Abstract
Impaction of the stomach of the rabbit with matted hair ('hairball') is usually an intermittent problem in many rabbit colonies, and ours is no exception. Boredom, stress, lack of sufficient amount and quality of hay, and excessive hair loss are thought to be the main factors involved in its aetiology. Refusal to eat and drink, with diminished excretion of faeces, are the main signs. The stomach can be felt as a distended hard object through the abdominal wall. Surprisingly rabbits survive with these symptoms, often for several weeks. On post-mortem examination a grossly degenerated liver is found, presumably as a result of starvation or gastritis, and the stomach is full of entangled hair surrounded with mucus, with the mucus membrane showing patchy hyperaemia and inflammation. There is very little information as to the treatment of this condition (Wagner, Hackel & Samsell, 1974). Having lost or killed a number of rabbits due to hairball despite attempts to relieve it by the administration of various doses and combinations of liquid paraffin, oral antibiotics and glucose in the drinking water, we have recently been giving 5 consecutive daily oral doses of 20 ml liquid paraffin by syringe followed by gentle massage of the stomach through the abdominal wall for 3 minutes, together with daily oral administration by syringe of 0,04 g neomycin sulphate (2 ml 'Nivemycin'; Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd, Nottingham, NG2 3AA) for 5 days. The first case treated in this manner was a 13 month old New Zealand White breeding buck, one of the originally germ-free, hand-reared foundation stock of our pasteurellosisand coccidiosis-free rabbit colony. The colony was fed on SGIV diet (Dixon & Sons Ltd, Crane Mead Mills, Ware, Hertfordshire) pretreated with 2.5 Mrad y-radiation, and on autoclaved hay ad libitum. Following the treatment the rabbit appeared to be fully recovered. However, 55 days after the last treatment it again appeared listless and refused food and drink. The following day it was found dead. At autopsy the stomach was found to be normal, containing green food matter in which floated 6 . firm nodules of matted hair, diameter about 5 mm. At 20 mm from its origin the duodenum was dilated and haemorrhagic. This portion was firmly obstructed by 2 similar nodules of matted hair. No other abnormalities were seen. The cause of death was assumed to be acute duodenal obstruction. Perhaps the continuation of liquid paraffin treatment at a reduced dose for a longer period might have prevented this mishap by facilitating the early removal of these residual nodules without the obstruction of the duodenum. Should this be contemplated, the malabsorption of fat-soluble vitamins should be reckoned with and compensated for by their oral or parenteral administration. The first issue from the breeding colony consisted of a mixture of 40 young adult Dutch and New Zealand White rabbits, with their hybrids. They were transferred to an experimental unit where their diet was RGP (Labsure Animal Foods, Agrarian House, Castle Street, Poole, Dorset) and they no longer received hay. Within 3 weeks 20 of these rabbits died of hairball, 2 of enteritis and 3 of unidentified causes. As soon as their diet was changed back to SGrV and they begun to receive autoclaved hay twice weekly, no more morbidity or death occurred in the remaining 15, or in an additional 18 rabbits issued since, after the changeover of the regime in the 6 months to January 1977. This seems to support the suggestion that the avoidance of stress and of drastic changes in management and the provision of hay are helpful in the prevention of this condition.
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