Distended stomach not wool block

Hi. I have a 3 yr old English Angora rabbit. I got him last October and he was matted and had a cold. I shaved a lot. He started getting diarrhea so we keep him on pellets and a mix of Alfalfa/Timothy. He's lost 2 lbs in this time and has a severely large stomach. The bottom picture is recent. There are areas of hair loss that seems to be over grooming but the fur has never really grown back. His vet said there are no parasites in the stool, and his stomach is not painful. He does not act sick and has energy. With gut motility medicine his stools keep fairly normal. There is never fur in the stool to show wool block. He looks for food like he's starving. He will eat critical care but it does not help gain weight. Any advice or thoughts would be wonderful.

"Had a cold" sets off alarm bells for me. What do you mean by this? Was he congested? Any white snot?

:yeahthat: There might not be parasites that the vet has found in his poop, however there could be bacteria that is off in his stomach as well as his respiratory system. I would work with your vet to look farther into the situation and see what they can find out.

Thanks. By a cold I meant he had eye drainage and took drops. He did have some nose drainage but not a lot, and the medicine did clear it up. It has not returned since the beginning of the year. Also, his teeth are all good. I guess I'm looking for other things because the vets next step is ultrasound or xrays. We just had a lionhead go under and she did not make it through anesthesia.

Not seeing wool in in his stool does not necessarily rule out wool block. Yes, the string of pearls is a classic attention getter, but it's more the size and amount that tells more. His age, his stool should be largepea sized at the very least, up too small blueberry. They should be solid, but not so much that they are bbs, versus breaking apart easily. Does he get pineapple / papaya, or similar enzyme?

Hi SixGun thanks for the Instagram add! The stool is very hard to gauge as it changes constantly. He is not on an enzyme because any sort of fruit/vegetable makes him sick. Just yesterday he got into another rabbits pellets which has bits of carrot and things, and today his stool is very large and very soft. Veggies give him full on diarrhea. Would you offer the papaya in case of wool block, even at the expense of soft stool? He takes a gut motility medicine 2-3 times a day and this keeps his stool mostly normal. Thank you for your input!!

There are papaya tablets that you could try if the actual fruit gives him trouble. Sorry I cannot help more. I don't know enough in this subject due to not having experience with long furred rabbits. SixGun and the other Angora breeders have the best advice for you.

If fresh pineapple seems to make him upset, try either a dried version or there are papaya enzyme tablets, at places like Walmart in the Vitamin section that have the enzyme you're looking for.
There is some debate on what the enzyme actually does. There is a theory that the enzyme merely breaks apart any mucus type fluids holding the wool together in the stomach so that some wool can successfully un coagulate and pass through the intestine (which is my thought), others feel the enzyme actually breaks apart the wool and lets it pass. I find this to be less likely, as hair is actually a pretty tough material. Liquid plumber is what it is, because it has to break that stuff down.
So, wool block often manifests itself as simply a lack of appetite. Because, the stomach is full of matter that cannot be digested. If it gets too bad it can block food from getting in and getting out and cause death. And with a lack of appetite, you can also see a stomach that gets very upset. There's not a lot of room, things are not as they should be. The rabbit "feels" full, but in reality needs to eat. It's a tough thing to fight. <br /><br /> -- Wed Jul 12, 2017 3:34 pm -- <br /><br /> Homer also suggested a nice remedy here. I did use it with some success on one of my bucks.

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Both types of coccidia (hepatic/liver and intestinal) can cause a large distended belly

Thanks. I think the one symptom here confusing me is that he is eating. Not only eating, but he acts like he is starving. He will eat anything you put in front of him, his stomach just can't handle it. I did start the papaya. I guess I will have to have the ultrasound and xrays done, I was hoping to avoid the expense and stress on him.

I hope that they show the answer.
It is odd that he is so hungry, but then ill. I hope the vet visit resolves it all in the positive for you.