Antifungal not working

[Squiddykayla]

Hi, my 3 yr old bunny had white flakey dandruff and the vet determined it was some kind of fungus after doing a culture. She recommended I give her a bath and vinegar rinse which I was opposed to but did.. kept a close eye on her and ensured she was completely dry afterward. The bath took away the dandruff for a week or two but it's back. Meanwhile, she's been on oral Ketoconazole for 3 weeks. I'm supposed to stop the meds tomorrow for a month and continue it again for another 4 weeks. The dandruff is still heavily present and I don't think the medicine is working for her. I'm afraid my vet isn't as rabbit savvy as I thought. Tips?

 

[zuppa]

Hi, I don't know honestly but will follow your thread maybe you get some advice, this bath doesn't sound right to me honestly I would probably try to get second opinion if there are more rabbit-savvy vets around, you can check we have a list of vets here https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
Hopefully she'll get better soon please keep us updated

 

[Niomi]

Rabbits can get ringworm, which is not a parasite but a fungus. You can call your vet back and tell the vet that the treatment isn't working. The House Rabbit Society in an article on their site suggests other medications, miconazol or clotrimazol. If you do find another vet as zupper suggests, be sure ask the new vet to get your rabbit's records from the first vet so that you don't have to pay for tests that were already done.

 

[Preitler]

When my buck had flacky dandruff on his back the vet assumed some fungus too, treatment didn't work and it got worse - it was mites. Treated with Stronghold twice 3 weeks apart and they were gone.

 

[Squiddykayla]

When my buck had flacky dandruff on his back the vet assumed some fungus too, treatment didn't work and it got worse - it was mites. Treated with Stronghold twice 3 weeks apart and they were gone.

Thanks! She took a culture of it and it showed fungus. I'm wondering if the blacklight test is reliable

 

[John Wick]

Ringworm is notoriously difficult to treat. You will need to thoroughly clean your rabbit's environment and the general environment. I went through a lot with my rabbit with ringworm, which can be found here:
https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/update-fungalringworm-tx-no-actual-worms-involved/
... notably, my rabbit had syphilis at the time and we were unaware, so some of the repeated episodes may have been syphilis signs, and by 2019 we did do the treatment because the syphilis fur loss was different than the ringworm.

Most rabbits are strong enough to fend off ringworm themselves (I've read), but if it's worsening, I also wonder if there's anything else stressing your rabbit's immune system? Unsure of the validity of that concern, but it's a thought. I know of one other case where a rabbit owner's rabbit was losing hair all over and it was discovered after passing that the rabbit had a tumor inside it, stressing its body so it was unable to get past the skin condition. I don't mean to scare you, but if the fungus gets very bad, it would be good to run blood work to see if this is a consequence of something going on.

 

[Squiddykayla]

Ringworm is notoriously difficult to treat. You will need to thoroughly clean your rabbit's environment and the general environment. I went through a lot with my rabbi t with ringworm, which can be found here:
https://binkybunny.com/forums/topic/update-fungalringworm-tx-no-actual-worms-involved/
... notably, my rabbit had syphilis at the time and we were unaware, so some of the repeated episodes may have been syphilis signs, and by 2019 we did do the treatment because the syphilis fur loss was different than the ringworm.

Most rabbits are strong enough to fend off ringworm themselves (I've read), but if it's worsening, I also wonder if there's anything else stressing your rabbit's immune system? Unsure of the validity of that concern, but it's a thought. I know of one other case where a rabbit owner's rabbit was losing hair all over and it was discovered after passing that the rabbit had a tumor inside it, stressing its body so it was unable to get past the skin condition. I don't mean to scare you, but if the fungus gets very bad, it would be good to run blood work to see if this is a consequence of something going on.

I appreciate all the info! Her fur loss has stopped so that's a good sign. I think I will do the 4 weeks of no treatment (which scares me but I'm hoping she can fight it) and then continue the 3 weeks of antifungal as prescribed by my vet. I'm not expecting improvement but if anything worsens I'll contact a new vet for a second opinion.

Let me know what you guys would do! She plays and eats and drinks water as usual.

To recap: she had a bath that eliminated the dandruff, took oral antifungal for 3 weeks and dandruff came back during treatment. Going to stop treatment for 4 weeks (per vet) and resume treatment for another 3 weeks

 

[Squiddykayla]

Hi all, medicine did not work, I'm thinking it's mites so I'm going to dr Roberts in Irvine , super rabbit savvy, for a second opinion on Monday.

 

[JBun]

Sounds more like mites to me too. Easy enough to treat. I would ask that topical Revolution (selamectin) be used as it's easier and a bit safer, and you only need one application. Ivermectin is the other medication used, but it requires 3 treatments 2 weeks apart, and some rabbits can be sensitive to this med. But it's probably the cheaper option.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/furmite/fur_mite.htm
For Revolution (selamectin ) dosage:
http://medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/earmite/Psoroptes.htm