What do you give to help move ingested fur?

[Heather]

Snickers is just getting over his first bout of GI stasis.  He had to stay in the ICU at the vet’s overnight this week.  It was terrifying!

I’ve been reading that while stasis can be caused by just about anything, fur/hair is a likely culprit.  

Do you give your buns anything to help them digest the hair?  We try to brush Snickers as often as we can, but he hates it.

He’s a mini-rex. 

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Harley&Thumper]

Papaya and Pineapple have enzymes that help breakdown fur in the stomach.

[Sirius&Luna]

I’ve just started giving my bunnies papaya tablets, which have less sugar than the fresh fruit. Fresh fruit is also a good option though, and I’ve heard pineapple skin works as well as the flesh.

[joea64]

I’ll have to look into that. I’ve seen a few poop strings (connected by what looks like fur strands) among the normal poops once or twice, and though it’s an infrequent occurrence I don’t want to take any chances. Where can rabbit-suitable papaya tablets be obtained in the US?

[Sirius&Luna]

I bought some Oxbow ones, so I imagine you can get them somewhere like amazon

These ones:
https://petwell.co.uk/oxbow-papaya-fruit-plus-tablets-90-pack.html?fee=1&fep=4781&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwOimi7Oy2wIVTrHtCh2GVAHVEAQYAiABEgIVz_D_BwE

Strangely, Nimbus refuses to eat them, while the other two love them.

[Ellie from The Netherlands]

Get well soon Snickers! Ingested fur is pretty difficult indeed, and that’s excellent advice from people here. Our Breintje hates brushing too, we have to put him on the dinner table to brush him, otherwise he’ll be off at the sight of the brush. To prevent slipping we have an anti-slip mat which we cover with “the towel of shame”. A secure footing also makes them less frightened.

[Azerane]

Fur cannot be digested and it is intended to pass through the gut. Encouraging bun to eat plenty of hay will keep things moving as well as making sure you keep fluids up.

As with anything prevention is better than cure and daily brushing during heavy shed and weekly brushing during a light shed can do wonders for reducing the amount of ingested fur

[OnyxMoon]

I recently started giving my buns papaya tablets from Oxbow, i get them from chewy.com (i think they’re cheaper on there ) and I’m in the US

[Author]

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