Dyed bunnies

Question
I work at a summer camp and someone (still unknown) thought it would be funny to dye the bunnies fur. One is a lionhead rabbit the other is a flemish giant. I believe that food coloring or tyedye was used. Is their anything that can be done to have the bunnies no longer be pink?

Answer
Dear Shauna,

I hope it was just food coloring, since other types of dyes can be toxic.  But now that the bunnies are dyed, there's not much you can do to remove the color that wouldn't be more harmful to the bunnies than the dye itself.  The best course of action will be to just let the fur shed out naturally.

If you suspect the dye is NOT food coloring, or can find the culprit and get a positive I.D. on the dye, then it might not be a bad idea to consult a good rabbit vet:

www.rabbit.org/vets

to see if it might be a good idea to shave the bunnies to some degree, to keep them from ingesting potentially toxic dye until their fur grows back.  (Not naked, just short.)

Shedding season will be upon us soon, and in a few weeks, the new fur will be here, and/or the dye will fade.

But in the meantime, please read these important articles.  Consider a summer camp to be pretty much like a school classroom:

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-10/classroom.html

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/classroom.html

and please share those articles with the person in charge of the summer camp.

Good luck!

Dana