Got any tips for inducing tonic immobility in rabbits?

I have a bunny. Hold the bunny with belly facing up. Tilt the head back until its back legs are above the head. You need 2 people. This works for a good minute or two.

Do a little bit at a time and give the bunny a good treat. They love sweets. Apple, grapes, blueberries are great choices. Bunnies are smart and can be trained. Once the bunny associates grooming with treat it will get easier.

And thank you for having a heart.

I cannot imagine even the most gifted TI practitioners could induce such a state that a bunny would tolerate having a hair mat be extracted from their underbelly. You have a task that IMO will require an extra pair of hands or 2 that can help you hold the bunny down…I am no expert but do know from owning a few rabbits that they can buck violently when they do not like what it happening to them and an inadequately restrained rabbit could actually hurt themselves when trying to buck their way out of this necessary procedure.

I can’t comment on the trance, but I have a suggestion which may solve the problem in a different way:

My sister’s dog is about as big as a rabbit, as well as very hairy and hand-shy. What we did to groom her chest area is introduce a cue for resting her front legs on an arm. Now, she will voluntarily assume this position and hold it until we’re done clipping her chest area. Here’s how I would do it:

1) Teach your rabbit that a click = food. Twenty repetitions should suffice. When your bunny comes running at the sound, he’s got it.

2) Using food, lure your rabbit up against a helper’s arm (or any horizontal object – a broomstick, for example).

3) Once he’s got this, work on duration. Add a tiny distraction right before the click – a noise, a movement, anything. Your rabbit should learn that any distractions are signs of good things to come. That way, distractions become further cues to hold the position. Go slowly. If he can’t hold the position, you’ve gone too far.

4) Introduce the distraction of your hands against the rabbits chest, as well as the sound of scissors. Take your time, and you will be able to start cutting very quickly.

Sounds complicated, but it is really a matter of just a few very short (~ three minutes) training sessions. Depending on the severity of your problem, it may be worth it.

Thanks, jellies! It looks like my first task is to find some fruit treats he likes. He has a very limited palette at the moment and seems to be only used to pellets. He will barely touch his hay and was perplexed at first by the dried papaya and pineapple bits I’ve been giving him to help prevent wool block. Even lettuce and parsley seem to be new to him. I’m amazed his teeth are not overgrown. I picked up some apples, bananas and raisins; we’ll see how he does.

Which leads me to another question, incidentally: the internet seems to agree that buns should be fed 80% hay – but Angoras are supposed to need significantly more protein to grow their coats. The previous owner told me to give 1 cup per day, but that seems like quite a lot compared to the rabbits I’ve pet-sat for…any thoughts, anyone? If I cut back on pellets should he start eating more hay? It’s high-quality second-cut hay; not sure if it’s timothy or what.

@tinyfaery I forgot to mention; I also did try the head lower than the butt thing – still a no go. This article says that 25% of rabbits can’t be tranced – maybe I got one of those…?

@Cruiser Exactly my worry, that he might hurt his spine bucking around. This is why I’m hesitant to try the other method I have learned about, as shown in this video. Pretty sure that rabbit is in TI – but if I have a rabbit that won’t trance as easily as that one, I bet he could hurt himself badly struggling against those ropes. But Angoras are, it seems, generally known for being super mellow and going into TI fairly easily and deeply. Check out this video at 4:52, for example.

@longgone I like this idea a lot, but I wonder if it could be implemented on a fast enough timetable. I am anxious to get him back to a matless state ASAP – the more fleece he ingests from grooming the higher the immediate risk for wool block. But we will begin clicker training in any event; I’ve found it useful with all four animal species I’ve tried it with so far, plus training always helps bonding.

One more question, guys – it occurs to me that I could get the chest if my helper did the sitting-up-on-rump hold again, but grips the scruff instead of around the chest and front paws. Is this hold ok for rabbits, in your experience? I would of course support his weight as with scruffing any adult animal – but I’ve read that scruffing is not something mother rabbits naturally do to their kits, so they don’t relax into it like cats and dogs do. Would this 1) be bad for his delicate skin and/or 2) cause him to freak out because it’s an unnatural, predator-like hold?

@wildpotato One cup of pellets seem like a lot to me but age and size certainly contribute to how much to feed your bun. Our Blue Harlequin is now 10 years old and a couple years back we started to feed him less pellets (Maybe a ¼ cup) and all the hay he wants with small amounts of veggies and fruits. The reason we had to cut back is the quality of his droppings were sub par and less pellets translated into better pellets coming out of our bun.

Also found this method for restraining a bun

If comes to it, you might need a vet visit.

@wildpotato

Yeah. Depends on your rabbit. For the dog I mentioned, it took 15 minutes – five three-minute sessions spread over five hours. She knew the click, but had not been taught any similar behaviors before.

Good luck!

Update: I sure got lucky with this guy – he is sooooo nice. We towel burrito’d him to get the last of the mats and trim the nails; he still needs some cleanup but the urgent stuff is dealt with. So I’ve taken a lot of time this past week to get to know him better and let him settle in properly. After six days of hanging out and giving treats, he now comes up to the front of his cage for petting! And when let out, he hops in excited circles around me, nudging me and grunting softly – he even threw in a few binkies and head shakes! I never realized rabbits could be so personable. I was expecting a “farm” type rabbit who would never approach us even after getting used to us, but he’s a total lovebug. He must have been handled a lot as a kit, I guess?