Lazy Daisy
American Fuzzy Lop Care
American Fuzzy Lops do need a little more attention than some rabbits, but in the end it is worth it.
How to tell your fuzzy is starting to molt: The undercoat is dark, shown in the picture above. The fur will also pull out easily. We strip (pluck the fur) them when they look like this.
Typically we trim our bunnies nails once a month, or as needed. We use cat nail trimmers. Only cut the tip of the nail, be careful not to cut the quick. (The quick is the red part of the nail) Tip: If you accidentally cut the quick, use cornstarch as a blood stop.
The pose for American Fuzzy Lops. They should look like half of a basketball. The height, width, and length should all be equal and proportional.
We always make sure to put our rabbits in their cage backwards, so that they don't try to jump into their cage, and hurt themselves.
A couple times a week (Depending on the coat), we blow our rabbits, this gets the small knots out without pulling out the fibers. We use a loose toothed comb to gently brush the mats out. We always make sure to hold the base of the fur when doing this, because their skin is like tissue paper. (We use the blower above, but you can also use clean wet vac turned on "blow")
Most of our rabbits are litter trained, and use a corner litter box, as shown above. The litter boxes are cleaned out every other day. We use equine compressed pine pellets as the bedding. To train how to use a litter box, observe which corner your rabbit pees in, and then put the litter box in that corner. (Most rabbits choose one corner)
We feed our rabbits 1/4 cup of Purina Complete rabbit food twice a day, and sprinkle oats on top. We also prefer using water bottles rather than bowls, because the water in the bottles stay clean. Rabbits need fresh water daily.
It is best to keep American Fuzzy Lops out of the elements, because of their long fur. When it is nice outside, we put ours outside in play areas. (In the shade)
American Fuzzy Lops are a wool breed, so they should have a wire bottom cage so that they don't sit in their litter and get it stuck in their wool.
They always need to have Timothy Hay. First, rabbits teeth are always growing, so they need something to chew on to keep their teeth at the correct length, apple sticks are also good for their teeth. Hay also helps with digestion, and preventing wool block.
Rabbits love to play with toys. We give our rabbits lava blocks, hanging toys, bell toys, cat toy balls, salt licks, plastic spoons and blankets. All of our rabbits also get playtime daily in an X-pen.
Babies playing in the X-pen.
Wool Block is a very serious condition that rabbits, especially wool breeds can get from digesting too much fur. Symptoms can include not eating, lethargy, and an enlarged stomach (which can be felt when palpating). We have found that cat hairball paste works well for passing wool block. We syringe-feed approximately 5-8 cc of paste when the rabbit has wool block.