Please help!! 1 year old Rex rabbit bad rash unsure about vet recommendations

[JBun]

No, I'm glad to hear others input. I'm by no means an expert on rabbits and just relay info as best I can. You could very well be right about it being mange. It can be hard to tell what's going on with a rabbit just by photos. But I think it's safe to say it's mites or syphilis. If the rabbit is scratching a lot and itchy, mites would be more likely. If not itchy, possibly syphilis.

I do agree with zuppa that it's better to treat based on the results of tests, but sometimes tests don't come out conclusive even though symptoms clearly point to it being that specific problem. All indications show this could very well be mites, yet the skin scrape came back showing it wasn't. It may be that because this is a burrowing mite a deep skin scrape may be needed to get more accurate results.

Then there's testing for syphilis. Problem with that is it can take some time to get those kind of test results back. So usually rabbits are treated for syphilis based on symptoms.

If the vet is unsure what to treat for and skin scrapes are inconclusive, if it was me I would ask my vet to try treating for mange first with revolution as it's the easier and safer to treat of the two. If it's mites there should be some improvement that first week. If that didn’t work then I'd try syphilis treatment next. Syphilis treatment has a higher risk for rabbits because some rabbits can be sensitive to the effects of pen g even though given by injection, so I would want to try it last.

 

[Nicksully71]

Actually, Jbun has a really good point, I missed the line about excessive grooming and fur loss on the feet. Those actually could be signs of Sarcoptic mange, although I wouldn't be completely willing to write off a run of the mill non-infectious mite infection. Sorry, Jbun! Good luck!

He does not have fur loss on his feet he just had two really small sore hocks on his rear feet that are almost healed

 

[Nicksully71]

The vet said they look like bug or spider bites but we haven’t seen anything in the apartment he gave him a shot and said to continue the medication minus the baytril

 

[JBun]

Do you know what medication the injection was?

 

[zuppa]

The vet said they look like bug or spider bites but we haven’t seen anything in the apartment he gave him a shot and said to continue the medication minus the baytril

If there's no chance you could get him to another rabbit-savvy vet to get a second opinion I would say that if there's indeed case of syphilis (where could he get it from? if he's an indoor bunny and never had any contacts, it could be only from his mother so if you can contact people you've got him from and ask if his mother or his siblings had similar problems)
So, if there's indeed syphilis caused all the skin problems on his ears, nose AND fur loss on his neck, that would be just one problem, but that fur loss looks so typical for fur mites I've seen it a lot, even if there's another type of mites, mange or what @Mac189 mentioned, they all can be treated successfully with rabbit parasite spot on containing ivermectin. There are usually 4 pipettes in the box, you apply topically every 10-14 days because it will kill mites he has now but won't kill eggs so new eggs will hatch in 10 days and you apply the second pipette to kill new young mites, then in 10 days you apply again in case they had chance to lay new eggs, then again in 10 days and you should see improvements a few days after applying first portion. Then if with this simple treatment one of the problems is gone and the bald spot is gone you will see what's left and can see if it improved after using mite treatment.

Because what he has on ears also can be caused by mites, so I would apply one pipette on his neck and another on his ears and nose and see if there's any improvements after a couple weeks.

If those spots are still there after mites are gone you can focus on them, at least you will know he doesn't have mites anymore and there's something needs to be diagnosed and cured.

So I see there's two problems at least, mites (or other parasites) and I can't rule out syphilis as @JBun stated it all started on his nose so I agree he could get it from cleaning his genitalia. But again, where did he get it from?

What I thought it could be some kind of allergic skin condition if not syphilis, but as I said, I would try if anti parasite would work then you will see how your situation changed/improved with the other spots.

Here's what I would use and you can get from an online pet stores without prescription, I would get more than one since there's larger affected areas so I would apply on ears as well.

>> Beaphar Anti-Parasite Spot On for Rabbit and Rodents - Drops against Parasites

Also, I would be interested what shot he's got recently and if he shakes his head/ears, it can indicate that he has ear mites as well, I mean inside his ears.