fur falling out

[hailiejade]

just went to groom bailey when i noticed on his bottom just above his tail the fur is falling out in clumps , he has a bald patch about 4 cms wide and 2cms high , the skin is all flaky and where the fur is coming out theres clumps of white dead skin attached to it , its only on this patch and no where else , plus hes not itching at all so im not convinced he has mites , hes also treated every 3 months with an ivermectin spot on prescribed by my vet as last year he did have a very bad case of mites but it has been under control since then(cause was bad batch of hay)and even then he did not suffer fur loss like this just dandruff ,

i am wondering whether it could be linked to me bathing him yesterday , he has a habit of peeing on laminate flooring rather than using his litter box which stains his fur and gives him a dirty bottom , so im bathing him every 2 weeks to keep him clean , i only clean the dirty area and dry him thoroughly afterwards but yesterday he had the hump and wouldnt let me rinse or dry him properly and ran off everytime i attempted to finish him and now im worried i left some of his bunny bubble bath on his skin which has irritated him or not drying him properly could have caused it as it is only in the area that i washed yesterday that hes lost fur , could this have caused it or is it something else , should i try rinsing the area in plain water or just leave it , think i will try get him in at the vets just incase but overall hes well in himself , and the rest of his fur is fine

 

[Flashy]

Yes, it does sound possible that it is a skin reaction to maybe not having the shampoo washed off, sort of similar to if we don't wash the shampoo off properly and we get dandruff. I'm not sure it could have caused the fur loss though. I'm not sure what the best course of action might be though, to be honest. It might be the area will need regular bathing until the skin has healed, or if it is really bad it might need anti-biotics if it has turned into dermatitis.

This could, of course, be completely unrelated and maybe just aggravated by the washing. So that's something to bear in mind too.

 

[hailiejade]

its so bizarre the fur in the area that its coming out is falling out that easily its almost as if hair removal cream had been applied(which it hasnt), and the skin is defo more flaky than the dandruff you get with skin mites , ive given the area a wash with cooled boiled water to make sure its clean and have brushed most of it out and it doesnt appear to be falling out anywhere else , the flaky skin is also defo not walking , it almost looks as though a layer of skin has come off but i dont get why the fur would come away

 

[hailiejade]

ill try post a pic

 

[Flashy]

I've found that whenever the skin has been damaged it invariably loses fur, be it a localised vaccination reaction, dermatitis, etc. I guess that that's because the fur uses that skin and when its damaged and comes out, the fur does too, but someone may correct me on that

 

[Maureen Las]

Exactly what did you wash him with ?

 

[hailiejade]

a shampoo for rabbits with aloe vera and camomile have used it before with no problems but have always rinsed him really well apart from yesterday when he didnt want to be rinsed properley so i let him go with out what i would consider a thorough rinsing as didnt want to stress him out , i did try a second time to rinse him but he really didnt want to be rinsed , also was only his butt area i washed and i didnt put him in deep bubbly water as you might think from first post when i say bunny bath the water was only 2.5 inches deep , only his bottom got wet and the shampoo was diluted in the water not applied direct to the skin

 

[Maureen Las]

I stumped on this but i think it must have something to do with not getting the shampoo out

not sure ???

 

[hailiejade]

sorry lighting is not very good

where you can see the outline of white fur there is a layer of dead skin attathed at the root just a light pull and it comes off

 

[hailiejade]

these were taking after rinsing him again , i have dried him off a lot more since and brushed him , lighting makes him look really wet and tangled

 

[Maureen Las]

they won't open did you go through photobucket?

 

[hailiejade]

no i just copied and pasted

 

[Flashy]

This link might help you get some pictures up

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=25443&forum_id=66

 

[Maureen Las]

Is there still hair falling out? :expressionlessHow's your bun?

 

[hailiejade]

since ive given him a proper rinse and brushed all the loose fur out hes much better , the skin isnt flaking as much any more either

 

[hailiejade]

these are the photos that didnt upload the other day

 

[hailiejade]

 

[hailiejade]

 

[hailiejade]

 

[dquesnel]

It is hard to see but it could be contact dermatitis from the shampoo. Is the skin pink, red, or another color? Is it bare or already growing in with fur? It does sound like it became irritated and fell out in a patch. As long as the skin isn't red I would leave it be for a few days and see that the fur grows in. He could have a fungus as well in that area but I would watch now for redness etc.