More greens during shed/moult ?

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

Sophie is really shedding a lot, as I stated in another thread. I've been brushing and pulling fur at least twice daily. Right now I'm feeding her about 2-2.5 cups of fresh greens daily. Should I increase the greens? She doesn't have a sensitive tummy. I just want to make sure her colon is moving all the hair through properly. I'm really worried about wool block and want to prevent it at all cost! She doesn't like me too much right now with all the brushing. I mean she's pretty good but hates being brushed on her flanks and backside. I can hardly even brush her belly. The fur looks weird on her back right now. It's looking sparse and light grey but when I part the fur in that area, the root hair is black. Is that normal? How do I know if all the brushing is irritating her skin? I read that they have sensitive skin.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Instead of increasing greens you can add papaya or fresh pineapple to her diet. The enzymes in these two foods will aid in the breakdown of hair in the GI tract. If we have bunnies that get strings of poops then they will get some papaya tablets.

When my frenchie was going through a huge molt I would pluck him once a day and his molts would last a good two weeks no matter how hard I brushed or plucked. Fur grows at a slow pace so you will just have to be patient. If two times a day is freaking her out then try going to once a day. The black and sparse gray just sounds like her color. If you want to see if the skin is irritated then part the hair and look to the skin. It should be a light pink color with no irritation or redness. If you are using a soft brush for her then that's fine. If your using a slicker I would try decreasing to once a day but that's just me. Slickers are pretty uncomfortable against skin so it might irritate more.

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

It's just a bristles brush. I tilt the brush at an angle so the bristles don't actually touch her skin. The bristles are very close together so it catches the fur and pulls it out. I brush her slowly with long strokes but sometimes the brush pulls quite a bit, especially with all these tufts of fur that need to come out. I looked at her skin and I don't see any irritation. I know she doesn't "prefer" to be brushed in certain areas because her fur twitches when I brush it, even though I'm going very slowly and being very careful that I don't yank her fur.

 

[Blue eyes]

I do the same as woahlookitsme with the papaya. I keep dried papaya and papaya tablets on hand. Mine are shedding right now and one just had some pearl-strung poos, so they are getting their papaya.

I also try to encourage more hay eating by refreshing it more often throughout the day.

 

[Sophie's Humble Servant]

She's a good hay eater for sure. About these papaya tablets, I notice there is sugar in them. I was concerned about sugar causing a stasis issue or are these tablets the exception? I have some but after reading conflicting info on them, plus the sugar content, I was very hesitant to give her any. Other than the very rare dried currant, Sophie doesn't get anything sweet.

 

[Blue eyes]

Yes, I've read that too about the sugar in the papaya tablets. I figure though that there can't be too much sugar in such small tablets. They only get some if they are showing signs of pearl-string poo. And then I'll give the dried papaya for a couple days in a row, and a couple tablets the third day. Those are in place of their 'treat' for the day.

For my rabbits, it does seem to do the trick and get the poos back to normal.
I imagine, though, that different rabbits could have different reactions.