Onneli Gets a Bath

Poor Onneli, I have been promising her a bath since she arrived, she was a little musty, but when I first go her and tried to get her wet she was very stressed, and howled, so I decided to wait till she was more used to me, then she was pregnant and then feeding pups, so today was the day. Following the litter and her hysterectomy she is really moulting. So as the sun shone - I put her up on my grooming table out in the garden and proceeded to remove all the loose undercoat, she was looking like a teddy with the stuffing coming out! Once all the old dead hair was removed I sneakily poured warm water onto her from a bucket - subtly so she was not very aware of what was happening. Then I soaped her thoroughly - the dead hair had made her skin quite greasy in places and she had a terrific amount of dander as a result of such a prolific hair loss, so a good massage of shampoo to the skin was much needed. She was tolerant of that type of attention, but I had to consider how best to rinse her off! I started by pouring a cup full of water from bucket at a time, but it was soon apparent that it would take eons to rinse her fully, so out came the shower head on the hose pipe and I doused her down thoroughly. She was not a happy bunny but at least did not howl this time. A very vigorous toweling down and some time playing out in the warm sun, and given that she has no under coat what so ever she was soon dry and looking a very sleeker model!