Wool Block Info

I thought it would be good to start a topic on Wool block for those wooly breed owners.

Wool Block occurs when a wool (long hair) breed grooms themselves, especially during a molt, and ingests some of the fur. The fur then becomes coated with food matter and forms a ball in the stomach. Hair is not digestible so the rabbit needs to pass the hair, but only a little at a time or it could become a blockage resulting in death. Signs of wool block are lack of appetite and not drinking like they usually do. Also signs of pain could indicate wool block has occurred. The following are some ways to cure and/or prevent wool block:

1. Manna pro select series SHO formula Contains Papaya Extract, to help reduce wool block.

2. Feeding banana with the peel on can help to remove wool block.

3. Feeding fresh pineapple can help remove wool block.

4. Feeding fresh papaya or papaya extract can help remove wool block.

5. Flax seed can help to reduce the chances of your wool breed from suffering wool block if given daily in a very small amount. Less that 1/4 teaspoon and adjust according to your own rabbits tolerance.

6. Giving timothy hay a couple times a week in small handfuls will help to remove the hair from the stomache a little at a time.

This is a link to further information that I found helpful....
http://www.fuzzylop.com/News_Winter_09_wool_block.htm

If you have further information on wool block please share!!

Good info, TM!

I bought Papaya/Pineapple tablets at Trader Joe's and offered them to all of my mature Rex. 3 or 4 of the does ate them, but the others weren't interested. I am going to offer them more this week, and see who takes them. I am hopeful that they are self-medicating.

Adolf's meat tenderizer contains the enzyme bromelain (the active property in papaya and pineapple), so I may buy some and sprinkle it on damp greens or banana so everybunny gets some.

Betty Chu's website @ http://bettychuenglishangora.com/cares/index.html has more suggestions, such as feeding 1/4 cup wild bird seed once or twice monthly to her Angoras in place of pellets to help move the wool out.

MamaSheepdog":3ta7v673 said:

Betty Chu's website @ http://bettychuenglishangora.com/cares/index.html has more suggestions, such as feeding 1/4 cup wild bird seed once or twice monthly to her Angoras in place of pellets to help move the wool out.

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That sounds doable.

I need to get some kind of solid bottomed feeders if I am going to start feeding flax and birdseed.

Thanks MSD for the added info. I think it is a good idea to share our info and experience with wool block.

TM, the link for Betty was on the page you referenced, but didn't work for me, so I did a search and found her site. I wanted to copy and paste the info, but she has a copyright on it. The page allowed the copying, but I am not familiar enough with the law to know if it could be pasted as long as credit was given.

I just checked and all we have to do is reference the source and copyright info.

Great! Will do! <br /><br />__________ Wed Oct 24, 2012 10:39 am __________<br /><br />This information was copied from this website: http://bettychuenglishangora.com/cares/index.html Thank you, Betty Chu!

Woolblock:
Angora rabbits can die from woolblock. The dying process is slow and painful - when the rabbit's stomach is full of wool, the rabbit cannot eat, and he starves to death. Cats and dogs can vomit when there is a hairball; rabbits cannot. For short haired rabbits, hairballs are a problem, but not nearly as great of a problem as with Angora rabbits. For Angora rabbits, hairball, or woolblock, is the No. l killer. Many Angora rabbits die unnecessarily young.

For woolblock, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The following practice may prevent woolblock from ever starting:

Enzyme Pills : The enzyme in the pill is Bromelain or Papain, which is also found in meat tenderizers . Bromelain or Papain helps to break down the wool ball in the rabbit's stomach. Hay and fiber help to carry the wool away . If the rabbit is not blocked at all, I give him 6-7 pills once a week for maintenance . If there is any sign of blockage, I may give the same dosage of pills two or three times a week.
Hay: I give a large handful of hay each day. The rabbit receives grass hay and/or oat hay everyday.
Wildbird seed mix: Some rabbits love this mix. Once or twice a month, I withhold the regular rabbit feed and give 1/4 cup of this mix as a substitute. There was a case many years ago in which one of my rabbits became blocked and went off feed. She would not eat anything for several days. When I offered her this mix, she nibbled some. I decided to give her this mix solely. After one week she passed the wool mass and has been normal.
"Marble watching" : Droppings tell you the condition of the rabbit's health. Watching these marbles is another task for a conscientious breeder. If the droppings are round, moist, dark-brown and evenly large, the rabbit is in good health. If the droppings start to look like a "necklace", droppings being connected by strings of wool, you should pay more attention to the rabbit. If he is still eating the normal amount of feed and drinking normal amount of water, he probably is still healthy. If not, he may be blocked. If the droppings start to be of uneven size, some big and some small, irregularly shaped, with light color and a dry look, this is a sign of wool in the system. If the rabbit is not eating well, that provides further evidence he is blocked. If the rabbit stops eating, excretes few droppings, and these droppings look oily and gluey or totally dry, he may be near the end of the rope.

What do you do if the rabbit is blocked? First, remove all of the wool. It may also be wise to use a superstrength enzyme instead of the maintenance-oriented enzyme used weekly. One possible enzyme is called "Prozyme". I'd use the mixture of Prozyme with banana or Prozyme with Ensure to help add enzyme and nutrients to the rabbit. Use a syringe to administer the mixture into the rabbits mouth. At this time, since the rabbit probably has stopped eating, Ensure also helps to prevent dehydration. If one follows the above method closely, the rabbit usually comes out of the woolblock in about a week. If the blockage is too large to be pushed out, some veterinarians are able to surgically removed the woolball.

Woolblock, however, is not totally reversible unless the woolball is removed by surgery. Once the rabbit is blocked, he is likely to become blocked again, because some of the woolball in the system cannot be totally forced out. Keep an eye on this rabbit to detect reoccurrences of the problem.

Copyright © 1998 by Betty Chu. All rights reserved

I feed a good horse-quality grass hay year round and that seems to help too as a preventative measure.

I found papaya tablets at Walmart. Either that or find some papaya.<br /><br />__________ Wed Oct 24, 2012 7:53 pm __________<br /><br />Or I might just go with the wild birdseed mix.

I think a combo of approaches would be best. I am thinking of adding flax, continuing with the tablets, and feeding banana rolled in meat tenderizer, and... sheesh- probably all of it! :lol:

It's been a while since I have seen Timothy hay... do you think Bermuda grass and maybe oat hay or straw would work as well?

One of the sites mentioned that the reason to avoid alfalfa was that it will start to ferment in the gut. I imagine gassy, drunken, hairball filled bunnies would be rather uncomfortable- although they might just giggle a lot.

I'm only going to find alfalfa timothy mix. I sure hope that will be ok.
I can't afford to turn this into a major production time wise. makes me rethink the Wolly situation.

I don't think it will be a major production- the only time you really need to worry is when they are molting, and you could keep your does sheared if necessary.

I had a FuzzyLop house bunny years ago, and she never got hay or anything really except pellets, baked potatoes, and occasional greens and vegis, and she never had a problem. She is the one that died of the pasteurella abscess in the eye.

I feed unlimited grass hay, limited pellets, papaya as treats, and one day a week, each bun over 16 weeks only gets hay and their supplements for the day to clear out their system. There was a study done by angora breeders in CA that found their incidence of wool block practically stopped when they did that.

I do give my buns the banana peels, and their normal diet includes 2 feedings a day, one of pellets (plus BOSS, oatmeal, and soon flax seed) then I normally give veggies later, up to 2 cups per bunny, sometimes less. My bunnies are right next to the garden, so it depends on what is growing out there or if I go forage for them. By next summer, my plan is to have enough bunny tractors built that everyone can get out to play all day long, or at least on a rotational schedule. I do think that exercise leads to healthier bunnies.

Oceanrose":8qzcnugq said:

one day a week, each bun over 16 weeks only gets hay and their supplements

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What are you giving as supplements?

Hay only for a day or two per week during molting might be a good idea for any rabbit.

I am feeding Manna Sho (which i switched to for the papaya in the pellet) and I am starting flax seed tomorrow. I will continue to give timothy hay once a week and banana peel when they are molting. I figure I will stick to that for now and see how it goes.

I give a mixture of oatmeal and BOSS, thinking of adding flaxseed to the mix. I don't measure it out, just mix them about 1 part BOSS, 2 parts oatmeal and divide it between everyone. It's what I used to give all my show bunnies years ago, it worked then .

I think hay once a week does move things along, the angora breeder I just bought out really swore by it, said the breeders in the study who did that, had practically no wool block. I haven't seen the study myself though, but it does make sense.

Oceanrose":1ehx2wdc said:

I give a mixture of oatmeal and BOSS

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I don't feed pellets at all. I feed oats, barley, beet pulp, and BOSS. I suppose I could either reduce the ration or drop it entirely for that day (or two).

I feed a good horse grass hay that is partially bermuda and bermuda hay from my lawn in the winter (along with dandelion, henbit, green weeds, and green wheat grass.) In some places, orchard grass hay is what is used, or coastal grass hay. You might try asking for that if you are wanting something other than the timothy

I also withhold pellets and supplements every 7 to 10 days and have had no wool block or enteritis in my adults (EAs) or kits (weaned by end of 3rd week) except for one kit (out of 50+) that got chilled.

considering wool rabbits "MIGHT" be routienly treated for fur mites and possibally ear mites --
Which would mess up the stomach's probiotics, I can understand those that may need to suppliment the
probiotics back, to this large extent. For those that medicate with natural items, like just oil,
they 'should' have very little problem, with the rabbit handleing protien, like hair or bermuda hay.
- Fur mites and the suggestion to rountienly medicate for the mites, even if they are not seen,
was one reason, why I decided to wait on Angora rabbits - at least till I knew of a natural way
of medicating for fur mites - that would not mess with the rabbit's probiotics.
= I would be intrested if my idea
(that they are constantly messing with the rabbit's probiotics, with medicines) is true,
though I would lay odds, it is.