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The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

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Forum DIET & CARE Shedding a storm!

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    • Al2
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      27 posts Send Private Message

         Hey guys! 

        Franklin is shedding up A STORM. If I run my hand over him there are huge clumps of hair coming off. I am pretty sure the little one doesn’t have any skin problems so I am hoping this is just a routing coat blow-out. We haven’t had him for very long so this is my first time experiencing bun shedding. 

        I noticed he had a loose poop and I wanted to ask you guys if I should be concerned. This is his second one in about 3 days and I don’t know if I should be worried. He usually poops like crazy but now he hasn’t been going as much and has had a couple loose ones. If he was blocked up they wouldn’t be loose, right?

        I am TRYING to groom him to reduce the hair swallowing that’s going on but he’s just shedding so much that the grooming hardly helps. Should I try some bunny laxatives or probiotics? I don’t want to mess with his digestive system too much but I am super worried about the looseness… 

        He is acting normal so I don’t know what to think about all of this!

        -Alice


      • Karla
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        1624 posts Send Private Message

          What are you feeding him? And how much hay does he get?

          Do a lot of plucking to take away most of the loose hair, and yes it is a battle, if he is in middle of a big moulting.

          You can feed him dried pieces of papaya, which is good for the digestive system to avoid hair balls. Don’t start thinking about giving him laxatives. One of mine had problems with loose stools recently – I put him on a strict hay diet and supplemented with FibrePlex (which tastes like carrots and is absolutely yummy, apparently).


        • BinkyBunny
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            It sounds like he is dealing with some digestive issues. Slowing down and loose stools can also be an indication of gi issues.

            Karla’s questions are important because a high fiber, well hydrated diet can help him pass the the fur with less of an issue. So try to make sure he’s eating plenty of hay, drinking enough water (and/or wet his greens IF he’s currently getting them), cut down on the treats during this time as well

            If this continues for much longer, I would recommend seeing a vet (especially if his pooping slows down even more)


          • Al2
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               thanks i wont give him any treats for the time being. Today there was some poop that was stuck together with hair. I keep grooming him as much as he’ll let me but the hair keeps coming. I haven’t seen anymore looseness today just not much poop and some that was stuck together with hair. There are still plenty of binkies going on so I guess he’s feeling okay. I will try some papaya. As for the laxatives-what are they for? they have them at a pet store near my apartment and I thought it seemed like a risky thing to use on such a delicate digestive system. 

              Right now he’s eating mostly timothy hay with timothy hay pellets. He eats a lot of the pellets… I free feed them. Should I think about only feeding the pellets at certain times? He is a healthy weight so I was trying to make sure he had food at all times. 

              I read that I should consider giving him a water bowl instead of a bottle to encourage him to drink more but when I do this he doesn’t seem to recognize that he can drink it… He also drops all of his toys in it! Should I continue with the bowl technique? He drinks okay from the bottle.


            • mocha200
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                my bun also drops some of his toys in his water bowl to i don’t know why he just does. i went from a bottle to a water dish just fine but he had drank out of one before i got him. i would offer both for awhile and see if he catches on.


              • Elrohwen
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                  How old is he? If he’s over 8 months I would cut back the pellets to an amount appropriate to his weight (see the diet info on the navigation bar above). The reason is that the less pellets he gets, the more hay he’ll get and hay is the most important! When I cut back my bun’s pellets (when he got older) his hay intake more than doubled.

                  Do you feed veggies? If he’s over 3 or 4 months old I would think about following the recommended HRS guidelines (also available on BB) for veggies every day. The veggies will help keep him hydrated and give him extra fiber. Veggies are probably second in importance to hay.


                • jerseygirl
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                    Right now he’s eating mostly timothy hay with timothy hay pellets. He eats a lot of the pellets… I free feed them. Should I think about only feeding the pellets at certain times? He is a healthy weight so I was trying to make sure he had food at all times.

                    Hay is food so just provide that at all times
                    If he is going for pellets more than hay you may need to start to reduce the amount you give.
                    On water bottles – it’s a good idea to provide two incase one stops working for some reason. Sometimes it might take a while to realise there’s a fault, but if you have a 2nd bottle in there aswell, bun can still get his water.


                  • Kokaneeandkahlua
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                      Just want to sympathize-Rupert and Kahlua are blowing their coats big time now (spring must be coming!) and I’m tired of it already

                      Like the others said-cut back pellets a bit-provide lots of hay (try adding fresh handfulls several times a day) and both a bowl and bottle are best

                      Also I find it easiest to brush them, if you can throw them a bit off their game. So I put mine up on a counter (Where they can’t fall-so you need to restrain) and then they are kind of out of their element and MUCH more patient with me brushing them.


                    • Monkeybun
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                        Oh gosh yeah, Monkeys tarted shedding like crazy a couple days ago.. Moose is getting annoyed at tufts of fur flying by his face all the time lol. He’s always flicking his front toes and trying to get Monkey fur off his face.


                      • bunnytowne
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                          OH my  you got some good advice.

                          Monkey thats funny.   Even the other bun is annoyed by Monkeys shedding  lol

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                      Forum DIET & CARE Shedding a storm!