What else can I do?

What are you using to groom him and do you get much out? A fine toothed comb like a flea comb works best and if lots is coming out use your fingers to 'pluck' it.

If he's moulting more than he should be is the room to warm? If there is a raditor, for example, near his cage you could turn it off.

I think I remember reading a dose of vitamins can help speed up the moulting process.

Tam

Hi Laura, we have several rabbits who are at high risk of getting furballs(Angoras) and have got gut statis in the past.
We now give (the high risk bunnies only, and I would put your lovely Evo in this category) a half a teaspoon of Kitty malt every day for life, as a preventative.
Give a high fibre food, but keep the dried food to a minimum anyway.
Grate a stick of celery, or a carrot and feed each time you give dried food to help push things through.
Celery is water based so better than greens that can create gas and cause more trouble if a rabbit is prone to Gut statis.

It is the preventative stuff that is the key, and ensuring you give lots of roughage and foods like celery to help keep things moving.
If Evo will take baby food, add a third of a jar of carrot and potato baby food to his diet once a day (as well as the grated veg) to again help push things through.
Reducing the dried food to a minimum is the key though, and we only give our Angoras a tablespoon of dried food in a 24hour period to avoid problems. They then eat lots more hay, which is the best thing for the guts.
Hope this helps and please give Evo a cuddle from us.

Tamsin said:

What are you using to groom him and do you get much out? A fine toothed comb like a flea comb works best and if lots is coming out use your fingers to 'pluck' it.

If he's moulting more than he should be is the room to warm? If there is a raditor, for example, near his cage you could turn it off.

Click to expand...

I use either a fine slicker brush, or a "zoom groom" which seems to get clouds of fur out. Am also plucking loads out at the moment too..... I did his whole head yesterday!

Adele said:

We now give (the high risk bunnies only, and I would put your lovely Evo in this category) a half a teaspoon of Kitty malt every day for life, as a preventative.
Give a high fibre food, but keep the dried food to a minimum anyway.
Grate a stick of celery, or a carrot and feed each time you give dried food to help push things through.

Celery is water based so better than greens that can create gas and cause more trouble if a rabbit is prone to Gut statis.

It is the preventative stuff that is the key, and ensuring you give lots of roughage and foods like celery to help keep things moving.

Reducing the dried food to a minimum is the key though, and we only give our Angoras a tablespoon of dried food in a 24hour period to avoid problems. They then eat lots more hay, which is the best thing for the guts.
Hope this helps and please give Evo a cuddle from us.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that fantastic advice....will definitely get some celery next time I go shopping. He already has 1 small carrot a day (1/2 morning, 1/2 evening)

He is eating loads of carrot tops at the moment (the only thing he seems really keen on), are they particularly likely to cause gas, or is stuff like cabbage and spring greens the main culprit?

Also would probiotics help?

Hi Laura, yes I think the carrot tops could add to the situation in a rabbit with a gut problem to begin with.They are fine for healthy rabbits, in moderation.
I would remove them from the diet for now, and do the celery and grated carrot instead.

Probiotics would help in keeping Evos gut friendly bacteria in balance, and we keep our rabbits on Avipro for two weeks out of each Month as it really seems to improve their general condition.
Probiotics will not help push food through the gut directly though and this is what you need to work on with Evo :wink:

When I look at a rabbits diet, I think about the affect a food will have and its ability to pass through the guts.
I avoid giving bunnies dried foods as far as possible, as they seem to be so much better on foods that pass through more easily.hay being the obvious foodstuff.
TIP Buy some different hays for Evo to try as his main food stuff, and cut some of the hay up into a bowl to make a chaff, so again, it is easier to digest being smaller pieces. We do this for rabbits with gut problems or teeth problems as they seem to eat more like this.
Please Let us know how Evo goes on

Will do!

Am I okay in carrying on with the pineapple and kittymalt stuff though? That's not going to make it any worse?

He's also having herb salad and romaine lettuce as treats at the moment, should I up that seeing as it's waterbased, or leave it as it is???

All these questions........sorry.

Laura it is okay, you can ask as many questions as you like, I am happy to help where I can

I would personally remove everything from Evos diet except the Hay, small amount of dried food, carrot , celery and baby food (plus probiotics) and keep him on what we can a stabilizing diet.
We have tried Romaine Lettuce etc for our rabbits, but concluded that those with ongoing problems or prone to problems were better off on a strict diet (as detailed above) for the rest of their life.
It really seems to keep things under control even for rabbits who have had severe problems in the past.

I would continue the kittymalt, a half teaspoon a day for one week and then give the same amount twice a week for life to see how you go.
I would do the same with the pineapple juice..give one weeks intensive treatment to keep any more fur coming through the system, and then reduce back to a general preventative/ maintainance approach..twice a week.

Does that Help?
I am not a Vet, but I am just telling you what I do with the Sanctuary bunnies and we have had great success with this feeding method and preventative stuff. :wink:

Thanks. I'll see how it goes.

Adele said:

Probiotics would help in keeping Evos gut friendly bacteria in balance, and we keep our rabbits on Avipro for two weeks out of each Month as it really seems to improve their general condition.
Probiotics will not help push food through the gut directly though and this is what you need to work on with Evo :wink:

Click to expand...

Adele, sorry to jump in on this topic, but Rob has had all sorts of gut / tummy problems too, so this got my interest. When you mention probiotics two weeks out the month, is there any reason for this not being given every day. My vet in Edinburgh recommended giving Rob Avipro ongoing, and as I was giving him this every day when he wasn't well, I have just carried this on :roll:

Hiya Lynn, please do not apologise for joining in the thread, you can post anything you like at anytime, and we will help as best we can

You have raised a good point re Probiotics and to be honest with you, we keep several rabbits on Probiotics constantly too. Bunny has chronic gut problems unless we stick to the stabilising diet above, and ongoing probiotics (plus a teaspoon of Aloe Vera juice in her drinking water daily for life!!)...so to answer your question, it is alright as far as we know from our own experiences to keep bunnies on probiotics constantly, just as long you stick carefully to the directions on the container.
We would probably keep more bunnies on it long term too, but it is the cost that stops us not concerns about using the product itself.
I know that many pigeons are kept on probiotics constantly too ,with the obvious benefits.

In summary, for those rabbits with chronic gut problems/ history of gut problems I would use probiotic every day, but if you are just using probiotic as a health tonic, then two weeks out of four seems to work, especially over the Autumn and Winter when rabbits are at their lowest ebb.

Bunny has been on probiotics for 5 years constantly now, and is so lively and health, despite having had a gloomy initial outlook to live for a year let alone 5. It is the diet and probiotics that made the difference we believe, good luck with Rob

Thank you Adele

Rob's change of diet and probiotics seem to be working well at the moment - I have been told to stop his medications in just over a weeks time, and I'm hoping (all fingers crossed) that he will remain as well as he seems to be just now.

Laura I have just had a thought...perhaps you could read the thread about feeding bananas again, as it is possible that feeding banana is contributing to Evos Gut statis incidents.
Bananas have been responsible for triggering gut statis in some of our vulnerable bunnies so we now exclude it from the diet and have had no further problems.
read the latest Posting By Caz and her Continental Giants allergy to bananas.

Will bear this in mind, thanks.