Grooming English Angoras

As the bunny starts to have wool, start to use the slicker brush. Put the rabbit on your lap, use your left hand to press the side wool upward, and the right hand with the slicker brush to brush the wool from the bottom up layer by layer. If any matt is found along the way, use your fingers to tear the matt apart and then use the steel comb to comb it through. One important thing to remember while using the steel comb - always use your fingers to secure the base of the wool. It keeps the wool on the rabbit instead of on the comb, thus preserving the wool density.

After doing the layer brush through the sides and the shoulders, turn the rabbit on its back and brush the legs, tummy, and chest. Unless there are matts, use the slicker brush as much as possible to preserve the density. On the legs it is better to keep shorter but more complete wool coverage than longer but spotty wool coverage. I usually clip the wool short on the legs if it is at least three weeks away from the show. How much to clip depends on how long before the show and how fast the wool will grow back. There is no set rule, you just have to experiment a little to know the particular rabbit you are showing at the time.

After the tummy, chest and legs are all brushed, put the rabbit on the grooming table. The next tool to use is the bulb-tipped pin brush. The bulb-tipped pin brush can penetrate all the way down into the base of the wool without taking too much wool with it. Use the pin brush to thoroughly brush the rabbit; sides, shoulders, back, chest, behind the ears, tail, tummy etc. Now go back to the slicker brush. The slicker brush is used to brush the surface part of the wool. By using the slicker brush again, the surface will fluff up. After that, use your hand to check through the entire rabbit. If you feel any lumpy wool, go through with the pin brush and the slicker brush again. If not, use a regular plastic hair comb to comb the very tips of the wool back and forth, over and over again. The procedure serves two functions: it removes the loose hair, thus lessening the chance of woolblock, and it smooths the surface of the wool thus giving the coat a finished look.

If the above procedure is repeated once a week from the time when the rabbit reaches ten weeks old, with a good quality rabbit you may start seeing results on the show table as early as when the rabbit reaches an age of three and one half months. The procedure should take about a half hour after one gets used to the routine.

Grooming with a blower:

In the late 1980s, California breeders started using hair dryers to help find matts and felt underneath the heavy coats of their rabbits. The hairdryer is also used to fluff their rabbits' coats just before going on to the judging table. I have been using my hairdryer to help my grooming since 1985. In 1989 ARBA convention in Tulsa, Susan Conley of Ojai, California used a professional-grade dryer designed for sheep-drying and dog-drying to "blow" the coats of her rabbits. She did so everyday for 6 continuous weeks before the convention. The result was remarkable. Her rabbits' coats were very long and in perfect shape with neither felting nor matting. Such method, pioneered by her in the US, become the most "in" method for the English Angora breeders. (For your information, Susan is originally from England.)

First of all, where does one find such a blower? How strong should the blower be? Such blowers usually can be found in veterinary supply catalogs under dog grooming section. The price range between $120 and $400. The higher priced ones do not necessarily mean a better one because the features carried by the high priced ones may not be relevant to an English Angora owner. The requirements for English Angora blowing is strong blowing power with cool or slightly warm air. Hot air is not only unnecessary but also damaging to the Angora wool. It is difficult to describe the strength. The one that I own, Mini Circ, has 60 cycles, 120 volts and 9.5 amps. I also own another one, Air Force 3, with 4.0 amps, a lighter weight to be brought to the shows. The blowing power should be strong enough to open up the coat - a regular hair dryer is not comparable.

Starting with a 3 month-old rabbit, twice a week, I would put the rabbit on the turn-table grooming stand, turn on the blower using one hand to hold the blower hose, and blow into the rabbit's coat, while the other hand holds on to the rabbit's ears and the skin behind the ears. To hold on to the rabbit's ears accomplishes two tasks - one, secure the rabbit in place since the blowing power is so strong that it may startle the rabbit and cause him to fall off the grooming table; two, protect the rabbit's ears from the strong blowing power. When the blower is on, I look for any webbing or felting underneath the wool. If the wool is not opening up in a totally divergent way, there is webbing and felting. Blow at these spot for a while. If these areas are not too severe, the wool will gradually open up, the pills from the webbing and felting will surface to the top of the coat, and I'll take my hand temporarily off the rabbit's ears to pull the loose wool away. If the felted areas are not improved by blowing, I'll stop the blower and use my steel comb to comb out the tanglings. Of course the principle of holding the base of the wool still applies. I repeat the blowing on the entire rabbit by gradually and gently move the turn-table into a desirable direction. If done regularly, it should not take more than 5 minutes to blow through the entire coat of the rabbit. If the blowing is done regularly, the chance of having a big webbed or felted area is not very high. After blowing, I use my steel comb to go through the top bangs, the neck behind the rabbit's ears and the cheeks since the blower nor the cannot take out the little tangles in such places, then followed by a slicker brush on the tips of the wool. At the end, I use my fine tooth plastic hair comb to smooth out the very tips of the coat. It takes me about 5 minutes to go through the brushing part.

There are a few points to know in regards to the blowing method. First, one will be very surprised by how dusty the rabbits are. If the rabbit has never been blown at before, there will be a blast of whitish dust flying off the rabbit. The groomer may be covered by this white dust from head to toe; the white dust even sticks on one's eyelashes. If you are slightly allergic to rabbits, make sure to wear a mask. Second, due to this white dust and the wool flying off during blowing, it is advisable to do it outdoors. When I first started, I did the blowing in my garage. Within one week, my garage did not need any decoration for a Halloween party - the wool stuck every place looking like spiders had worked overtime. The white dust was so fine that it renders a vacuum cleaner useless. Susan Conley told me that when she started blowing she did it in her bedroom and could not initially figure what was happening to her walls. If possible, do it outdoors, far away from everything else. Near where I do my blowing now, there is a pine tree. This pine tree looks like a Christmas tree decorated with Angora wool. Third, the reason why a turn-table grooming table is recommended is that the blower's hose is quite clumsy to drag around. It is easier to turn the table in order to put the rabbit into a position to accommodate the blower.

Blowing does not replace brushing altogether. It is a very useful complementary tool. It does help open up the coat, make the coat look clean and crisp, and reduce the time required for each individual grooming. Blowing does not change the genetics of a rabbit. If one's rabbit does not have the genetic traits of having dense coat with good texture and length, the blower certainly cannot change that. Blowing does not replace good nutrition and management. If one's rabbit is not well fed and kept clean, blowing cannot change that either. Last but not least, blowing/grooming has to be done on a regular basis. No blower, regardless of the strength , can open up a coat which is already matted.