GC ... It is not unusual for these animals to be on the BIS table while still juniors. By seniors we are blowing on a biweekly basis. But then the coat is pushing 7-8" in length. We rarely use brushes. Just touch up as needed (elbows mainly). Oh ... yes, we have used the blower on the short coats (NZs, etc). Talk about blowing a dead coat out! If done regularly the blowing of a rabbit will take ... maybe ... 10 minutes. And that is long around here. I can blow out 8-20 rabbits an hour when in process. To do the same with a brush would be unmanageable and time consuming.

Blower vs hair dryer ... no competition .... a dryer does just what it says, drys and destroys ... not even taking into fact that the power is not there to get into the coat and blow out the dirt. yes, you can use it on cool setting, but it still warms up (just the nature of the small beast) and drys the coat. A dry coat is brittle and judges often make mention of a "lifeless or dead" coat. Yes, we are talking show comments here, but ... a dry bad coat does not spin as well as a good conditioned coat.

Your diet sounds good. We use a special mix (mixed here on property) designed for optimal wool production and body conditioning. Most of our breeds eat it ... NZ to AFL and back ... it works in my program.

Hope this helps ... this is just my experience. Everybody has a different take or set of experiences. Life is the best lesson ... and remember ... we often destroy the first angora in our life. Kinda like learning on the first kid! Oh what we change when #2 comes along! But remember ... coat grows back! That is the nice thing about our breeds.

Good luck ... the kiddos are adorable! I so love Lilacs! Have one in the box right now!

 

[rabbitgeek]

I prefer to shear the rabbits rather than waiting until the rabbit's coat is fully loose.

Once it starts loosening I take it off with scissors.

I find a blower a great time saver for grooming a rabbit compared to using a slicker brush. I've done both and now I use both.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios