Vaccination Reaction???/

shooni · Feb 19, 2014

Hi All, I have been unwell lately and regrettfully haven't been on the ball with young Doc Wilbur (my son has been taking care of him for me), this morning he brought Wilbur in to me and showed me a scabby spot on his front shoulders. This is where I believe he had his vacc, the skin is now black with raised dry scaley bits on it the size of a 20 cent piece,the hair is now falling out around this area and the edges look like he's been scratching it. I called the vet and he said it is rare but it sounds like a reaction to the vacc, has anyone else had this or heard of this?

Any and all advice is muchly appreciated, Wilbur is my comfort/pillow tester/bed tester/nose inspector :nerves1

cheers shooni

Imbrium · Feb 19, 2014

I don't recall if I've heard of the skin turning black as part of the reaction, but there was someone else whose bunny had a reaction that involved scaly skin and such, I believe.

If he's scratching at it/irritating it and the location makes it feasible, you could potentially cover it with a gauze pad and then hold that in place with no-chew vetwrap (which would have to be wrapped around his body or something a time or two to secure it, since it has to be able to stick to itself to stay in place).

Another thought is to use Neosporin (or whatever the equivalent of it is in your country) - as long as it is NOT the kind with pain reliever in it, it's safe to use on bunnies and could help soothe the skin so it bothers him less. Vetericyn is another great product for wound care, though again, not sure if you have that or something equivalent.

pani · Feb 20, 2014

Felix had a scabby reaction to his vaccination - it got a bit red and sensitive, and the scab remained for a fair few weeks before eventually healing up. It did enlarge a bit, but only to around the size of... 3/4 of a 5c piece, maybe. It looked a bit purple/red but never went black.

shooni · Feb 21, 2014

Thankyou both for your advise,I feel a little better. The vet has suggested a cortizone shot but I've decided to give Wilbur the weekend to see how it goes. It does look very nasty,the blackish skin has now flaked off and it now has the start of new hair growing but the edges look very red and sore. I've been trying to stop him from licking/scratching it but I think the vet wrap may be the go.

Thankyou both again for your advise

cheers shooni

Imbrium · Feb 21, 2014

I hope he heals up soon (and that it's a one-time thing and not something you have to go through every time he gets boosters)!

ray:

Vetwrap really is awesome for stuff like this. Bunnies are stubborn as hell, with no shame and a moral compass that always points towards "naughty"! Lesson #1 of bunny proofing is that "the only sure way to stop unwanted behavior is to block access completely"... and it's equally applicable to preventing over-grooming of something like a scab, cut, surgery incision, etc.