Intestinal Blockage from Fur Shedding?

MissPickles · May 2, 2013

Bunny Information:
Breed: Dwarf
Age: 1 year + ~2 months
Gender: Female; unspayed
Pellet Diet: Oxbow Essentials Bunny Basics (adult)
Hay: Timothy
Fresh Foods: Kale, parsley, bok choy, collard greens, mustard greens
Treats: occasional baby carrot, occasional bite of banana (treats given once every 2-3 weeks)
Housing: Inside-only; primary in a large cage but roams ~1-3 hours a day with strict supervision.

My girl, Pickles, has been shedding lately. I expected it since our temperatures have finally warmed up. I've been trying my best to keep her brushed well.

So, the other morning I got up around 8:30AM and was going about my normal morning routine. I heard a little squeak come from Pickles' area and I ignored it, thinking I had imagined it. After about an hour of squeaking every few minutes, I watched to see if she was actually making the noise or if it was something she was moving/bumping in the cage. I saw that she was indeed making the squeaking.

What was happening was that she would sit in her potty dish, squeak, and suddenly jump back towards her bottom. I thought that perhaps she had gas or something of the sort. I continued to watch her for a few more moments and then she lifted her leg to try to access her bottom. I saw a massive, inflamed thing protruding from the area.

I picked her up and flipped her over, to find her bottom was massively full of poop that had created a complete blockage. My husband was at work, and I had no vehicle, so I did the best I could throughout the day to get her to be more comfortable. I took a warm washcloth to the area to try to encourage the poop to come out. I gave her a warm butt bath to try to loosen the poop. It was frightening to see, and I'm sure quite painful for her.

My husband came home early and examined Pickles. He actually removed the mass of poop. It was huge--you have no idea. He cleaned out her bottom, including some backed up poops that had been behind the massive chunk.

Now, I live in an odd area, where it's difficult to find a small animal vet. I have one vet I have located that will treat my rabbit (as an "exotic" animal). I called that evening to see if they could open as an emergency and see my girl. It was a no-go and she had to wait it out until the next morning.

The next morning we took her in. The vet examined her and said that it looked to her like the bunny had just gotten a hairball from the fur she had ingested recently. The vet assured us that all looked well at that point and sent us back home.

That evening, my husband monitored her bottom and made sure the poops were coming out as they should. Her little bottom was still quite swollen, but the vet had advised us that there wasn't really anything to do but kind of just let it heal since it wasn't cut, torn, or really injured.

So, last night my husband and I came home from church and I heard Pickles make another squeak. My husband flipped her over, only to find another massive poop lodged in the area. He cleaned her out again and we have been closely monitoring her.

Now, she's pooping on her own again, of course, but I'm not sure why she keeps getting these massive blockages in her bottom. The vet feels it's hair. The poops that she does release are not runny or hard--they appear to be fairly normal in size and consistency. If this is really due to her shedding then how can I help her pass these hairballs easier or break them down more before they become a problem?

I have pulled her pellets and have restricted her to only hay for the past few days. She is drinking her water normally and is eating the hay normally. Should I give her fresh veggies? I have pulled that as well, fearing that it may be encouraging the hairball issue.

I feel terrible for my girl. I couldn't imagine having to go hours with something like that stuck. She has been really good with allowing us to help her, but it must be a fairly painful process for her to have to go through. I have searched online about this and all I keep getting is runny poops stuck to the fur on the back of a bunny--this is definitely not the case. The poop is literally just packed up inside of her rectum and causes a nasty huge blockage.

Any advice? Please?

JBun · May 2, 2013

It's not hair from molting, that your rabbit is having a problem with. Molting and hair can cause gut slowdowns from insufficient fiber to help pass it. This can result in very small tiny hard poops, or the pooping can stop altogether from a GI blockage. What your rabbit has is soft poop sticking to the anal opening and drying to the opening causing all the other poops to back up. Then the opening gets inflamed and sore. I had this happen to one of my baby bunnies. I didn't notice the soft poop sticking to the opening. And it caused a back up and inflammation of the area. This can happen to new babies as they are transitioning onto pellets, as it can upset their GI a little. The soft poop is usually caused by a new food, sometimes veggies, or too many sugars and carbs in the diet from treats or even too many pellets. You've already pulled pellets. treats. and veggies, and are only feed her unlimited timothy(grass) hay, which would have been my suggestion. You do want to make sure she is eating her hay well. If she's been off these foods for a couple days and she still is having problems, and her poops don't go back to normal, then it's very possible that she has a parasite/bacteria and will need a fecal test to determine whats causing it, and meds right away, especially if you see any mucous in the poop. Also if her condition worsens, then you want to get her into the vet right away. But very often it is just problems in the diet that causes this problem, and should correct right away with the diet change. If her poops do go back to normal, then give it a couple of days and then you can very gradually start to reintroduce pellets back into her diet. Start with a very small amount for a couple days. Then if her poop stays normal, gradually increase that amount each day. I don't know how much you were feeding her each day, but because of the poop problems, you may want to give her slightly less than before, just until you figure out if it was pellets/treats causing the problem, or veggies. Once you've increased her pellets to the amount that you want to feed for the time being, then you can start reintroducing veggies, one at a time, starting with small amounts, and gradually increasing if the poops stay normal. Do one veggie at a time so that if she starts to have problems, you will be able to see which one is causing the problem. While waiting for the soft poop to clear up, you'll want to check her bum a couple times a day, and you can even apply a little vaseline to keep the area soft and keep it from drying and cracking, or a small amount of plain neosporin ointment(not the pain relief kind) if there are sores there. Here's some info on poop problems, actual blockage/stasis, and some diet info in case you need it.

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/GI_diseases/drop/Drp_en.htm
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/ileus.html
http://www.3bunnies.org/feeding.htm#top
http://www.rabbit.org/care/veggies.html
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/diet.html

minmelethuireb · May 2, 2013

Have you pulled apart her poos to see if there is a lot of fur in them? If her poo is strung together with fur, this could possibly cause them to get stuck to her butt as well. Otherwise, it probably doesn't have anything to do with fur. JBun's suggestions are very good.

Still, while she's shedding, try to get as much of the loose fur off as you can so she isn't ingesting too much. Try petting her, gently pulling at the hairs as you go.

JBun · May 2, 2013

Here are some rabbit vet lists too. You may be able to find a good one near you.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f28/finding-vet-13366/
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

Maureen Las · May 2, 2013

Good advice already given ;-)

I would rethink your choice of veggies: Mustard greens , collards, kale, bok choy all high in oxalates and all gas producing .

It isn't that rabbits cannot be fed these veggies but some rabbits have trouble tolerating them and/or these should be fed occasionally I would avoid these for awhile and maybe start out with small amounts of parsley , maybe romaine , cilantro etc . but only when the issue is resolved.

minmelethuireb · May 2, 2013

Good point - my rabbits especially can't eat kale or bok choy - basically anything related to cabbage, which includes collards. I'm not sure about mustard greens. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables can also be bad. It's possible that the vegetables your rabbit was eating are causing digestive upset resulting in poopy bum.

Safer choices include green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, basil, parsley, cilantro, dandelion greens, dill. I would slowly start introducing some these once your rabbit is pooping normally again - one veggie at a time.