What's going on with my bunnies?

[Bunnylicked]

Mr. Bunny is a 3-year-old, neutered, 7 lb REW male. He suffers from Sebaceous Adenitis (which he's mostly gotten rid of since August) and a salivary gland infection (which he's currently on Penicillin injections for). Ms. Rabbit is a 1-year-old, spayed, 3 lb Mini Rex/dwarf mix female. She's had no health problems besides some wounds and minor infections from fights during bonding sessions. The bunnies have been living together for almost a month.

About a week ago, I noticed some bald spots and dry skin near Mr. Bunny's tail. I thought nothing of it, considering his old skin condition had the same symptoms.

I got a little worried when Ms. Rabbit also got bald spots and dry skin above her tail. I decided to just wait a few days and see if the fur would grow back.

I checked on her again today, and I was quite shocked to discover that not only did the old bald spots not get new fur, but she has new bald spots - and they're covering a good portion of the area right above her tail. The bald spots are covered in flaky dry skin, and any dry skin that you scratch off is replaced by a deep red rash - just like Mr. Bunny's bald spots. I tranced Mr. Bunny to see if he still had the same symptoms, and I discovered bald spots, flaky dry skin and fur loss all around his chest and front legs, as well as a new bald spot above his tail.

In addition to this, both bunnies have been shedding like crazy and getting very small bald spots all over their bodies.

Those aren't the only strange things happening to the bunnies. Ms. Rabbit seems to be losing some weight lately, to the point where I can practically feel every bone in her body. I've been hand feeding her extra pellets, treats, and oats to get some weight on her, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Mr. Bunny is also losing a little weight - he was slightly overweight before all of this (as in, 1 or 2 weeks ago), and now he's around healthy weight.

Mr. Bunny's lumps on his chin have started getting much larger, even though they were shrinking very quickly until a few days ago. One of Ms. Rabbit's ears - where she has an old bite wound and some scar tissue - has gotten red and sensitive again.

The bunnies have also been chewing things non-stop for the past week. Ms. Rabbit has gotten very destructive with the walls and the carpet. Mr. Bunny has never been a chewer, but he's suddenly started going through wood sticks faster than I can replace them. Ms. Rabbit's been chewing things so much, her teeth have gotten visibly shorter - they barely go past the gums now.

The bunnies' litter habits have also gotten worse. They used to have near-perfect litter habits, but now, most of their poops and some of their pee ends up around the room. I've also noticed some very wet, smelly poops (not cecals) scattered around - I think they're from Mr. Bunny, but I'm not sure.

What's going on with them? Should I be concerned about all this?

(Sorry for the long post!)

 

[aurora369]

I think it may be something like mites or a fungal infection. Are the bald spots pretty much round when they first show up? If so it is most likely fungal.

The bad litter habits are most likely due to not feeling well. Once the skin condition is cleared, their litter habits should return to normal (hopefully).

-Dawn

 

[Maureen Las]

aurora369 wrote:

I think it may be something like mites or a fungal infection. Are the bald spots pretty much round when they first show up? If so it is most likely fungal.

The bad litter habits are most likely due to not feeling well. Once the skin condition is cleared, their litter habits should return to normal (hopefully).

-Dawn

I agree with Dawn. I would also be concerned that an infection is beginning in the doe"s ear.
I am still unclear re.the salivary gland infection

What type of penicillin are you giving and do you know the dose? is it every other day or daily.

Mites can often develop when a bun has a lowered immune system. Revolution is a good treatment for it but since these symptoms are developing in a rabbit with existing problems I suggest a vet visit. The weight loss could be symptoms ofthe greater problem or could be as simple as a parasitic worms .

 

[Bunnylicked]

angieluv wrote

What type of penicillin are you giving and do you know the dose? is it every other day or daily.

I think it's Bicillin, but I'm not certain. It's an every-other-day injection that's given in the back of the neck. The vet tech told me that it's a 125,000 IU dose.

 

[Maureen Las]

thi is the medirabbit chart for dosing antibiotics
you can check the bicillin dose that your rabbit is getting


http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm


47,000-84,000 units per kg (2.2 lb = 1kg)

Istill recommend a vet visit with both rabbits.

 

[tamsin]

It sounds like you may have more than one thing going on creating a mix of symptoms that seem confusing.

You mention they've only been living together a month. I'm presuming that means a recent bonding. Bonding is a stressful event (even if it's good in the long term) and stress can be one of the triggers for mites. With two rabbits snuggling up it's easy for mites to travel from bun to bun.

Getting the diet right with two bunnies can be more difficult as they don't always share food 50/50. It's possible your previously overweight bun is hogging to much food. It's also possible the new friend has made both rabbits more active - resulting in healthly weight loss for the overweight bun but too much for the other bun. In which case feeding their pellet portions separately so you can increase the weight on one without the other should help. I'd recommend a vet check just to make sure there is nothing else going on with teeth etc, too just to be safe.

The litter training habits are often a bit lax in newly bonded rabbits. Adding an extra tray or two and going back to basics (picking up poop and putting it in the tray) may help. It usually settles down again gradually.

 

[tonyshuman]

Agreed with the above. A course of Revolution or Advantage would be good and harmless, along with applying some over-the counter antifungal cream to the dry scaly spots. That would cover both mites and a fungal infection.