Major Shedding After Diet Change?

[KytKattin]

I got Eclipse back about… 3 months ago now? While she was away her diet was just unlimited pellets and romaine + carrots. Not ideal obviously, but she survived. That was for about 2 years. Anyway, she is now on a mixture of greens (3+ cups per day), 1/4 or 1/2 (I can’t remember, I use a scoop) cup of pellets per day, and unlimited oat hay. And in the last month she has been shedding more than I have ever seen her shed before. It has actually been causing some problems with stasis/hairy poops. I honestly didn’t know a rex rabbit could shed as much as she is. She has never blown coat like this. I have to vacuum at least every other day. Now, as for the stasis thing, I think that is from not eating enough hay to move the hair through, which is because I give her too many greens. I’m working on that…

I can’t quite tell if her new coat is softer. It feels super soft to me, but my hands are kind of torn up from yard work so I don’t feel like I am a good judge.

I know there are a lot of things that go into why an animal sheds, and just the move/change in how we use lights and A/C could possibly be causing a shed. I also did a moderate change to her living space a few weeks ago, but I don’t think that stressed her out too much. She is still using the litter box, which would be a more more telling sign of her dislike for something (which she did the first night of the rearrangement but not after that). She is 5 now, and despite some cataracts and being gassy occasionally she seems healthy other than this unexpected shed. It just seems really odd for her to do this in the middle of summer.

[Sarita]

I think it’s all just coincidence as far as change in diet and shedding. I haven’t really had a rabbit shed heavily in awhile though to know cycles but perhaps this is just her cycle since you’ve only had her a short while.

[KytKattin]

I had her for 3 years before that, and I still frequently saw her/cleaned her pen at my parent’s house while she was living with them for 2 years so she isn’t exactly a new rabbit. This is uncharacteristic, but because she otherwise seems healthy I can’t figure out what other than diet might be causing it. I guess I won’t worry about it.

[bunnnnnnie!]

Zeus’s coat is a different texture, and he sheds out faster, on an alfalfa-based pellet versus a timothy-based pellet. So I do think diet can have some effect on their coat, and their shedding! But that’s just my personal analogy.

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