Weekly combing Cotton time!

Combing Cotton the first time using Betty's technique! It was a very much anticipated session for me....but not Cotton, of course.

I tried Betty's method of traucing and it works wonderfully. As I am still trying to master the technique, during the combing session, I could still feel Cotton was slipping slowly downwards. Hahaha....But no worries, Cotton never gets to slip out of my 'clutches'.
 

Trancing and Clamping Cotton with my thighs

Then when it came to combing his chin area, again, he was simply uncooperative. So I remember how Betty held him - clamping him with the left arm and using the free right hand to pluck/comb any matted fur on his chin. I managed to cut and pull out one matted fur on his chin. Yay! An achievement for me!

Applying Betty's technique to comb his chin

 

Combing his chin's fur

Combing his chin's fur (Close-up view)

However, I have failed to keep him still when I have to comb his back fur. Cotton simply refused to sit still at upright so I could only comb his back fur when he was resting on the floor. Sigh...so near, yet so far. Well, I believe with practice, grooming Cotton will be easy and confidence soon.

Trancing Cotton at the sofa

The urine burnt article which I stumbled online recently really disturbed me a lot. And Cotton previously has a lot of matted fur at his butt still fresh in my mind though I have combed them all out. Once a while, I will still spot one or two matted fur at his butt areas.

This time round, I decided to try trancing Cotton at our sofa with a little pillow to level high his butt. Indeed, what I observed previously on trancing Cotton in-sync with trancing rabbit at Wiki-How. The edge or "valley" between my two cushion also helps to secure Cotton in position better. Now, almost free hands-on available, I could also comb his rear that's near and under his hind legs. Cotton cannot be blind-folded or else he will struggle more. He has to be in the know-how.

Trancing Cotton at sofa with small pillow to level up his butt

Left: Before combing; Right: After combing

I shared the Before and After photo with another bun parent who in his opinion, not much differences between the two and in the first place, Cotton's condition was great. What a compliment for Cotton.....I always see Cotton cleaning himself and maybe that's why no likely possible of urine burnt incident and plus, he's free roam at his playpen and total freedom without supervision at night. Keeping Cotton at his tip-top condition is very important for me now because he has a vain mummy (yours truly) in the first place. hahaha

Litter Training Cotton

Litter training Cotton is really a breeze for me because I suspected that at his senior age, he might already have a stable toilet habit. And he has proven my 'theory' right. 

On his first night at his new home with us, he was able to recognize which one was his litter box (I do not need to place his poops at the litter box to hint him) because I placed a container at corner of his cage and in the container, I layered a newspaper (most bottom), Carefresh Ultra paper bedding and then the Timothy Hay. I learnt and read online for many tips how to setup a rabbit litter box by the way. However, Cotton was not used to the Carefresh Ultra paper bedding and started digging it out/away. I remember that SPCA uses newspaper in their rabbits' cubicles so my strategy changed and tore the newspapers into stripes and mixed with the paper bedding.

 

Initially I used more newspaper stripes and lesser paper bedding and gradually decreased on newspaper and increased the paper bedding until eventually, Cotton gotten used to paper bedding in his litter box. I saw pee pad at Daiso and decided to try to use as the base for the litter box to facilitate my cleaning purposes. The newspaper would tear when wet so it's pretty disgusting and messy to empty his litter box into the plastic bag and plus newspaper ink easily blacken Cotton. Pee pad is not enough to absorb Cotton's 2days of urine (he really pees a lot!) but it makes it wrapping up all his soiled litter content easily and no mess.  

Of course, all litter training credits is not due to me because as some websites also have mentioned as well that senior rabbits have in some ways cultivated their toilet habits/preference at their age. This makes litter training with Cotton a real breeze.

Let's go to the pictures! The picture below is the usual Day 0 which I always prepare to change Cotton's soiled litter box. Cotton has 2 litter boxes - one is Burgundy Red colour and the other is Turquoise colour as show in the picture. Having 2 litter boxes is more for convenience reason so that I can instantly exchange the soiled litter box with a clean ones. Cotton, as a typical rabbit, is inquisitive whenever I am at his playpen territory and touching his litter box. Did I share with you that whenever Cotton feels threaten or fearful for his life, he would hop to his litter box and stay there. Maybe he trusts his only odour...haha

 

Day 0: Prepare fresh litter box for Cotton

I knew which spot that Cotton will pee so by trial and error, I have managed to 'train' Cotton to pee on a certain spot in his litter box. The orange arrows indicated are where the cat litters recycled papers are placed and where Cotton will pee. You see, as he eats his hay, pees and poos all in the same tray, I need to organize his litter box such that he would pee and poo at certain spot(s) within the box and eat his hay at another spot in the same box. To do that, where his hay is placed is important - his hay is always lined at the side and none at the litter paper so that when Cotton eats his hay, he will only have a certain position. See picture below....Ta-da!...as rabbits eat and eliminate (shit/poo) at the same time, so my strategy works on Cotton.

 

 

Look, what happened to Cotton's litter box in next few hours/days....

After 24hrs: Orange arrows indicate where his majority of his poops and urine (see the yellowish stain) be found

Another fresh litter box and after overnight use of it

Typically I need to change Cotton's litter box once every 2-3days or at times, once a day. It depends on how much soiled his litter box is. In those days where he has his fresh vegetable meals, he will drink less and thus, his litter box can last longer. (Update: To ensure Cotton does not become picky with his food and not eating his hays, I feed him fresh vegetables on alternative weeks). Sometimes like once a week or so, I will give him a spoonful of pellets. I keep his pellets as treats especially after I have combed him so that he will be more cooperative with me during grooming session.

:)

Grooming Cotton's matted fur without Trancing!

My 2nd attempt of grooming (combing to be exact) Cotton without trancing him was again a success. He seems to respond to me saying if he doesn't allow me to comb him, then will let outsiders to do so. Then he wiould lie down flat on his belly for me to let me comb him. His matted fur was mainly at his rear and tigh areas. Some of the matted fur was stained with brownish stain of urine! The duration seems slightly longer than the first round like I could comb him non stop for 10mins or so before he hopped back to eat some hays and coaxed him to lie flat again. 

Honestly, it's pretty tiring session as I have to squat and bend over to comb his rear. I have not try letting him rest on my legs and I comb him. Still, it's a good progress between Cotton and me. 

I have used slicker brush ($14) and a big teeth metal comb ($7) to comb Cotton. I tried to save some monies but using plastic human comb and the teeth just wouldn't penetrate well. At the end of the combing session, Cotton is treated with a bowl of his fave pellet treat! And after eating his treats, it's rest and relax time again for him.