# Sick Angora Rabbit - Would appreciate Help....



## goatladie (Oct 1, 2005)

HI, I know this is typically fiber stuff here and this is sorta related - but I didn't know where else to go with so many people with Angora rabbits to get Ang. rab. specific help so I thought I would ask - Hope this is okay here..... 

One of my Angoras is very weak and not full of energy today, hardly moving - my first thought was possibly wool block, took her coat off, stool in cage looks regular size, but can't tell if she isn't going. Seems to have gotten really skinny lately, not eating food today/drinking. Had decreased her food some lately since it seemed to be too much for her... thinking maybe I shouldn't have decreased the food. Would giving her some B complex help a rabbit - I know with a weak goat you would, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... I am afraid I will lose her


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Have you given her fresh fruit -especially papaya? Are you making sure she drinks, even syringing her water or an pedilyte/electrolyte solution. I'd try to keep her hydrated, offer the fruit, but otherwise quiet and in a dim room - the bathroom is my hospital spot.


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## kellyprzy (Oct 2, 2007)

From the angora technical manual:

"Does the rabbit have wool block? Angora rabbits ingest wool fibers from grooming themselves. The wool may ball up in the stomach, mixing with undigested food, and the rabbit will feel full and not eat. Eventually, the rabbit may die.

Individuals vary in their susceptibility to wool block. For some, it simply never becomes a problem. Others may require treatment frequently. It is better to select for breeding those individuals who are always ready for dinner with healthy appetites. The formation of the stomach and associated organs probably has a lot to do with how easily trapped wool fibers slide on through the rabbit's gut, and therefore, a tendency to block up is genetic.

To prevent wool block, I feed high-fiber rabbit feed, and offer plain grass hay or clean straw to the rabbits. You may offer the rabbits papaya tablets once a week. You may also offer them fresh pineapple or Dole brand frozen pineapple juice. These things all have enzymes that seem to be helpful in preventing wool block. It is also good NOT to overfeed the rabbits, as overfeeding may aggravate a tendency to wool block.

Here are some things which I have found helpful in treating wool block:
Give the blocked-up rabbit 1/3 of a whole banana, with the skin on it, daily. I donât know why this is helpful, but it often is.

Give the rabbit 1/2 tsp. or so of Colase Syrup (also available as Diocto Syrup), which is a stool softener. It is a surfactant, and is very effective. You get this at pharmacies, and may have to special order it.

Mix 1 tsp. of meat tenderizer with a little bit of mashed banana and offer that to the rabbit.

If wool block is not the problem, just giving the rabbit 1/3 banana daily for a few days in a row will often help them get their appetites back. I will also offer finicky eaters alfalfa (you should know that some breeders have had the experience of their rabbits dying from âoverdosingâ on alfalfa), elm leaves, elm twigs, dandelions, and chemical-free grass. Be cautious--you donât want to offer your rabbit something which might be toxic."

Breeders I know have successfully used pineapple juice- you can syringe it in if need be. Also provide free choice hay. It sounds like wool block. Angoras can loose weight & you don't know about it since their fluffy coats hide it.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Okay it sound like wool block and it may be too late for her at this point. But here is something to try. You need to get some Adolf's meat tenerizer (not sure about other brands but this is what is called for) You also need applesauce. Mix about a teaspoon of Adolf's in a bit of apple sauce and try to get her to eat it. If it isn't too late then she may pull out of it. But I am sorry to say that if she is really skinny it may be too late for her to pull through. It is worth a try though. I would say feed this too her maybe every hour if you can get her to take little bits at a time. Here is how it is supposed to work. If you catch wool block in time, as soon as you begin to see poops chained together with hairs, feed either this or on a regular basis Papaya tablets or pineapple. It is the enzymes in these things that help to eat up the hair so it can be passed easily. Rabbits cannot regurgitate so if they ingest hair it just stays there unless it is able to be passed. It can easily get bound up into knots and it eventually blocks the stomach so the rabbit will act like it is really hungry at first (that is another sign). Sometimes you can pull them out from that point. But when they get to the point of being really skinny it is usually too late, they have or will basically starve to death  

I'll post more later about what my friend's and I have learned about keeping Angora rabbits.

Please keep us posted. I am sorry to be so blunt and make this such a downer. I hope I'm wrong.


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Just checking in to see how the bunny is.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Goatladie please check in!!!


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## goatladie (Oct 1, 2005)

Thank you for your help and suggestions. Sorry for not getting back sooner, last night was not a good one as you might have guessed... Unfortunately, it was too
much for her, she didn't make it. I tried giving her some water
through a syringe, but she was barely taking it and just didn't have it
in her.... Also tried pineapple, pineapple juice, and a banana,
wouldn't take it. Very depressed about why this happened to her, she
was one of my favorites... Will check back in again sometime soon - I have missed being on here and my spinning since I moved and have been too busy, thanks again for your suggestions, I am going to file them in my rabbit info folder in case this should happen again - I just think it was too late for her as Marchwind said - she just went down so fast and I didn't see the strung together balls like you typically do, still mystified, but they are so delicate, I will probably never know...


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Oh, I am sorry to hear this. I have to work all weekend. On Monday I will post some information for you and anyone else who might be interested.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I said I would post some information about Angora rabbits I have learned or discovered through trial and error. As with everything there is always more than one way of doing things.

When I began to get into raising Angora rabbits I had two friends who had raised them for years. One of them, Leslie, and I had very similar philosophies on care and breeding practices. Our friend Sherry, had a very different philosophy. Leslie and I both believed in keeping our rabbits outside in the elements, they had protection from the wind and rain but otherwise they were in the open air. We also only groomed our rabbits when we were going to pluck them or if they had matts that needed to be dealt with. Otherwise, we rarely handled them although we did have lots of contact with them during feedings and out regular daily checks on them. Sherry kept her rabbits in an unheated shed. They were more or less kept in the dark all the time, whatever daylight came in via the door or through cracks (it was not an airtight building) was all there was other than maybe a bare light bulb. Sherry also groomed her rabbits all the time. When ever she groomed them she would dust them with flea and tick powder (she was paranoid about hair mites).

Leslie and I had no problems with health issues of our rabbits, rarely did we have issues with wool block. We all fed the same food, a special blend I worked up with the local grain elevator, and we fed papaya tablets regularly. I think I had maybe 2-3 rabbits die of woolblock in the years I had them. Leslie maybe a few more then me but she had rabbits many more years. We also never had any problems with breeding.

Sherry had chronic health issues, several deaths from woolblock, wry neck and colds/pneumonia. She also issues with breeding.

Leslie and I had many discussions about how our philosophy was so different from Sherry's and the resulting issues and did we really think our way prevented issues. We came up with the answer of yes. Our reasoning was this; Every time you handled the rabbits whether it was to groom them or to play with them or to pluck them, they would groom themselves after they had been handled. By their self-grooming we deduced they were ingesting wool. So our theory was that they would ingest more wool if handled than if left alone except when necessary. Our rabbits were also housed in wire cages with common walls and we housed them, male, female, male, female........ The theory behind this was that if you kept the males next to the females this would help to keep the females wanting to be bred. And by keeping the males next to the females it kept the males on their best behavior. We also made decisions on who to breed early in their life. Leslie felt that if you didn't breed the females early and fairly often (once a year) then you would have difficulties with breedings taking. Sherry had chronic problems with her breeding programs. But she also held her does for a year or more before she tried to breed them and she also kept all her rabbits a foot or more apart. Sherry had some very strange reasons for doing what she did. Things like the dusting them with the powder every time she groomed them. I can tell you that Leslie and I never had any problems with fleas, ticks and only once did I have an issue with hair mites which I cured with Ivomectin. Sherry kept her rabbits in the dark shed because she said they were nocturnal animals and needed the dark. I think she kept them separated because she felt it was healthier, never mind that rabbits are social critters.

My years of raising angoras, I had 30 at one time, I learned a lot. Although they require a lot of time I don't think they are nearly as delicate as many people think. They definitely need to be groomed fully 3-4 times a year when they shed out. At that time we did their nails, plucked them, checked their ears, skin, and teeth. Besides that we rarely handled the rabbits. We made sure if we were going to have breeders we kept them bred at least once a year. I firmly believe that keeping them out in the open really helped to keep them healthy, they were well protected from the elements. We fed them the best we could afford and gave them treats.

Thats about it. I hope this doesn't ramble too much. If anyone has any questions or anything to add please do so.


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Marchwind said:


> My years of raising angoras, I had 30 at one time, I learned a lot. Although they require a lot of time I don't think they are nearly as delicate as many people think. They definitely need to be groomed fully 3-4 times a year when they shed out. At that time we did their nails, plucked them, checked their ears, skin, and teeth. Besides that we rarely handled the rabbits. We made sure if we were going to have breeders we kept them bred at least once a year. I firmly believe that keeping them out in the open really helped to keep them healthy, they were well protected from the elements. We fed them the best we could afford and gave them treats.


I would prefer to keep our Angora rabbits outdoors too. I think rabbits benefit from lots of fresh air, not indoor air. We had to move them indoors because of county rules, no livestock outside in our zoning area. Indoors makes them pets.

The good part is not getting rained on while feeding rabbits. The rabbits get air conditioning now in the summer, so we don't have to bring rabbits into the house on very hot days in Central Calif, we can get over a week of 100F+ days, sometimes over 110F in temp.

Our rabbits get time to play on the grass outdoors in pens. They get to go for rides in the car to be in rabbit shows. They get groomed with cornstarch, which acts like a dry shampoo. We don't use flea powders, only Ivermectin if needed.

We handle ours a lot because they are showbunnies as well as being fiber animals. They get groomed and checked regularly. They must have good, usable coats to compete in the rabbit shows. Or they will lose to the rabbits that do have good coats. So we breed for that trait also.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Although I've only had angora rabbits a year or so, I'd just like to add that I'm not using cages at all - we have an area divided into to 15x20' sections each with a small house that I had used at one time for chickens. The bunnies live out there next to the garden, there is some digging - at first at the common fence but lining it with rocks from the field solved that, now they just lay at the fence- one on either side spending the mornings together. They sleep during the day in the houses. I would like to say that not every bunny seems to agree with this but I think it was the change more than the system at fault. A 6 yo buck died within 2 weeks of coming here and then the same thing happened when Meg brought me 2 bunnies - Ranger just loves his pen but Molly died within 2 weeks. All I can think is that both of them were depressed in some way due to the change because they were being feed the same food, fruit, etc. But Mr. Bunny and Ranger seem quite happy, bounce over to me when I go in to feed and water-we visit but I don't hold them, just scratch behind the ears. Mr. Bunny is germanx and Ranger a satin and I've had no problems with stuff in their wool. So just another way things can be done without cages.


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