Is it common for rabbits to get hairballs?

Question

I've noticed my rabbit goes into moments that to me almost looks like he was hiccuping. At first i thought it was just something he did and then i thought about hairballs but he never choked up anything like a cat does so i didnt know what to make of it. I wanted to know if this is something all rabbits get and should not be worried about or can this get serious if left untreated?

Answer 1

All rabbits get hairballs, and to put it short... i would be concerned.

Like the people above me said, rabbits can't cough up their hairballs like cats.

Furthermore, rabbits have an extremely simple digestive system, and a small tummy, so hairballs can be a very dangerous thing for the little guys. They cannot easily "poo" it out and cannot cough it up at all, so as I'm sure you can imagine, this can be serious business.

I had a VERY furry New Zealand Albino (14 pounds of pure FLUFF lol) who stopped eating one day. It turned out, it was because she had a large mass of fur in her tummy ($500 in vet bills later!). The solution? Well, before they wanted to try surgery, they tried what they called the pumpkin pie method.

Yup... pumpkin pie filling saved her life. It's very high in fiber, but very sweet at the same time. Apparently animals go "ga ga" over the stuff, but the fiber cleans them out! I was friends with the vet tech at the hospital, so we took my bunny home, got an oral syringe (you can get them for next to nothing, and sometimes even free at most pharmacies) and fed her about 1/2 a teaspoon every 45 minutes until she started going potty, then switched to darkly toasted wheat bread. Please consider my bunny's very large size when you look at the amount she was given, she is one of the largest bunnies out there so most bunnies would need much less!

It saved her from surgery. She got a lot of her fur out of her tummy, and I learned to be preventative in tackling bunny fur balls.

Regular grooming will remove excess hair, making his own grooming less likely to give him hairballs. You could make it a nightly thing where he sits on your lap and you brush him... a lot of bunnies really enjoy it.

In the meantime, I would highly recommend watching his eating habits...
Bunnies are CONSTANT eaters, as they are prey animals and accustomed to eating "on the run" so they don't become someone else's lunch! If your little guy stops eating even for 8 hours... take him to an emergency vet hospital, because he will have already entered the danger zone in regards to his little life, and the fur ball has become large enough to take up the entire space of his tummy.

Answer 2

Well everyone covered this pretty thoroughly, but one more thing you can do is keep Petromalt (for rabbits or cats, which you can buy at Petsmart or other petstores) on hand, and if the rabbit starts to have small abnormal poops or none at all, or is not eating, give some until everything returns to normal. Not pooping or eating is one of the most common signs of a hairball problem in rabbits. Petromalt can also be used preventatively, once per week or every two weeks. However, hay is probably the most important factor in preventing hairballs.

Answer 3

Rabbits can get hairballs similar to cats. Normally hairballs are more common on wool breeds such as Angoras, Jersery Woolies, or American Fuzzy Lops. Normally the hairballs are treated with papaya tablets that can normally be gotten at most any health food store. Just give the rabbit about one a day. Normally, they'll eat them just like candy. Also you may want to see about giving a little more fiber/roughage to your rabbit's diet by giving your rabbit a small handful of timothy hay or straw to chew and nibble on. The roughage of the straw or timothing hay will help.

You may also want to check that your rabbit doesn't have a cold or respiratory problem. Some rabbit respiratory symptoms can look somewhat like hiccuping.

One note, be careful of sweetnytmare's answer regarding the pumpkin filling. That could work to avoid surgery but you are in someways trying to create a controlled diahrrea scenario and that can be treading thin ice if you aren't careful. You might end up solving one problem and causing another if you aren't very careful.

Answer 4

Your bunny does get hairballs for sure. Rabbits groom themselves much in the same way that a cat does. Their fur comes out easily, and if they are a longer haired breed, like an angora, it is even harder on their systems. Rabbits can NOT regurgitate (vomit) them out like a cat can though. Give your rabbit hay every other day, in the wild, rabbits eat a lot of roughage, like bark and grass that sweeps the fur through their systems. Hay is a very healthy treat and system cleaner for your rabbit who most definitely does get furballs. Yes this can cause illness and/or death.

Answer 5

Yes. A rabbit cleans it fur just like a cat cleans its hair. You can purchase hairball gel from PetsMart for kittens. I would suggest keeping fresh hay in your bunnies cage. This helps with furballs. I also purchase papaya tablets from Wal-Mart and I give my bunnies a tablet for 3 days in a row when I notice fur in their poop. The tablets are cheap and very helpful.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

yes, but they can not cough them up. You must make sure the rabbit has plenty of hay for roughage. This is the only way they can pass the hair.If the rabbit gets stopped up take him to the vet. In the meantime keep a close eye on his bowel movements to make sure he going enough.

Answer 7

Yup they do..just like cats..but I once saw this liquid thing that makes your rabbit or cat lessen the hairballs

Answer 8

rabbits cannot throw up, it is impossible for them. so when a rabbit ingests fur, it can become a ball inside the stomahc or the intestines, and case blockages, these can be extremly dangerous and deadly, some preventions can be papaya pills, pineapple chunks, and plenty of hay!

Answer 9

rabbits clean themselves similar to cats. so they get hairball like objects in their stomachs too.