I need some adivce. After checking on the kits this afternoon, their dam ran over to check on them which is great. But as I watched she reached in and took 2 clumps of fur out and ate it. Is that normal, because I thought rabbits got fur/hair blockages pretty easily? I'm not sure if this is a one off thing or if she does this on a regular basis, or even only when I handle the nestbox or kits. There's still a ton of fur in the nestbox so I'm not worried about the kits getting cold or anything. To make the scene even stranger though after eating the fur she hopped over and ate a bunny berry. I know they eat some, but they're special right? This was just a normal berry that just happened to not fall through the cage floor. Could she be missing something in her diet? Or just weird.

__________ Wed Feb 08, 2012 8:52 am __________

Bump

She could be missing something, but I wouldn't worry about it. I could just be her being weird, which rabbits really are strange creatures.

What kind of feed are you feeding?

She is lacking Fiber in her diet:
Give her ample amounts of grass-hay in a hay-feeder
to eat, do not toss it on the cage floor as this
will create a source of infection by her ingesting
hay which was or may have been urinated or defecated on.
Ottersatin.

I feed Mana-Pro Pro formula. I've been feeding it since October and everyone's been doing great on it. I've also been feeding good hay since the beginning, I have it pressed outside the cage in a way that they can pull it easily through the wire, they get all they want to eat. She was being extra nasty to me at feeding time this morning, turns out she was just being hormonal since she happily made the buck Raisen's day. Maybe it was just a one time weirdness since I haven't seen her do it again.

Making sure she has hay or even just straw will help. Rabbits look for any long thin fiber to eat. However eating fur is still not abnormal. It just lessens it. Usually by the time my kits are out of the box they and their dam have eaten all the fur in the box if I haven't provided lots of hay or straw. Less of a problem in winter actually when I pack boxes with straw and the does add more so there is plenty to eat and less need to eat fur.

It has really worried me, too, when I've seen a doe eat fur. Mine also get free-fed hay. I don't know why they do it, and it does worry me because of the chance of impaction.

Fur, like feathers, is largely made of protein. In chickens, habitual feather-eating (as opposed to simply feather-pulling) can be symptom of insufficient protein in their diet. I do not know if this accounts for rabbits eating fur, but it would not surprise me. A doe, while nursing kits, has substantial demands put on her system. We already know that does often eat dead kits and to my way of thinking she does so due to an instinctive need for the protein as well as the need to maintain a clean nest. The fur-eating is possibly due to the same need.

Mine ate more fur on 18% pellets and 17-20% (3rd versus 4th cut) clover hay than they have been on ~12% grain feed with more fiber source even when given only straw as that source or ~12% grass hay for the ones getting fat on clover hay. The amount is what has mattered to mine. When I had hay lofts that would run empty or were hard to get to the fur disappeared despite 18% pellets. When I pack a nestbox with straw in winter the fur doesn't disappear while on 12% horse pellets. I just dumped out a nest still full of fur from a doe who never ran out of grass hay because her hay silo holds about a week's worth for her and she's eating only a diet of about 14% protein. Amako just had her nest stripped of fur while getting 20% clover hay and 16% pellets (she's now on a grass hay diet but I had none at the time).

Thanks everyone for all your answers, ideas and help. Since she and the kits still seem to be in excellent health I'm not going to worry about it anymore. TSC didn't have any Calf-mana when I was there last but I'll keep my eyes out. Maybe we'll have some handy for the next litter to give the does a protein boost. She is eating like a pig now though, thats for sure. With seven kits it's hard to blame her.

Interesting! In light of your experiences, Akane, I'm willing to conclude that fur-eating in rabbits is likely NOT a protein issue, but rather a fibre issue.