My neutered male 1 y/o mini lop keeps developing these random bald patches on his body, particularly on his rump. In most cases the skin looks fine but in a recent spot the skin appears flaky and dry. I've already taken him to the vet to get him tested for mites and fungus but he came out clear. He also appears to be active and his stool looks normal. This has been going on for a couple months and I'm a bit worried. Any ideas on what could be up?
Random bald patches
- Thread starter NekoOtome
- Start date
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If there's no mite or bacterial activity, it's probably just over grooming. We had a mini Rex that used to go bald on the back of his neck every Spring--no mites, bacteria, or grooming issues, he just molted and went bald there and then the hair would go back and it was only in the Spring.
This has been going on longer though, and that's why it's worrying me. He'll get a bald patch, it grows back, a patch appears somewhere else. It's not just a seasonal thing =/
S
Sophie's Humble Servant
Could he be suffering from allergies? Animals will also groom excessively to deal with anxiety.
Imbrium
Jennifer
If the skin gets flaky and dry sometimes and there are bald patches but the possibility of mites and/or fungus has been thoroughly ruled out, then I would ask your vet about the possibility of dermatitis. We had a cat who was prone to something like that and would get dandruff-type flakes in her fur from time to time, so we'd have to give her a bath with medicated shampoo once in a while to soothe her skin.
There are different forms of and causes for dermatitis; if it doesn't result from contact with an irritant (which shouldn't be the case in your situation), then it's often an allergic or auto-immune reaction of some sort. Years ago, I suffered chronic allergy/sinus symptoms that were unresponsive to prescription antihistamines so I was referred to an allergist who found I wasn't allergic to anything... I forget what he said I have, but the gist of it is that my allergy symptoms are actually caused by my own body and not any sort of allergen (something to do with my auto-immune system getting overzealous). I suspect this is to blame for the dermatitis I sometimes get (only ever happens on the top side of my left forearm when I've been awake for way too long, interestingly enough), which appears to be contact dermatitis but never correlates to an external cause. It can be very itchy and it's really difficult to convince myself not to scratch and irritate my skin more. Since your rabbit is incapable of scratching his rump with his paws, I imagine he'd gnaw at the area if it was bothering him, which can cause hair loss.
Dermatitis generally involves redness of the skin (often coupled with a hive-like appearance); however, with the type I get, those symptoms will be gone by the time I wake up (so the rash/redness can be VERY short-lived and could easily be missed in a rabbit). With particularly bad incidents, my skin may be flaky or even slightly itchy for 2-3 days after the redness is long gone. Something similar could explain bald spots from him "scratching" the itch with his teeth and flaky, dry skin that doesn't necessarily occur with every incident, not to mention an inability to spot redness or rash on his skin when you inspect the bald spot or take him to the vet.
I couldn't find anything rabbit-specific, but this site addresses allergic dermatitis in cats and dogs: http://www.vetstreet.com/care/atopic-dermatitis
If cats, dogs and humans can get allergic dermatitis, I would think that it's a possibility in other mammals that simply hasn't been studied very much due to the low rate of occurrence and the fact that a LOT more research dollars are devoted to cats and dogs than rabbits and exotics.
~~~~~
Also, I just thought of something far better than my "best guess" opinion - I highly recommend checking out this page regarding a renowned rabbit health expert (she's not actually a veterinarian, but she's got a BS and a PhD in Biology, specializes in rabbit studies and has been a house-bunny owner for 35 years):
Whether the issue is dermatitis or something else entirely, chances are she'd be able to help you pinpoint some probable causes to discuss with your vet. If/when you contact her, be sure to cover what's been done and discussed at your vet visit(s) regarding the issue, and I recommend specifying that you're not looking for an exact diagnosis so much as seeking viable possibilities that could be discussed with your vet. I would also ask if it's okay for you to share a copy of her response with your vet (I'm sure it is, but it's still polite to ask before sharing correspondence and it's a way to indicate to her that you plan to give a copy to the vet without blatantly assuming that she's fine with the email being shared
... it also opens the door for her to provide technical details in her response that a vet would understand but that she wouldn't normally say to a pet owner because it could easily go over their head).
Assuming she has some suggestions as to the possible cause, I would phone the vet's office and ask the receptionist if it's possible to email (or fax) some information you found to your vet for them to look over before you schedule your next appointment - if so, I send a copy of your response from her along with some notes regarding her credentials and contact info; failing that, you could always print everything out and swing by the vet's office to drop it off if it's not too far out of your way. The reason I recommend this over just bringing everything to an appointment is that it allows the vet an opportunity to do their "homework" on the information - verifying your source, doing additional research into anything they're not very familiar with, etc. This makes it more likely that they'll be fully prepared to act on the information during your next visit, which could potentially turn what could've been two visits into one (saving you money and time and sparing your rabbit some stress).
There are different forms of and causes for dermatitis; if it doesn't result from contact with an irritant (which shouldn't be the case in your situation), then it's often an allergic or auto-immune reaction of some sort. Years ago, I suffered chronic allergy/sinus symptoms that were unresponsive to prescription antihistamines so I was referred to an allergist who found I wasn't allergic to anything... I forget what he said I have, but the gist of it is that my allergy symptoms are actually caused by my own body and not any sort of allergen (something to do with my auto-immune system getting overzealous). I suspect this is to blame for the dermatitis I sometimes get (only ever happens on the top side of my left forearm when I've been awake for way too long, interestingly enough), which appears to be contact dermatitis but never correlates to an external cause. It can be very itchy and it's really difficult to convince myself not to scratch and irritate my skin more. Since your rabbit is incapable of scratching his rump with his paws, I imagine he'd gnaw at the area if it was bothering him, which can cause hair loss.
Dermatitis generally involves redness of the skin (often coupled with a hive-like appearance); however, with the type I get, those symptoms will be gone by the time I wake up (so the rash/redness can be VERY short-lived and could easily be missed in a rabbit). With particularly bad incidents, my skin may be flaky or even slightly itchy for 2-3 days after the redness is long gone. Something similar could explain bald spots from him "scratching" the itch with his teeth and flaky, dry skin that doesn't necessarily occur with every incident, not to mention an inability to spot redness or rash on his skin when you inspect the bald spot or take him to the vet.
I couldn't find anything rabbit-specific, but this site addresses allergic dermatitis in cats and dogs: http://www.vetstreet.com/care/atopic-dermatitis
If cats, dogs and humans can get allergic dermatitis, I would think that it's a possibility in other mammals that simply hasn't been studied very much due to the low rate of occurrence and the fact that a LOT more research dollars are devoted to cats and dogs than rabbits and exotics.
~~~~~
Also, I just thought of something far better than my "best guess" opinion - I highly recommend checking out this page regarding a renowned rabbit health expert (she's not actually a veterinarian, but she's got a BS and a PhD in Biology, specializes in rabbit studies and has been a house-bunny owner for 35 years):
Apparently she answers questions for free through this website: http://www.allexperts.com/ep/703-35789/Rabbits/Dana-Krempels-Ph-D.htm ... and I just connected the dots and realized that the various health-related articles that get passed around here at RO (by both myself and many other long-term members) where the article's url starts with "http://www.bio.miami.edu/" are actually authored by Dr. Dana Krempels. The articles of hers that I've seen have all been informative and accurate, to the point that I'm comfortable vouching for her credibility myself (as opposed to just passing along links with an "I heard this person was knowledgeable").
Whether the issue is dermatitis or something else entirely, chances are she'd be able to help you pinpoint some probable causes to discuss with your vet. If/when you contact her, be sure to cover what's been done and discussed at your vet visit(s) regarding the issue, and I recommend specifying that you're not looking for an exact diagnosis so much as seeking viable possibilities that could be discussed with your vet. I would also ask if it's okay for you to share a copy of her response with your vet (I'm sure it is, but it's still polite to ask before sharing correspondence and it's a way to indicate to her that you plan to give a copy to the vet without blatantly assuming that she's fine with the email being shared
... it also opens the door for her to provide technical details in her response that a vet would understand but that she wouldn't normally say to a pet owner because it could easily go over their head).Assuming she has some suggestions as to the possible cause, I would phone the vet's office and ask the receptionist if it's possible to email (or fax) some information you found to your vet for them to look over before you schedule your next appointment - if so, I send a copy of your response from her along with some notes regarding her credentials and contact info; failing that, you could always print everything out and swing by the vet's office to drop it off if it's not too far out of your way. The reason I recommend this over just bringing everything to an appointment is that it allows the vet an opportunity to do their "homework" on the information - verifying your source, doing additional research into anything they're not very familiar with, etc. This makes it more likely that they'll be fully prepared to act on the information during your next visit, which could potentially turn what could've been two visits into one (saving you money and time and sparing your rabbit some stress).
