bald areas PHOTOS

[nuttymeg]

My rabbit is getting bald areas all over. Her toes and legs are pretty hairless now,her lower chest and belly are pretty bare. Even the space on her head is losing hair and some parts are regrowing white.she is a black english angora,shes never had a speck of white on her. She has had quite a few health issues over the past few months and was recently on azythromycin but we ran out a few days ago. I gave her ivomec a few times with no significant improvement. Her coat is very thin abviously is not in good condition-she looks very rough/sickly. Shes been losing weight despit everything i am doing to help boost it.She was licking her one foot almost raw,it was quite inflamed looking. I gave her some revolution yesterday and i dont think shes licking that foot much today. But my question is...what the hell is going on with her?
When she last saw the vet a week ago i brought up her bald tummy and legs and he said it was likely mechanical-because shes a front legged splay bunny. I found this hard to swallow because shes almost 6,she was born splayed and shes never been bald.I thought of doing a sulfur dip but instead of drenching her i thought of just soaking some cotton balls and wetting her that way. Shes a really chill rabbit not much bothers her so i dont see this being an issue. She has NO scabs anywhere,so I dont think this is ringworm. in the closeup of her hair on her head you can see the skin is flakey,this is smooth you cant feel this at all. I just want her better from everything shes dealth with and i dont feel the vet is hearing me.

 

[JBun]

I don't think it's a parasitic or fungal skin condition. The symptoms just don't seem to match. It could be an allergy, like a food allergy similar to what can happen with dogs. Or the sebaceous adenitis that I previously mentioned. Or maybe something like the bilateral alopecia that can sometimes happen in rabbits.

Medirabbit: bilateral alopecia

 

[nuttymeg]

i brought up the adenitis and he said yeah could be that and left it there. Nothing in her diet has changed. shes been on the same food her entire life. I was feeding her critical care and it just made her smell terrible i had to stop giving her it. but why then is her hair growing in white?

 

[nuttymeg]

a few months ago,our landlord had the front yard sprayed and weve been here 10 years and always request no chemical sprays. I wasnt aware this was done this time and had her on the grass after it was done. My brother informed me that the grass had been sprayed like a week before. I was mortified. This is likely the cause then,BUT then what doesnt make sense is her losing hair on her head.

 

[JBun]

Injuries and age can cause fur to go white. But are you sure it's not just the new growth, the undercoat, that will eventually turn black at the ends when it's grown out?

With the fur loss, I think to get to the bottom of this you would have to have a biopsy and more tests done to find out what's going on. Maybe even find a more experienced and proactive rabbit vet to help figure this out. Otherwise, if you don't feel you can put her through this additional stress, it's just going to be managing her condition as best you can without further invasive and stressful testing

 

[nuttymeg]

the white regrowth, has never happened before in her. Even back in april with her eye ulcerated the hair around her eye regrew jet black. Everything that is growing back in now is either stark white or very light grey. I have 6 angoras and none have ever had this happen. They actually lighten as the hair grows out.
Id rather not put her through more stress,seeing the vet almost weekly has to be taking a toll on her. And she currently has an abscess that is being managed with meds but eventually may need removal.She cant really express if shes itchy,she cant scratch herself.I do feel the revolution has helped even though it wasnt a full dose for her. Ive not seen her lick her arm today,whereas before it was every few minutes she was at it. Like I said i just want her healthy,shes been through hell since april.

 

[JBun]

Ok, that makes sense. Though I would suggest that if you do suspect it's mites, to treat with the full recommended dose of Revolution (selamectin), which is 12-18mg/kg when treating mites, but I would give the higher dose of 18mg/kg, because of the difficulty of the skin condition clearing up.

Medirabbit: antiparasitic dosage info

 

[nuttymeg]

she just had the revolution yesterday,her first dose ever as before i was using ivomec. I did 3 doses of ivomec but she never got much better. I would brush her and all around her on the table was tons of white flakes. Now,would a severe case if mites cause weight loss? I cant seem to find info on that.

 

[JBun]

Not from mites, but another medical condition could cause weight loss, in addition to her having mites. Now if it's sebaceous adenitis, yes there could be weight loss if it's a secondary condition to an underlying thymoma. At least that's what happened with my rabbit that had it.

 

[JBun]

I should say, not normally from mites. But if it was a really severe case affecting the rabbits appetite due to discomfort and pain, then yes, weight loss could occur.

 

[nuttymeg]

so i had them both outside,her and her dad. Both are special needs. The photo was from june 28th so 2 months ago. And two months ago she was fine. Now her dad is having issues with his front right leg,its balding too. So maybe they picked something up from being outside?I know if i walk in the grass myself i get little bites all over my toes that itch like crazy for weeks. As you can see she looks far better than in the above photos to my initial post. Her dad is the chocolate bun. Since giving her that revolution her appetite has been massive today. shes eating everything,drinking from her water bottle,just completely different. And to think about 3 weeks ago the on call vet said to put her down because she looked very rough. I was extremely put off by that comment and quickly showed that vet my displeasure.

 

[JBun]

Sorry. I presumed you had already tried the Revolution and it wasn't helping either, so was thinking the skin condition must be related to something else. But it is sounding like it is fur mites, if you're already seeing improvement after applying the Revolution.

They definitely could have picked it up in the grass. I know chiggers (harvest mite) can affect people and rabbits, but that doesn't present as dandruff. Your rabbits most likely have fur mites. And fur mites that are either resistant to ivermectin, or an incorrect and ineffective dose was prescribed and that's why it didn't work.

The reason I mentioned giving the full dose of Revolution, if you didn't already when you applied it, is that giving too low a dose can lead to resistance of the mite, to this antiparasitic as well.

Do make sure to apply it in the correct place, at the nape of the neck, so it won't be groomed off by her. If she's with another bun, they may need to be kept separate for a few hours (or the area covered with a bunny shirt) so the other bun doesn't try and groom it off either. There should be package instructions for this, or ones from your vet.

 

[nuttymeg]

At the vets he was very confused on her skin condition. While i had her on my lap in the car chunks of fur with flakes were coming out. He checked for ringworm with an ultraviolet light said he saw nothing. Then he did a tape test said he saw nothing. He said its either allergies or burrowing mites. He topped up her revolution dose from what she was missing from fridays application. He listened to her chest and said she sounded really good and he felt her congestion is better managed with just the nebulizer. I am really glad to have her off the meds for now.

 

[nuttymeg]

Sorry. I presumed you had already tried the Revolution and it wasn't helping either, so was thinking the skin condition must be related to something else. But it is sounding like it is fur mites, if you're already seeing improvement after applying the Revolution.

They definitely could have picked it up in the grass. I know chiggers (harvest mite) can affect people and rabbits, but that doesn't present as dandruff. Your rabbits most likely have fur mites. And fur mites that are either resistant to ivermectin, or an incorrect and ineffective dose was prescribed and that's why it didn't work.

The reason I mentioned giving the full dose of Revolution, if you didn't already when you applied it, is that giving too low a dose can lead to resistance of the mite, to this antiparasitic as well.

Do make sure to apply it in the correct place, at the nape of the neck, so it won't be groomed off by her. If she's with another bun, they may need to be kept separate for a few hours (or the area covered with a bunny shirt) so the other bun doesn't try and groom it off either. There should be package instructions for this, or ones from your vet.

She has begun to gain weight! finally. I weighed her yesterday and she was at 4.15 and tonight she flickered between 5.1 and 5,2 pounds. She has a long way to go. The vet did listen to her chest and he said it sounded really good. I do wonder that if this was a severe mite infestation could it have caused her snuffles because that has also greatly reduced and she was only on the azythromycin for 8 days and hasnt had any since last monday. Thank you for your repsonses. any advice i receive i take it in with great care. My rabbits are literally my babies.

 

[JBun]

Mites wouldn't cause a respiratory infection that I know of. Though it could possibly further aggravate one already present, and/or cause a current one to become more severe because of a weakened body and immune system.

Azithromycin works quickly from my experience, because it has good penetration into the tissues. My rabbits symptoms pretty much completely cleared up within a few days of being on it. That's how effective it was. But they did have to stay on it for longer, up to 3-4 weeks, for the infection to be completely gone and not come back once the antibiotic was stopped. But they had a very persistent difficult infection to get rid of.

I'm so glad to hear your bun is doing so much better now

 

[nuttymeg]

Mites wouldn't cause a respiratory infection that I know of. Though it could possibly further aggravate one already present, and/or cause a current one to become more severe because of a weakened body and immune system.

Azithromycin works quickly from my experience, because it has good penetration into the tissues. My rabbits symptoms pretty much completely cleared up within a few days of being on it. That's how effective it was. But they did have to stay on it for longer, up to 3-4 weeks, for the infection to be completely gone and not come back once the antibiotic was stopped. But they had a very persistent difficult infection to get rid of.

I'm so glad to hear your bun is doing so much better now

I am very relieved shes showing signs of improvement. I actually put all the meds and fluids away tonight,that felt really good to do. My coffee table has served me as her medical table.In the 7 years i have had angoras,never have any of them had mites this severe. I have 6 in total all indoor buns that live in my livingroom(large livingroom) so I will also treat them with revolution. I wash all their bedding and the floor almost every other day,seems like im always cleaning. I will absolutely do what i can for them.

 

[Mileybun]

So glad she is improving! What a relief for you!

 

[nuttymeg]

So I took her for a second opinion. This vet did a full 90 minute appointment with chloe. She said her skin is extremely itchy,she said sebaceous adenitis and some lymphatic skin disorder neither doesnt lead to itchy skin. She did a tape test on her as that is what i could afford at this time,and she said no mites were seen,but when stained she did find white blood cells which would indicate an infection. She also said Chloe is breathing a bit to hard for her liking. She tried to look in her mouth to see any nasal discharge but chloe wasnt having it and she decided to abandon that considering how hard chloe has to breathe,she didnt want to harm her any further.
So for her skin she gave me derma gel. I think what i may do is apply regular polysporin on her naked areas. Some hair is growing back on her sides and i think i see some growing back on her feet. She also redid her azithromycin pescription up. She gave her a higher dose and stronger strength for her,200mg per 5mls.