# What to do about rabbit shedding?



## vek555 (Dec 26, 2012)

So whenever I pick up one of my mini lops (There are two, each a year old, one unspayed female (I will get her spayed eventually) and one neutered male) I am COVERED in white hair. What's the best way to minimize shedding? Do I just have to brush them regularly?
I bought the small animal Furminator (google it if you don't know what that is) - the de-shedding comb - and it pulls out LOADS of hair. I was brushing my male for like twenty minutes and the amount of hair that came out didn't stop - I started to worry, was it pulling out all of his hair or just the part that was supposed to be shed? I eventually stopped because he started peeing on me.
Anyways, is there a danger of over-combing your rabbit? And is there any other way to minimize shedding?
Thanks


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## Imbrium (Dec 26, 2012)

lol @ him peeing on you to tell you he'd had enough... my Nala nipped me on the bootie once when she'd had enough furminating.

it sounds like your lops are molting - twice a year, they shed their ENTIRE coat. this is maybe half of what came out of my holland in 5-10 mins with the furminator recently:







there's nothing you can do to stop or reduce the shedding - you just have to keep grooming daily until the molt is over, to minimize the amount of hair they ingest/prevent hairballs. make sure they're eating lots of hay, too, as it helps the hair they do ingest move through their digestive system. the furminator's the most effective grooming tool I've found.


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## JBun (Dec 26, 2012)

I know that some breeder's will supplement with Calf Manna to help a rabbit with it's molt. I think the extra protein in it helps the molt finish up sooner. I'm not exactly sure, but you could try researching that.


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## OakRidgeRabbits (Dec 26, 2012)

Yep, a change in protein can help. Whether you bump it up or cut it down, the type of diet change induces/finished a molt almost every time. De-worming them usually induces a molt also.


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## ldoerr (Dec 26, 2012)

I know that when I showed rabbits that if they were in a molt close to a show we would give dewormer weekly. For dewormer we use ivermectin. The dose that we use for general deworming when we are giving a full dose is 1/10cc per pound of body weight. If you are giving them some every week it is 1/10cc (or 2/10cc for big rabbits) each time. I find that this helps the shed take MUCH less time. You give the medicine orally (you can get the medicine at feed stores).


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