extremely fast progression of fur mites??? *UPDATED* NO MITES

[katt]

Winnie is a 4 1/2 year old black female mini lop. she is spayed and lives indoors, although does go outside for romps during the summer.

i noticed a few months ago that winnie went through her normal seasonal molt. it was a bad one, but everything was find after about a week of molting.

now about 2 days ago i noticed she was started to lose lots of hair. like tufts of it were shedding out.

i honestly didn't think to much of it, it was a lot, but a normal 'lot' of hair for her molting.

but then i noticed her scratching her ears a little more (or maybe a normal amount, just was watching it more carefully).

so tonight i got the brush out and decided to give her a nice going over and remove all the lose fur. but what i found was that on her back there was a spot that the fur just pulled off, about a quarter size chuck of fur. and there were lots of dead skin flakes.

she now has a big bald spot on her back, and close investigation of her ears (since i started freaking out and check her all over) shows that she has some buildup of what looks like mites.

the odd thing is that i am by winnie all the time, she sleeps in my bed with me. and all this stuff all over her body seems to have just started 2 days ago. isn't that fast for full body mites?

so now i am sitting here with my bottle of mineral oil next to me. do i give her ears and spot on her back a swab? i plan on calling the vet tomorrow and getting her in asap (cause not only do i hate the idea of her being sick, but i hate bugs, and the thought of bugs crawling around her grosses me out).

just looking for confirmation and such. she will be going to the vet in the morning, and i guess i need to plan on getting all my bedding washed, don't i? oh boy. . .

 

[tonyshuman]

You can put the oil on the spot on her back, but I wouldn't put it in her ears. They're too sensitive if you get it too far in there by accident. I found info that the life cycle of typical rabbit fur mites is 5 days, so it does seem pretty quick. :?

 

[katt]

thanks, i figured that the ears would be a no on the mineral oil, but the back would be okay.

i am just confused, it is on her back, by her tail. that seems to be the only other area affected besides the ears. doesn't that seem strange? i mean not even the back of her neck is flaky or anything. . .

i am so grossed out now, i want to cuddle her cause she must not feel good, but imagine all these creepy little bugs. yuck!

lol. i am slightly pathetic about bugs, the just creep me out.

there isn't anything else this could be right? i mean her back sounds first like ringworm to me, but the ears? that seemed off.

 

[Pipp]

I think you're going to need a skin scraping and a vet exam. It could be a fungal thing like ringworm, but there are other types of fungus. (And ringworm isn't actually a 'worm', so don't worry about that!) Mites don't usually act like that.

Any chance of fleas? Unusual in rabbits, but thought I'd ask.


sas :clover:

 

[katt]

i haven't seen any fleas.

the rabbits all get their nails cut once a month, and we do full body checks then, never saw any creepy little jumpy bugs before.

and i checked her again for them when i saw everything going weird. it literally seems to have happened over night (well, 2 nights).

could it be an allergic reaction to something? i am searching the house, and know that the ONLY really odd things i have brought in were about a week ago i dyed my hair and put the gloves and box, ect in the trash in the bathroom. but it has since been taken out.

and none of the other buns are showing odd symptoms, they are all perfectly fine and happy.

very confused
:?

 

[katt]

okay, new problem

winnie is having bladder issues, or lack of bladder control.

i just got home to find that she missed the litter box completely. she even missed the cage.

she hasn't done that since she was about 8 weeks old.

calling the vet right now, but having issues getting in, might have to go with my backup rabbit vet.

ug, poor girl, she really doesn't look like she is feeling well

any ideas on this new symptom?

 

[katt]

just got back from the vet.

no mites, can't find any in the ears or on the body.

they are going to do a fungal culture to see whats going on. and i will hear back from them in a few days with the results.

so for now, she is on a sulfa based antibiotic, and they gave me some ointment for her sore spots (a rather bad spot on her back and one on her ear).

my poor girl just doesn't feel good. simply put, now that we are home she is getting a quick drink and then cuddling in bed with me for the rest of the day.

 

[tonyshuman]

That is strange. The sulfa drug can be hard on her GI tract, so keep an eye on that. Most vets don't use them for that reason and also many bacteria are resistant to them because that type of antibiotic has been around a long time.

I wonder if it could be something hormonal, causing both incontinence and hair loss... I'll list the possibilities that I know of.
Hair loss: mites, skin infection, fungal skin infection, internal parasites, cancer, old age/metabolism slowdown, hormonal, overgrooming, self-mutilation, e cuniculi

Urinary incontinence: bladder infection, bladder sludge/stones (calcium metabolism problem), pain, mechanical injury to bladder, bladder cancer or cancer near the bladder putting pressure on it, mechanical injury to spine causing loss of control of hind end, e cuniculi-related bladder/kidney issues, hormonal (marking)

Do any of those things sound possible? Only a few are on both lists.

Maybe she's not feeling well due to a bladder infection and that's causing her to pick out hair and scratch those sore spots really badly. :?

 

[katt]

i am totally not sure.

the vet wanted me to keep an eye on her bladder for the next 24 hours.

i have been asleep for the past few hours, and tonight i plan on changing her litter out (so it is all clean and completely fresh.) that way i can really monitor her urine behavior. wanted to when i got home, but she was freaked, and i was feeling really bad, so i left it alone for a while. now she is snuggled in her cage for a while, and i won't kick her out of it right now. so it will just have to wait.

i do know that her urine isn't sludgy at all. it is that classic yellow color and crystal clear.

IF her bladder issues worsen or whatever over the next 24 hours, she will be going back to the vet before work tomorrow to deal with that issue as well. we were kinda leaning to her missing the cage and box because she is so stressed out from not feeling good.

when i apply her meds tonight, i will get photos for ya'll to see. not going to bother her until then.

and as far as the sulfa drugs go, i know, but my options were sulfa based or bytril, and i avoid bytril when i can. plus i have used the sulfa based one in the past on rabbits, and liked how it worked.

i do know that it is something up with her skin, cause it is all over her, she is losing fur everywere and scratchy everywhere. if you go to pet her, she does that little twitch thing and can tell it itches.

i am perplexed as well, i think my vet is also. she did leave it open that if i came up with anything i wanted to add or ideas to toss out there then give her a call and leave her a message.

my poor little girl.

 

[ra7751]

I would give your vet another call and see about trading in the sulfa. Not a good drug to use in a rabbit....comes from a time when little was known about a rabbit GI. Has been linked to Tyzzer's Disease. I haven't used sulfa in years. Many vets are still using it against coccidia....but it really doesn't work very well. I prefer Ponazuril. I would suggest doing a deworming protocol. I have had a couple of rabbits that started losing fur and usually went into light stasis during that time. Dewormed and the problem resolved. Igenerally use Panacur and Ponazuril together for deworming. Just a thought. Fungals are extremely rare in rabbits. At least the deworming won't hurt if it isn't the problem....but it's something unusual I have seen before and at least worth a consideration.

Randy

 

[katt]

thanks randy.

i will call my vet with your suggestions tomorrow.

any ideas about the odd bladder behavior?

 

[pamnock]

We've had a couple rabbits develop bacterial infections from sitting up against the water bottle, keeping the area of skin continually wet. There was flaking present.

Mite infestations don't always show up in skin scrapings (the mites are often clinging to fur shafts).

 

[Haley]

I was just going to mention what Pam did about the skin scrapings. If it were me, I would probably treat for mites with revolution just in case. It will kill mites or fleas and isnt harmful. Ive had it twice now where fur mites didnt show up on the scraping but we treated with revolution anyway and the bunny got better right away. Max and Basil have both had mites, even when they never went outside. I have been told they can come in on anything, especially hay.

Hope Winnie is better soon! Theres nothing worse than dealing with some unknown creepy crawly!

 

[katt]

okay.

i am going in on monday to pick up a different antibiotic and will pick up stuff to treat for mites as well.

thanks guys.

i am just still really confused about the peeing outside the litterbox. it just is so unlike her. she is still doing it at random times. her urine isn't sludgy or anything and it doesn't look like she is having problems peeing, she isn't drinking mass amounts of water (just her normal amount). . .

planning on getting her back in to test for a UI, but i can't get her in till next week as well!

 

[katt]

i am going in tomorrow to get the mite treatment and different antibiotics.

winnie is still not feeling her best.

i just don't know, something has changed in her. she just isnt the same.

we are hoping that this will all clear up with different meds.

but what i don't get is that she is STILL missing her litter box to pee about 50% of the time (although she is making it to her cage more often, just not to the box).

what is going on with my girl?

 

[Maureen Las]

latent mites often become active when a rabbit's immune system is not up to par.I would guess there is something else going on.
Rabbit urine is not normally yellow and clear like a humans so possibly there is a problems there. I wonder if you may want to get a blood panel in addition to the urine culture to check out how the kidneys are working.

Let us know...

 

[katt]

yeah, that is basically what i was thinking as well.

i will keep ya'll updated

my poor silly rabbit