Dry Skin? Mites? Thoughts?!

[BunMum]

Hi rabbit friends!

So I am reaching out on here in the event that someone has experienced something similar.

I have attached some pictures of what is currently happening to my male bun. When I first noticed this a few months back, I immediately took him to the vet thinking it was mites based on my online research. They did some skin scrapings and did not see any mites. The vet advised that they could still treat him for it to be safe, but could not say for sure that's what it was. I was told it was possible it could just be dry skin. I was given the option to take home a "dry skin" treatment which I did. At first it did seem like it was working, but as you can see, it has now come back.

SO, all that to say, I will obviously be taking another trip to the vet...but figured I would see if anyone had any advice or thoughts on here first as the vet bills are very expensive. (My last one was $300 to basically be told they were not sure lol -_- )

Also of note, my other rabbit who is housed directly beside him (and they can touch through the squares) has no signs of the same thing.

To give a very quick background; I have been a bun mum for years and currently have two wonderful Holland Lops. Both are over one year old and both are fixed. They are housed in a custom pen which is very large! Their diet consists of Oxbow Timothy Hay (unlimited access) and Oxbow Adult Rabbit Pellets (a very small amount once/day). They each get a treat at night prior to bedtime which is again Oxbow.

If anyone has seen this before or has any thoughts on what it could be, please let me know! Thank you so much for taking the time to look at / read this!

 

[JBun]

That does look like it could be mites. Sometimes skin scrapings come out negative even though there is clearly a mite problem. So I would treat based on symptoms presenting. There are other possibilities of course, but fur mites is the most common and easily treated.

Did you opt to do the mite treatment(ivermectin- oral or injection, or Revolution/Sronghold-selamectin topical)? If you didn't try the mite treatment, you should be able to just phone your vet up(instead of paying for another office visit) and say the dry skin treatment didn't clear up the dandruff and that you would now like to try the mite treatment. Your rabbit has already been seen by them for this problem so another office visit isn't necessary at this point. I would personally go with the revolution(selamectin) as it's more effective, only requires one treatment usually, and is a bit safer than the ivermectin if you have one of those rare rabbits that has an ivermectin sensitivity. If you have any other rabbits/pets around then you just have to make sure to keep them separate for the required time so they don't groom off the treatment.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/furmite/fur_mite.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Cheyletiellosis.htm

 

[BunMum]

That does look like it could be mites. Sometimes skin scrapings come out negative even though there is clearly a mite problem. So I would treat based on symptoms presenting. There are other possibilities of course, but fur mites is the most common and easily treated.

Did you opt to do the mite treatment(ivermectin- oral or injection, or Revolution/Sronghold-selamectin topical)? If you didn't try the mite treatment, you should be able to just phone your vet up(instead of paying for another office visit) and say the dry skin treatment didn't clear up the dandruff and that you would now like to try the mite treatment. Your rabbit has already been seen by them for this problem so another office visit isn't necessary at this point. I would personally go with the revolution(selamectin) as it's more effective, only requires one treatment usually, and is a bit safer than the ivermectin if you have one of those rare rabbits that has an ivermectin sensitivity. If you have any other rabbits/pets around then you just have to make sure to keep them separate for the required time so they don't groom off the treatment.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/furmite/fur_mite.htm
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Cheyletiellosis.htm

That is a great point! I shouldn't have to pay the exam fee to have him seen for the same thing when the last treatment they gave me did not work. So I will make sure to say that when I call in the morning!

I have not done any of the mite treatments yet, just what she prescribed for the possibility of "dry skin". So I will do that next and hopefully it's an easy fix!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it!

 

[JBun]

You actually shouldn't even have to take him in to be seen again. You should be able to just phone them up, say the dry skin treatment didn't work and that you would like to try the mite treatment now, and then just go pick up the med. Ask what med it will be. It should be ivermectin or revolution(selamectin). If you prefer the revolution and they offer the ivermectin, just ask if you could do revolution instead. Though the revolution is likely to be a bit more expensive than the ivermectin.