When you are owned by a rabbit, grooming activities occur constantly, but seasonally you get a special treat. At least twice a year in the spring and the fall, your bun is going to shed his coat. I call it the BIG SHED. All that luxurious fluffy fur that you have been stroking and snuggling with is going to come out and be replaced by next season's coat. I've noticed that though Gizmo is mostly a white bun with brown and grey spots, the colored part of his coat will be lighter during the winter and a darker in the summer. Who knew that bunnies could be so fashionable?
During the Big Shed, I try to pet Gizmo's furry rumpus off at least twice daily to get the loose fur. This serves two purposes: one, so that I don't have to run the vacuum cleaner four times a day, and two, so that Giz doesn't ingest a ton of hair. Rabbit tummies are just not built for that. They can get hairballs which can be obstructive to their gastrointestinal tract, and that's deadly. The buns can't hawk up a hairball like a cat does. I've been told this is how they are built, but I prefer to believe that bunnies are much too sophisticated and polite to spit like a truck driver or barf like a size zero model at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Anyone who has encountered me during the Big Shed knows that the big event is happening by the amount of bunny fuzz clinging to my clothes at any given time. If I forget to use the lint brush on the car seat, I can show up to work in a black suit with a white bottom. Not joking. I can walk through the living area, specifically not touch the rabbit (which is almost psychologically impossible), and still have fur on my pant cuffs. Beware! The fuzz seeks you out and stealthily attaches itself to any surface! No matter how much I clean, there is airborne fluff in the house that never seems to touch ground. In fact there may be fluff circulating from when we first adopted Giz – I wouldn't be surprised.
Gizmo loves to be petted, so much that I believe he might forgo sleep and toileting (but never food) in order to remain in the petting spot on our couch. He does not, however, like to be groomed with a brush. I have literally tried every pet brush out there, and they have all been met with bunny disapproval with a four foot blast radius. So hand grooming it is. Luckily there is a trick! If I dampen my hands with water and then pet him, I get loads of loose fur off and he is none the wiser.
I talk to him during the process. Good Boy! Look at all that fur that's not going into Gizmo's tummy! What a good bunny! Who's a good bunny? Gizmo is! And he still puts up with me, though somewhere the Idiot Switch has been thrown in the vocalization center of my brain. I babble over cute small animals and babies; it's not a curable condition.
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