Here Comes the Moult!

Annie starting her moult. Notice her fur is looking rather unkempt.

Not sure why but for some reason Annie & Patch have started their Autumn moult early, in fact both have been at it now for a few weeks. Usually it is about September time before the moults begin.

Rabbits typically start a moult from the head downwards.  As you can see from the photo below, Annie’s moult has now progressed down her back. The sides will start soon.

Annie’s back showing the patch of new coat & the old fur sticking up ready to shed.

When the moult starts & gets to Annie’s stage I start the grooming regime. There is no hard & fast rule on how often you groom them, I tend to assess each rabbit individually. If a lot of fur is shedding I usually groom everyday.  In Annie’s case I am finding twice a week is enough, however I do occasionally increase that if more fur is wanting to come out.

A side view of Annie. You might just see the line a quarter of the way down her side where her fur has shed to.

As for Patch, she is about 1-2 weeks ahead of Annie in shedding her coat.  As you might see from the photo below her back has shed & three quarters of the way down her sides. You might just see the line she has shed to about a quarter of the way up from her feet.  Look for her fur sticking out near her back paw.

Patch heading for the last stage of her moult. You might just see the line she has shed to, it’s about a quarter of the way up her side from her feet.

The last stage of a moult, is the coat at their rump starts to shed. I find this is an area where you can literally comb until the cows come home! It seems to go on forever.
You should be able to see from the photo below that just above Patch’s fluffy tail there is fur sticking out ready to shed. Also there is more shedding to do yet from her side roughly where the single brown spot is down to her feet.  Patch is a little more complicated then Annie as she does have a fluffy skirt in some areas. This is because her breed of Lionhead not only have manes but can have skirts too.  Patch doesn’t have a full skirt she has more area’s of separate mini skirts.

You might be able to make out the shedding occurring at her rump just above her tail. You can also see her side has more to shed from roughly where the single brown spot is to her feet.

I’m just hoping no one else starts yet because it can be quite a furry time with 8 rabbits shedding.  The fur gets everywhere.

Teddy’s coat is a particularly difficult one when he sheds as it is so dense & often matts together.

Hoping Teddy doesn’t start his moult just yet.

Toffee’s coat is another difficult one as his coat is more wool like.  In fact very much like an Angora.  Toffee has to have regular grooms throughout the year to keep on top of his coat.

Toffee’s long, woolly coat can make moulting time quite difficult.

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