What's Going on?

[Erins Rabbits]

I can't call a vet, or I would. It would be essentially pointless. No rabbit savvy vets here.

Okay- There's very clearly an issue. She keeps losing more and more and she's literally going bald. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[ra7751]

That can be several things...skin parasites (any vet can do a skin scraping), intestinal parasites (I usually just treat for the most common since fecals are sometimes inaccurate), we have had unspayed females show fur loss due to raging hormones and it can be a nutritional issue as some metabolic conditions cause fur loss.

I would see if any vet would help you. Most have a network of consulting vets and most have access to the VIN. I think this rabbit needs some diagnostic work to see what is going on. If necessary, I can consult with a vet that is willing to work with you.

Randy

 

[Maureen Las]

probably fur mites or mange mites

the only product I would recommend is ivermectin injectionsx 3 one per week for 3 weeks but she should be seen by a vet . the vet would do a skin scraping and identify the type of problem
There are other home treatments that possibly some others here can help you with if you cannot go to a vet but be careful as some home remedies are not safe



http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11992&forum_id=10

 

[Erins Rabbits]

I've heard that ivermectin treatments will induce a molt- And I just treated my herd with ivermectin. So at first I thought it was just a molt starting out. But the spot got bigger, and bigger. It appears to be growing back but... I'm not sure. I'm going to try and get an appointment with the only rabbit vet up here, and see what she says.

 

[Maureen Las]

Good idea
Randy brought up other possibilitues thatI didn't know about ....

 

[bunnybunbunb]

If se was fine before the ivermectin it may be a bad reaction? I had actually never heard of giving rabbits ivermectin unless you knew 100% that there was a problem that called for it.

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that the poster has a lot of rabbits and probably does preventative medicine but there is such a thing as not getting the dose right ..particularly if a person is diluting the the powder made for livestock and applying it topically

 

[Erins Rabbits]

I used ivermectin paste. The rabbits were given 1/10 of a CC per pound of body weight. I had problems with wry neck in one of my litters and to prevent spreading of this I gave them all the recomended treatment. The only other possible cause I can think of is the diluted duramycin I treat them with on a weekly basis.

I'm pretty confident it isn't mites- none of the other rabbits have this condition and she hasn't come into contact with anything outside of the house. Another few people on a breeders forum I visit said it looks like her baby is chewing fur off of her! This makes sense to me, because there is no fur in the drop pan or anywhere that could be hers. This baby is behind on weaning, and will be removed to a normal cage tomorrow. If she continues to lose fur after this I'll consult the vet.

 

[naturestee]

Overgrooming was my first thought. How old is the baby? I hope she does ok being weaned now, and hopefully that will solve the problem with mama.

If that doesn't help, definitely get a skin scraping done.

 

[Maureen Las]

is there another name for Duramycin/ or what kind of antibiotic is it?

 

[tonyshuman]

Duramycin is tetracycline hydrochloride. It is safe for use in rabbits and is added to the drinking water. Occasionally, some rabbits have a bad reaction to ivermectin.
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=5851&forum_id=1&highlight=mite
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=9394&forum_id=1
However it seems not to be hair loss that can come from a bad reaction to ivermectin but other problems.

It is possible that the baby is overgrooming the mother, but that could be a sign of a real problem--sometimes rabbits try to groom each other in places that there is a problem, like mites. It's probably best to get a skin scraping done AND separate her from the baby if possible.