I find I can diaper best when I put bunnies on their tummies facing away from me. I usually diaper them on a counter so that they're facing the wall and can't jump anywhere. I have a trick that works with my bun, but I don't know if it will work for others: I put a towel in front of her, directly under her chin. My bunny is very squirmy and rambunctious, so she starts tossing and wrestling with the towel, and that keeps her occupied while I diaper her. Otherwise, she would try to take a flying leap off the counter and run away.

Make certain you get the leg band completely above the knee so the knee cannot be pulled into the diaper. If that happens, the bunny will be able to push the diaper off. To get the hang of it at first, try gently straightening each of your bunny's hind legs when fastening that side.

I do just fine with the tape that comes on the Huggies, but according to the HRS diapering tips and instructions, the tapes on store brands (Safeway, Long's, etc.) tend to be stronger than the tapes on big-name brands (Pampers, Huggies, etc.).

If you're not already doing it this way, try putting the diaper on so the tapes go across the bunny's BACK. I found that when I put the tapes across my bun's tummy, the diaper came off just from her scooting with her tummy against the floor, which loosened the tapes.

After making sure the knees are not positioned inside the diaper leg and after taping around the back, make sure the waistband is snug enough. You don't want to cut circulation off, but the waistband should be snuggish. For Peeps I first positioned the tapes so that they just met each other, and later I switched to fastening them about an inch apart. I discovered that leaving the diaper waist a tiny bit loose prevented her digestive tract from being restricted. Not that it was before, but loosening it a smidge gave her a little more breathing room, so to speak. But each rabbit is individual and requires some trial and error. After diapering a couple of times, you'll get a feel for where the tapes fit best on your rabbit and then you'll be able to slide the diaper on and fasten it in less than a minute.

Peeps is splayed, so the diaper doesn't tend to slip off her when she scoots, the way it did on my other bunny, who kept his legs straighter out behind him when he scooted along. If your bunny lies or scoots on one hip, as some disabled buns do, a looser diaper might slip off, so the waistband would need to be tightened accordingly. *But never really tight.*

If you've been cutting slits in the legs (which some instructions say to do for larger rabbits), don't do it for small bunnies. Cutting a slit made the legs loose enough that my small bunny could get out of them. For large rabbits, the slits are necessary, as otherwise the diapers won't fit around their legs (thighs).

There is a special way to cut the slits (for a larger rabbit): clip into the diaper at the front of the curved leg area, about 1 inch at a 45-degree angle upward. I found that when I did this for my small bunny she was able to wriggle right out of the diaper.

I do cut a tail hole in the diaper and pull my bun's tail through the hole as I slip the diaper between her legs. The slit for the tail should go right smack in the middle of the crotch area and should be about 1 inch long. The tail hole is optional, BTW. It all depends on how messy the rabbit's diaper gets. For bunnies who pee in their diapers or have soft unformed cecals, a tail hole makes clean-up much easier at changing time.

HRS literature says that when cecals appear in the diaper (morning and/or evening), you should feed them to the bunny, so that's what I do. My bunny's cecals are always in her morning diaper and are mostly soft and unformed and they don't exactly smell like roses. So while it does admittedly give me the willies, I do my mommy duty and hold the diaper out to her, and she gobbles them down. I just try my best to look away and tap my foot and tell her to hurry up, and when my tummy can't take it any more, I say, "Okay, that's enough."

I don't sort through the diaper contents. I just take a quick look and if I see cecals, I let her pick them out from the regular pills herself. She's pretty adept at it. Sometimes she eats a few regular pills as well, but she used to do that pre-diapers, too, so I don't worry about it.

When I was new to the whole disabled bunny experience, I quickly got bladder-expressing and diapering down pretty well, thank goodness. And my disabled girl is a psychoterror handful rabbit who has quite the reputation for being nearly impossible to wrangle (a good many vets and their assistants have walked away covered with fur and vicious scratches after bouts with her). If I can get diapers on her with just two hands -- and it did take a few days' practice -- I know it's possible to diaper ANY bun.