Wool Block in Angora Rabbits - The Real Truth

The last two weeks have been kind of crappy. I'm sure you're familiar with life events that somehow all build up and happen at the same time. And then just to put the cherry on top, you get sick with a cold or flu just to make coping and dealing that much more challenging.

So Margarite was sick, I've had a cold, and my Tom Cat is still missing (I should have had children instead of cats, then at least they'd have a cell phone and I could call to ask where they are!).

Margarite, the older angora rabbit stopped eating a couple weeks ago. I had been monitoring her intakes and output and I noticed she was gradually eating less and less and her poops were getting smaller and smaller... and then they stopped--not a good thing for a rabbit.

I brushed her regularly, more often than the once a week that was recommended. The brushing is to remove loose hair so she wouldn't be consuming so much of her own wool when cleaning herself. It seemed all my efforts were in vain.

I had done quite a bit of reading on wool block on the interent and so I followed that advice.

I tempted her with fruits, gave her papaya tablets, which she would barely eat. Then when she stopped eating entirely I was forced to give her eyedroppers of pineapple juice and mineral oil in an attempt to give her fluids to get the blockage moved. And I cut off her wool to prevent her from ingesting more of her own long fibre.

It pains me to remember how much she hated being forced to take these treatments and how much it terrorized her. It was very upsetting for both of us. She pooped a little but her appetite just would not return. I just knew there had to be another solution so I went back to the Internet to find out what more I could do.

Then I came across the Rabbit Society's (http://www.rabbit.org/) web site with information from a veterinarian who also keeps rabbits. It describes the rabbit's digestive system in detail and what the REAL problem is when a rabbit's stomach has wool in it. It's a lack of motility of the GI tract and the digestive system (http://www.rabbit.org/journal/3-7/gi.html) caused by a lack of moisture in her system. The solution was so simple to be ridiculous. HYDRATION through eating greens--VEGETABLES!

The problem isn't that much different than constipation in humans. The rabbit's stomach does fill with hair as it grooms itself and then she starts to feel full and stops eating. The more dehydrated the rabbit becomes from not eating the more tightly packed the hair mass becomes, perpetuating the problem. They need fluids and the best way to get them is through food they are craving - vegetables.

My rabbit, wouldn't eat anything except a couple nibbles on a banana or strawberry. When presented with greens she GOBBLED them. I gave her romaine lettuce, parsley and carrot tops. This was a rabbit who hadn't eaten in a week, who was being force fed! I couldn't believe how she began to eat immediately. Of course the poops followed shortly after she started to eat and her energy came right back and she began to act like a normal rabbit again.

She did have plenty of hay the whole time through this ordeal, but that wasn't what she was naturally craving. She knew what she needed and she had to wait for the dummy (me) to figure it out! She was craving the moisture and fibre that vegetables provide.

I hadn't been feeding them greens. My history with greens is a little scary - years ago we raised a wild baby bunny and when we gave it greens it got diarrhea and then died - so I was very nervous about giving greens. After reading more information on the Rabbit Society web site I relaxed, seeing that the issue of diarrhea is more with baby rabbits, not adults as long as the greens were introduced slowly. I've now turned over a new leaf ;)

If you keep angora rabbits, I highly recommend the Rabbit Society website - and definitely read the article about the lack of motility caused by wool in the stomach. I believe their information saved my rabbit's life and it definitely saved our relationship. I certainly was not popular with her for a few days there but now it looks like I've been forgiven.

I do believe that the eyedropper and mineral oil can be effective if necessary, but try the greens first before you traumatize your bunny.

Both rabbits are now enjoying a veggie diet, along with pellets and hay ... and there's poops a-plenty! And now I find I'm eating more veggies too because they're in the house. I think we're all going to get more healthy. All I need now is for Tom Cat to come home.

Angora Bunny Update

This is my older baby Margarite. She's an Angora rabbit and she's around two years old. I've had her and Lexi for a couple months.

She LOVES to be petted and brushed. In fact, it's part of our nightly ritual that I come in the Rabbit Room every hour or so for a little scratching and brushing.

If I get behind and spend a little too long without visiting, she thumps in her cage. I don't mind it at all. Actually, I'm kind of glad they do it because it reminds me that they're waiting for me to come and visit. I do get caught up in my hobbies and time can go by without me noticing.

The rabbits can thump in the morning too when I'm up and moving around (just once or twice, so not super demanding). This is my pre-coffee state and I'm not one to spend much time prepping before I'm out the door to the bus. So the fact that the rabbits remind me they're waiting for their morning feed and quick pat really helps keep me on schedule and reminds me not to forget about them.


Margarite's hair is growing back from her last hair cut. Her previous owner gave me a bag of her fibre which I've been spinning slowly on the hand spindle.

I've spun a little bit of Lexi's fur on the spinning wheel but I find the fibre short and the spinning wheel a bit fast.

I'm not one to give up, I've just got lots of other projects on the go so I'll have to get back to that one.


I love Margarite's agouti brown and gray colouring.

I hope to let Margarite's fur grow out pretty long before I cut it... watching to ensure she doesn't get wool block though.

Using the same theory I have for my cats, instead of setting the rabbits up so that they're out in a rabbit run all the time - which at first they'd enjoy but after a time would become boring. Instead, they have large comfortable hutches that they're in all day and then I let them out in the evening. I opted to not make runs, but instead to rabbit proof and give them the whole room - meaning more room to manoeuvre and get exercise. Because of that they have to take turns which is why I visit every hour or so, to switch them out... Lexi back to her cage with some sunflower seeds and Margarite comes out for a time.
They head straight for the kitty litter when I release them and they enjoy sitting in it for a while. This has made cage cleaning much simpler. I swear that Lexi saves her pee for the kitty litter at the end of the day because her tray in her cage is not full of wetness from urine.

I'm SO glad I read up on rabbits and therefore knew that rabbits can have red coloured pee - it can actually look like blood, but it's not.

If I had seen that before reading about it I would have freaked out! Their pee also has a lot of calcium in it which is why there can be calcium marks on the catch tray of their cage.


Lexi's fur is already growing back from bunny's first hair cut and it's not looking so uneven. Hopefully when we do the next cut I'll be more relaxed.

Now, in case you don't know what this look means, I will tell you - it's the look of PURE MISCHIEF!


Lexi is the little bunny, the baby, and she's about 10 months old. She's a little mischiefer. I might have to rename her. She regularly climbs to the roof of Margarite's hutch which I have set up as the grooming station.


Up there is all the grooming paraphernalia - safety scissors and brush, which our little mischief bunny picks everything up with her teeth and drops them to the floor.

Then she grabs the little rug I put there and she pulls it back and tugs on it. (photo of Lexi on top of the hutch).

If I stand still at any time when she's out of the cage she circles me. Literally like circling the wagons.... it's hilarious and I will try to post a video of it for you to see... it's a little blurry so I'll retake and re-post in the near future.


Why does she circle me? She wants to be petted and brushed. She loves for me to pick her up and put her on top of the hutch for a grooming session.

Mind you, she's not keen on having her tummy done, or letting me trim her toenails but for anything else she'd lay there for hours.

If I'm giving Margarite extended attention, this little minx will thump and grunt in frustration. She definitely knows when she thinks it's her turn.


I'm totally enjoying the bunnies and their very different personalities. They're very friendly and not just these quiet little animals. They are both real characters and really enjoy interaction and fun.

More Fur Babies

I have two new babies - Fur Babies. Last week I purchased two Angora bunnies from a lady who was busily growing her human family and therefore couldn't manage the extra work with the rabbits so she put them up for sale. I felt pretty lucky to find them.

They are both girls, the older one is Margarite. She's an "agouti" which as far as I've been able to find out means she's a gray/brown colour. I think she's marvelous. It's taken about a week for them to settle in and for me to learn their personalities. Margarite likes to let me know if her bowl gets empty. She thumps her cage floor. I can hear it from other parts of the house and I know that she wants more food. I discovered yesterday when I groomed her for the first time (they are to be brushed weekly) that she loves to be brushed and today when she was out she was butting against my hand, asking to be scratched. She loves sunflower seeds and I give them to her as a treat after she's had her romp.

The other rabbit is the baby. Her name is now Lexi and she's 8 months old. She's a lilac (gray/blue) angora. She's pretty fluffy still with her baby hair. She's a little imp. She hops around the rabbit room investigating everything.

While I was doing a little construction on Margarite's cage she was there the whole time sticking her face in, trying to chew the wood, investigating all my tools. It was quite funny.

I bought a Ware Premium Rabbit Hutch which I put together and I put Lexi in it as her new home. She seemed to like it and was very excited the next day, and spent a lot of time hopping up and down her bunny ramp. She also loves her dark hiding area which she didn't have before in the smaller cage she was in. In the picture she's nibbling sunflower seeds from a footstool. After I groomed her I gave her a slice of apple which she really enjoyed.

Lexi learned to use kitty litter in less than 5 minutes. I was really impressed. She's continued to use it faithfully. Now Margarite, being a little older is taking some convincing to be consistent, but I'm patient and we're working on it together (what that really means is that when she pees on the floor, I clean it up and try to remove the smell with bleach or vinegar and hope she doesn't do it there again). Today we had no accidents so I think we're heading in the right direction.

I have a spinning wheel, but for some reason I'm really enjoying spinning Margarite's fibre with the drop spindle. Maybe its the slower pace of the spindle, but I find it very relaxing and rewarding. Of course, the spinning wheel always waits so maybe knowing I have that option helps me be more patient.

I really wanted sheep, but living in a subdivision means I can't keep them so the rabbits are my little sheep. Keeping sheep in a subdivision reminds me of my visit to New Zealand in 1976. Back then, many homes kept a sheep on their front yard, anchored to the ground by a rubber tire. The faithful sheep trimmed their front lawns of grass, fertilized it with their poop and provided wool for knitting, all from one humble animal. You just can't beat that kind of environmental action! I'm not sure if it's still that way in New Zealand today. I certainly hope that it is.