Balding

[Prizm]

I have two bunnies, Dusty and Narnia, and I'verecently noticed Narnia loosing fur around the back of her neck andeven a little at the base of one ear. Her nose has also been crusty forat least two months. Dusty, who lives in the same cage, doesn't displayany signs of bad health. My thoughts on the balled spots was that Dustymight be grooming her too much, but then her nose doesn't make anysense. Has anyone seen these symptoms before?

Appreciatively,
~

 

[naturestee]

It's possible it's overgrooming, but it mightalso be mites, fungal infection, etc. Narnia should go in tothe vet's anyway and have her nose checked out as she probably has anupper respiratory infection ("snuffles") which should be treated.

Do you have a vet you can take her to?

 

[Prizm]

I work as a dog groomer in a Petsmartwhich happens to be right next to a vetrinarian. I haven't brought herin, but I described it to the vet and she said it sounded likeallergies because she's been surviving with it for so long. There was adangerous disease she mentioned (I am pretty sure it was snuffles) butshe ruled it out on the reasoning that Narnia would already be dead andDusty would have caught it by now. Does the reasoning sound right toyou?

 

[naturestee]

Nope. URIs can be low-level andchronic. Only a few strains are deadly, but they do taketheir toll on the rabbit whether or not it's a deadly strain.

 

[Prizm]

What does URI stand for (is it urinary?) and is it contageous?

 

[naturestee]

Sorry!

URI= upper respiratory infection (either in the nose or eyes)
UTI= urinary tract infection

URIs can be contagious. However, if Dusty isn't showing signsof illness it might be because she is more resistant to it.

Are any of these rabbit savvy vets near you?
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=11591&forum_id=9

Or you could ask the vet who she sends difficult rabbit casesto. Most vets know each other and know who's best withwhat. It doesn't sound like she's very knowledgeable aboutrabbits though. Although it is possible it's allergies (haveyou tried shaking dust out of the hay, sifting dust out of the pellets,vacuuming a lot, avoiding aerosol cleaners, etc?), it's just as likelyto be an infection. Especially if she's never shown allergysymptoms before and because her symptoms have been going on for sometime now.