Approximately 2 months ago, I noticed my house rabbit had crusty lesions on his ears and nose. I am a veterinary technician and we see rabbits at my hospital, so I brought him to work and had my boss take a look. We did a culture and sensitivity as well as a fungal culture on the lesions. They came back negative for fungus. For bacterial these were the results:
NON-hemolytic Staphylococcus species
Staphylococcus warneri
Staphylococcus auricularis
He was treated with the appropriate antibiotics (according to the culture results) for 21 days. The lesions did not improve. Since then, he has gotten fairly aggressive with me. If I reach into his cage, he lunges at me and squeaks. He tries to bite me and scratch me. He has a HUGE cage with multiple shelves/levels. He has free range hay and grain, gets fresh fruits and veggies daily, litter box changed daily. The rest of his cage is carpet (the same carpet he's always had, vacuumed every 2-3 days). Lots of toys and stimulation. He is allowed to hop around my room when I am home. I have had rabbits my whole life and, as I said, handle them regularly at work so I am not a stranger to rabbit behavior but it is bizarre. My boss says he has never seen anything like it! I adopted him as an adult so I don't know his whole story, but I have had him for a year. When I first adopted him he was aggressive so I neutered him and it really helped. He even became affectionate. The lesions seem to have brought on the aggression.
Side note: I hid the antibiotic in his food so I didn't have to handle him/force antibiotics down his throat. I was worried that would be a set back in him trusting me, so I stuffed it in a strawberry every night.
I am wondering if anyone has heard of skin lesions like this and if this could be linked to his aggression. I know aggression can come on when rabbits don't feel well, but I honestly can't see any other signs of him not feeling well (he eats normal, normal energy level, etc). Physical exam is perfect besides the lesions on his nose and ears.
Any ideas or suggestions? Either behaviorally or medically?
Also, my dog, who often goes nose to nose with my rabbit, developed hair loss around his eyes in the past few weeks. A culture and sensitivity report revealed Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. He is being treated for that. While it is a different Staph species, it seems odd that he would also develop a skin problem after being around my rabbit. Not sure yet if there is a link, but I figured I'd add that as it may be pertinent information.
Thanks!
NON-hemolytic Staphylococcus species
Staphylococcus warneri
Staphylococcus auricularis
He was treated with the appropriate antibiotics (according to the culture results) for 21 days. The lesions did not improve. Since then, he has gotten fairly aggressive with me. If I reach into his cage, he lunges at me and squeaks. He tries to bite me and scratch me. He has a HUGE cage with multiple shelves/levels. He has free range hay and grain, gets fresh fruits and veggies daily, litter box changed daily. The rest of his cage is carpet (the same carpet he's always had, vacuumed every 2-3 days). Lots of toys and stimulation. He is allowed to hop around my room when I am home. I have had rabbits my whole life and, as I said, handle them regularly at work so I am not a stranger to rabbit behavior but it is bizarre. My boss says he has never seen anything like it! I adopted him as an adult so I don't know his whole story, but I have had him for a year. When I first adopted him he was aggressive so I neutered him and it really helped. He even became affectionate. The lesions seem to have brought on the aggression.
Side note: I hid the antibiotic in his food so I didn't have to handle him/force antibiotics down his throat. I was worried that would be a set back in him trusting me, so I stuffed it in a strawberry every night.
I am wondering if anyone has heard of skin lesions like this and if this could be linked to his aggression. I know aggression can come on when rabbits don't feel well, but I honestly can't see any other signs of him not feeling well (he eats normal, normal energy level, etc). Physical exam is perfect besides the lesions on his nose and ears.
Any ideas or suggestions? Either behaviorally or medically?
Also, my dog, who often goes nose to nose with my rabbit, developed hair loss around his eyes in the past few weeks. A culture and sensitivity report revealed Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. He is being treated for that. While it is a different Staph species, it seems odd that he would also develop a skin problem after being around my rabbit. Not sure yet if there is a link, but I figured I'd add that as it may be pertinent information.
Thanks!
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