Keeping and displaying tanned rabbit fur pelts — or any animal pelt — is a way to preserve a portion of an animal that might otherwise be wasted. A hide may, for example, be kept by a hunter as a trophy piece or it may simply serve a decorative purpose. Some people belive each animal has spiritual power, and keeping one nearby gives you protection or helps you with whatever that animal represents.
Whatever the case may be, tanned hides need to be cared for in order to keep them clean and presentable. Properly maintaining a tanned hide requires routine maintenance to ensure that it looks good and does not suffer the effects of aging and potential deterioration.
There are several steps that you can take to ensure that your animal fur maintains its luster. This includes cleaning, deodorizing, and conditioning the fur, as well as conditioning the leather side.
Rabbit fur is durable, but care must still be taken when cleaning, storing and using your rabbit fur.
Rabbit fur pelts will attract dirt and dust in varying quantities, depending on where they are kept.
Remove dust and loose dirt from the hide on a routine basis. Visually inspect it once every two weeks to see if dust has collected. Take the hide outside and shake it gently to remove dust. If you shake it too vigorously, it may rip if it is an old hide, or a very thin hide.
Lay the hide flat on a clean, dry surface. Use a soft white cloth and brush the hide gently but firmly to loosen any remaining dust. Take the hide back outside and shake it again to remove the loosened dust and dirt. Use a vacuum with an upholstery or soft bristle attachment to remove excess dirt and debris from the fur side of the hide. But hold the attachment a little bit above the hide. If you use it directly on the fur, it may pull some of the fur out.
Display the hide so that it is flat.
Hang the hide on a wall, for example, to keep it flat and stretched out. Use wall clips to hang the hide so that you do not need to poke holes through it. If you do not have a wall to hang the hide on, consider using it as a tabletop display under another object or draped over the back of a chair or the foot of a bed, or use it as a rug. Doing so will help keep the hide flat.
Avoid excessive moisture
Using a dehumidifier in the room or area where the hide is kept is a good idea to prevent moisture from building up. Don’t display your fur in a bathroom. Never store a rabbit fur wet. Excessive moisture could potentially weaken the hide or cause mold to form.
Avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight and heat.
Sunlight can damage the fibers in your rabbit fur pelt and weaken the leather by causing it to dry out. It is best not to display it in direct sunlight. Light will cause the color of your fur to fade, and heat can cause a pelt to dry out.
Avoid insecticides and strong smells
Avoid insecticides, moth-proofing, and other chemicals around and on your fur; this includes perfume, hairspray and makeup. Perfume contains alcohol, which can dry a fur pelt. Once a perfume gets into your fur (including cedar from a cedar chest) it can be there to stay.
Most furs can handle snow and a light rain with ease.
If your fur gets wet, don’t panic. Shake it out and hang it to dry or lie flat in a well ventilated room. It will take about 24 hours to dry. Please resist the temptation to speed the drying process with a hairdryer or any heat sources.
Remember that furs don’t like heat. You can spray it with an air compressor or the canned air you use to clean your computer to speed drying or fluff the fur. After it dries you can then shake it again. Comb or brush it gently with a hat brush or paint brush if the hairs seem a little bristly.
If your fur has been soaked through on the leather side, that is a different matter. It will become stiff when it dries, and will shrink unless you stretch it. You will need to work it across a wooden beam until it becomes soft again, which is quite a chore. I haven’t tried it myself, but some people say you can tumble it in your clothes dryer on the cool or air cycle (no heat) to get it soft again.
Storing your rabbit fur pelt (or any tanned hide or fur garment).
Store your fur hide in a cool and dry location out of direct sunlight. If storing the hide in a closet, make sure to take it out every few months in order to stretch out the skin so that no permanent creases occur. Roll the hide for storage as opposed to folding.
Never store in a plastic bag! Fur pelts need to breathe or they will dry out and become brittle or may develop mold or mildew. Give the fur room to breathe in the closet by not cramming it in the closet with other garments or items packed closely around it. Rabbit fur coats should be hung on broad-shouldered hangers that are padded.
How to clean your rabbit fur pelt
Method#1 – Spot clean with Dawn dish soap
Remove stains from the fur promptly. Spot clean the hide as needed by using Dawn dish washing detergent and water. Blot the hide gently with a dampened (not dripping) soft white cloth and Dawn dishwashing soap only on the areas where stains appear. Avoid rubbing vigorously or the stain may spread. A colored cloth may transfer its dye to your hide.
Go back over the area with another clean damp cloth to remove any trace of the detergent. Allow to dry thouroughly while lying on a flat surface. Brush out with your fingers, a hat brush, or a paint brush if needed.
Alternate cleaners I have seen recommended are:
1. Baby shampoo, Pert Plus shampoo, or any human hair shampoo that has a built in conditioner and shampoo all in one bottle.
2. Mix one-part isopropyl alcohol with one-part water and apply directly to the stain.
3. This is our homemade recipe that we like the best so far. We dissolve about a teaspoon of baking soda into about a 1/4 c. of white vinegar. Add some drops of orange essential oil. Spray on, rub it in, and let it dry. After dry, wipe with cloth. Repeat as necessary.
4. Corn Starch Paste. Corn starch mixed with white vinegar into a paste and rubbed onto the stain. Let dry, then brush it out.
5. Witch Hazel & Hydrogen Peroxide. Create a 50/50 mix of witch hazel and hydrogen peroxide. Rub on with a soft rag or cotton pad (be aware that both of these are drying and could cause hair breakage if overused).
6. Baking Soda and Peroxide. Spray it on, let it dry, brush it off. Note: this recipe is for the kind of peroxide you get from a beauty supply store, not hydrogen peroxide.
As you can see there are many variations on some similar ingredients.
Method #2 – Take the fur pelt to a dry cleaner.
It’s best to find a dry cleaner that does lots of furs. They will know how best to handle your fur. If the dry cleaner hasn’t cleaned a lot of furs, they usually uses a 6 percent charge of detergent and conditioner. Inform the dry cleaner that they need to use a 2 percent charge on rabbit furs.
Method #3 – Use cornstarch to clean your animal pelt
Powdery soft cornstarch, a natural moisture and odor absorbent, is an excellent dry cleaner for fur that you can use at home. Dampen a soft cloth, such as flannel or polyester fleece and sprinkle cornstarch onto the cloth. Rub it into the fur right down to the skin.
Allow it to dry back to its powder consistency. With a handheld vacuum cleaner on its slowest setting, vacuum out the cornstarch. Keep the vacuum head above the fur so it does not pull on the hairs. When finished, use your fingers, a hat brush or paint brush to sweep the fur gently in the opposite direction of the hair growth to fluff the fur back to its natural fullness.
Never use a metal brush or a brush designed for people, horses or dogs, because these types of brushes are too harsh and may pull out some of the hair, especially if the fur has an undercoat.
Method #4 – Get odors out of rabbit fur with baking soda
Dry baking soda works best on white pelts. It is hard to get out of darker furs. Just sprinkle baking soda over your hide and work it in with a paint brush or your fingers right down to the skin. Then roll it up and put it in a sealed gallon baggie for a few hours. The plastic bag won’t hurt as long as it is only for a short time. When the smell is gone, take it outside and shake the baking soda out.
You can use unused coffee grounds the same way for darker furs, but they will retain a slight coffee smell. Use at least 1/2 cup of coffee grounds for a rabbit pelt. If the odor hasn’t been removed in 24-hours, simply shake the hide out and add new coffee grounds and allow the pelt to continue to sit in the bag for another day. Be sure to check daily.
If your hide has picked up unpleasant odors such as a musty smell, or from things like perfume, makeup, moth balls, cedar, cooking smells, mold, or cigarette smoke, you can also lightly spray it with Febreze brand household deoderizor to remove unwanted smells. Rub it in and allow the hide to thoroughly dry while lying on a flat surface before putting it back into storage or out for display.
Method #5 – Conditioning the leather side of the pelt.
Mix one-part vinegar with two-parts olive oil and mix thoroughly. The oil will recondition the skin of the coat and help prevent it from drying out and becoming brittle. The vinegar will speed drying as it evaporates. Flaxseed oil will work as well. I have also heard other people suggest mink oil or neetsfoot oil.
Using a clean cloth, dab the solution onto the hairless side of the pelt one section at a time, directly to the skin side of the fur. Do not use it on the fur side. Continue using a clean cloth to rub the conditioner into the skin. This will help the coat absorb the oil.
Do not overwork areas that are particularly dry. Instead, try conditioning the area again once the first coat has dried. Skins that are dry and brittle may need to be conditioned several times. If the skin hasn’t been dried out too harshly, you may be able to restore it’s soft texture.
It will take a few days before the vinegar has evaporated and the oil has properly been absorbed by the skin. When the hide no longer smells of vinegar, it is ready to be used or displayed.
Some people swear by Miracle Groom. This is a horse product that has a nice scent to it. We got ours at Tractor Supply Co. You can also find it in some pet stores and animal feed stores.