rabbit shedding and mushy poop

Question
Hello. Our rabbit, which we've only had for about 7 months and was adopted as an adult is sick I think. I have know idea how old it is, I think it's a female, it's not lop-eared. What once were hard pellets for poop are now lumped together in a softer mass, not exactly diarreah, just larger clumps and softer. Also it's fur is coming out in handfulls all of a sudden. We live in a small town, who's vet admits to not knowing much about rabbits. Is there something wrong? Is occasional heavy shedding normal? Thanks for you help.

Answer
Dear Jeanette,

Shedding is normal this time of year.  As long as you don't see signs of baldness or red, irritated skin, she's probably just going through a normal shedding cycle.  However, this *could* be related to her mushy stools (a sign of cecal dysbiosis), which you can read about here:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/poop.html

If she's shedding heavily, it's important to groom as much of the loose fur off her as possible so she doesnt' ingest too much when she grooms herself.  Rabbits do not commonly get "hairballs," but ingested hair can irritate the GI tract and in some rare cases can cause an impaction.  To prevent this, do the following:

1.  Groom the loose fur off with a fine-toothed flea comb (most combs will slip right through the fur, but those little cheap plastic-handled ones work quite well).

2.  With moistened hands, rub bunny back and forth.  Loose fur will come off in great sheets.  Rub your palms together to remove the fur, then repeat until the bunny is mostly free of loose fur.

3.  Provide unlimited, fresh timothy (or other grass--not alfalfa) hay for fiber.  This will help push any ingested hair through the gut.

4.  Provide a large bowl full of clean drinking water at all times.  (Rabbits will usually drink more from a bowl than from a sipper bottle.)

5.  Give a good-sized salad of fresh, wet greens daily, as per:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/diet.html

This, too, will help push fur through the GI tract and keep thing hydrated and lubricated.

It is possible that the mushy poop is NOT related to the shedding.  The most common causes of cecal dysbiosis are incorrect diet (see article above) and undiagnosed dental problems (especially in lops and dwarf rabbits) causing pain:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/dental.html

If you need a good rabbit vet to help you, even if it's a bit of a drive, you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana