Suspecting wool block

[Bebop]

I noticed a bit of wool in my angora's poop. I had been giving her papaya chunks but ran out recently. Her hay rack keeps getting knocked over, so I'm not completely sure how much hay she is getting. Any ideas for hay rack besides the plastic lixit ones?
I'm also feeding her 16% protein feed along with Animax which I believe has 14% protein to supplement just until I can find someone who has a higher protein pellet.

Please give me any suggestions. It's been a little wet here, so her fur may have felt heavy and she ingested more wool than usual.
Thanks!

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

For a hay rack, you could just zip tie it to the cage. Here is a thread on hay racks form the Cages and Construction area of the forum.

From what I have heard, papaya is not effective in breaking down the wool. Hay is vital to push it out. Water is also needed to keep the gut hydrated. I think that having it appear in the poop is a good sign as it is getting out. I am not 100% on that though.

 

[aurora369]

I find a little bit of fur in my mini-rexes poop as well. A little bit of fur is not too bad, at least it means that the fur is moving through instead of getting stuck.

Make sure she is getting lots of liquids to keep everything hydrated and from sticking. You can offer a little bowl of water with a tiny bit of juice in it to make her drink some extra.

For the hay, I use a container from Ikea for putting utensils in. There are all sorts of things you can make a hay rack out of and it seems that the best ones are supposed to go into the kitchen. Here is a link to the one I use:
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90072648

Hay and fluids really are the most important things in keeping a bunny's tummy from clogging up. So, push those two items to help pull any more fur from her.

-Dawn

 

[Bebop]

oh thank you! That's good.. I do give her a lot of water, I was just worried about the hay situation.
Thanks so much!

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

i found a 25ft-x-1ft.roll of flower fencing/cut to length/-makes an excellent hay bin..//.definately increase hay/water during molting,,which seems to be always..sincerely james waller

 

[tonyshuman]

It is better to see the fur coming out of the poop. The problem with the high-protein pellets, which I know are good for the wool-producing breeds, is that they are a lot lower in fiber than low protein pellets. For instance, the feed I use has more than 20% fiber and 14% protein. If they eat a lot of pellets too, that causes them to eat less hay. If you think not free-feeding pellets would be an option for your guys, that they'd still have good body and wool condition, I'd do that to increase her hay consumption.