• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Fur ball?

L

Lyds

New Kit
Hi.
My two rabbits have been off their food and hay for a week now. They usually try to take my hand off when I give them it. They haven’t wanted to be very active and just sleep most the time. They pick at their food during the night it would seem and go to the toilet very little now.
They went to the vet on Thursday and I’ve been given painkillers, something to get the gut moving and some food to try and give them. So far they still haven’t really changed. I noticed today though that one had passed a large ball of fur.
Has anyone had this before with their rabbit?
Thanks
 
Hi Lyds,

When you say fur ball, do you mean poops strung together with fur?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen mine pass a fur ball, but we do see poops strung together with fur when they are moulting. I would try to alleviate this with more wet veg or herbs, and regular brushing to avoid them ingesting too much fur.

What did the Vet say? What painkiller and food did you get for them? Are the drinking? Are they eating greens? Did the Vet say to syringe water if they’re not drinking?

It sounds very worrying. Did they ask you to call them again if it didn’t improve within X-amount of hours?

Where do you live? Is it hot where you are?
 
Hi there

I'm sorry to read that your buns are poorly. If they've been moulting a lot recently then they may have ingested some loose fur when grooming themselves and it's caused a gut slowdown. Despite my best efforts, this happens with my buns. In fact I'm going through it with one of my buns at the moment!

When this happens, the usual procedure for me is to give them gut meds and regular syringe feeds to keep the GI tract moving until they're eating and pooping normally again. If they're not drinking very much, it would also be beneficial to syringe feed some plain water as it's important to keep the gut hydrated.



Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 
You did the right thing getting your bunnies to the vet. Pain meds,gut motility meds,hydration,and syringe feeding (some bunnies eat if in a bowl)recovery food, encouraging eating of hay, aad feeding greens are positive steps.
Gut slowdown or stasis can be a symptom of a bunny who is not eating enough hay too. Some bunnies may not eat enough hay if they have dental issues, or if they receive too many pellets.
Hydration may improve when bunnies drink from bowls rather than bottles,if possible.
I have a bunny with longer fur and she passes poos connected by strands of long fur sometimes. With my other two bunnies I have seen slightly larger or irregular poos that were almost entirely wadded fur frosted with poo.
It is good your bunny is passing fur that was ingested during grooming. I hope your bunnies continue to eat and poo, and poos are not becoming smaller.
 
bunny momma said:
You did the right thing getting your bunnies to the vet. Pain meds,gut motility meds,hydration,and syringe feeding (some bunnies eat if in a bowl)recovery food, encouraging eating of hay, aad feeding greens are positive steps.
Gut slowdown or stasis can be a symptom of a bunny who is not eating enough hay too. Some bunnies may not eat enough hay if they have dental issues, or if they receive too many pellets.
Hydration may improve when bunnies drink from bowls rather than bottles,if possible.
I have a bunny with longer fur and she passes poos connected by strands of long fur sometimes. With my other two bunnies I have seen slightly larger or irregular poos that were almost entirely wadded fur frosted with poo.
It is good your bunny is passing fur that was ingested during grooming. I hope your bunnies continue to eat and poo, and poos are not becoming smaller.
Click to expand...

Try to encourage your bunnies to eat lots of hay as this helps to push any fur which has been ingested through quickly. Do they eat lots of hay I wonder?
 
Hi.
Thank you for replying to my comment.
It’s more like poo that is just a ball of fur. Sometimes they have the odd poo strung together by fur. They are moulting a lot and groom themselves quite a lot, especially after they’ve been given the medicine.
I’ve been trying to encourage them to eat foods to help with their movements but they aren’t interested.
They’ve said if they don’t improve by Monday then to ring again and might need an X-ray. I’m hoping it won’t get to this. The vet finds it odd that it’s both of the rabbits suddenly like this.
It is very hot here so trying to brush them a bit more than usual as well.
 
To be honest if both bunnies are going through a heavy moult at the same time then I don't think it's that surprising that they're both unwell at the moment. However I would be guided by your vet's opinion as it may be that there is something else going on that needs to be investigated further.

Are you managing to get some recovery food into them? And have you been given gut meds to administer over the past few days? In my experience when bunnies are going through quite a bad stasis episode and are only picking at food the GI tract can remain quite sluggish as not enough food is passing through. Syringe feeds and gut meds are a necessary evil as they will help to kick start the gut again and they should recover more quickly.

I hope your buns start to feel better soon, it's such a worry when they're poorly [emoji17]

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 
Scrappy's Little Helper said:
To be honest if both bunnies are going through a heavy moult at the same time then I don't think it's that surprising that they're both unwell at the moment. However I would be guided by your vet's opinion as it may be that there is something else going on that needs to be investigated further.

Are you managing to get some recovery food into them? And have you been given gut meds to administer over the past few days? In my experience when bunnies are going through quite a bad stasis episode and are only picking at food the GI tract can remain quite sluggish as not enough food is passing through. Syringe feeds and gut meds are a necessary evil as they will help to kick start the gut again and they should recover more quickly.

I hope your buns start to feel better soon, it's such a worry when they're poorly [emoji17]

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks for your message!
They seem much better now. They had their gut meds and I’ve got them a new brand of hay which they seem to like.
One still isn’t eating much pellet wise but he is eating some hay. Going to keep an eye on him.
 
Lyds said:
Thanks for your message!
They seem much better now. They had their gut meds and I’ve got them a new brand of hay which they seem to like.
One still isn’t eating much pellet wise but he is eating some hay. Going to keep an eye on him.
Click to expand...

If vet gave you recovery food to syringe feed, I encourage you to give it to one not eating much. Eating will induce guts to move. Some gut meds work to move only part of gi system, so vet may prescribe a second gut med to use along with or instead of current meds.
Sending more positive vibes.
 
Thank you!

The one who isn’t eating too much the last couple of days has started to eat his fresh bedding straw now.
He hasn’t don’t this before.

bunny momma said:
If vet gave you recovery food to syringe feed, I encourage you to give it to one not eating much. Eating will induce guts to move. Some gut meds work to move only part of gi system, so vet may prescribe a second gut med to use along with or instead of current meds.
Sending more positive vibes.
Click to expand...
 
Have they had their teeth checked? They also may be eating the straw if they are craving fibre, if they are in a gut slowdown.
 
Morning.

Yep they had their teeth checked when at the vets two weeks ago. They had medication for the gut as they had both been off food. Ones back to normal now and this one was until a couple of days ago where he’s now gone off food again. He’s going to the toilet etc like normal. Just not interested in anything to eat other than his bedding straw and sometimes grass.
Zoobec said:
Have they had their teeth checked? They also may be eating the straw if they are craving fibre, if they are in a gut slowdown.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Balding baby
Replies
1
Views
89
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
A
Possible underlying cause for dental issues?
Replies
4
Views
69
Apache
A
Zigzag
Turmeric, arthritis and uTI
2
Replies
20
Views
764
a reader of books
a reader of books
Back
Top