Hair Loss

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murph72

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One of my buns has some hair loss on his nose and on his moustache area. He also has some above his one eye. He had a scary incident with being frightened of the lawnmower and was ramming into his cage before we could stop the mower and get to him. I thought the eye thing (which was also a bit swollen above the eye) was due to trauma. Has anyone ever heard of trauma causing hair to fall out?

He was also a little scabby in these areas. I was atributing it to the traumatic event of slamming his little head into the cage walls repeatatively...but I don't know when I should be concerned it may be a skin condition. From what I've read (as my buns have never had skin conditions before) mites would be more likely to appear on his back. He is fine except these few small areas of fur loss. It baffles me. Certainly not life threatening, but confusing.
 
because of running into the cage it is almost impossible to know if this is any injury and/mites combined. Stresscan lower the immune system , thus causing an environment more likely for a dormant mite populatin to flourish

he should be seen by a vet one way or the other.; when frightened rabbits can really cause a lot of injuries to themselves.

It would also help if you posted a pic but because he may have injured himselfI would still go to the vet.
 
No offense, but I do tire of reading the advice that always begins "take your bunny to a vet." For those of us where there is no rabbit-savvy vet, that is not always the best option. Our vet likes to prescribe Baytril for EVERYTHING. I tend to do my own research and know the possible problems and best treatments before entering the vet's office. This is not a life-threatening problem, so rushing to the vet is not the best scenario for the bun at this time as the result will most likely be pointless.

If the bunny's injury from the incident would have needed medical assistance, I would have taken him there. He had no broken bones and was just shaken from the event. What he had was a fat upper eye that appeared within a day or two, which has now gone away, and some bruising on the whiteof his eye in the same location. This has also diminished. The eye started to lose some hair which I attributed to him possibly digging at it since it probably bothered him. I cannot, however, figure out what caused the loss of hair on the nose and the area below the nose. The area has not grown in size, so I'm not so inclined to think mites. He is also in with two other buns who show no signs of issues. The mites would have come from the breeder as I do not have, nor have ever had, mites in my rabbits. She, however, also is not reporting any mites and is a very trusted breeder. So, the question remains, will hair loss occur from an injury? Such as blunt force trauma?
 
I'm sorry :(
I didn't mean to offend you.
because we are not vets wedon't have the answers to a lot of problems but just do the best that we can.
I would feel guilty if I told a person how to treat a rabbit and I was unsure what I was saying and then the rabbit either got worse or died.

I think a picture of your rabbit would help and I also think blunt force trauma could cause hair loss.

It is mandatory that members know that we are not veterinary professionals but only rabbit owners with some knowledge.


 
Perhaps I should have stated that my vets are incompetent in the first place. I have owned rabbits for almost 30 years and have experienced numerous problems with my own rabbits and with others'. I guess I just look to the forum when I find something that I haven't encountered because I think maybe someone else has. It's a place where I think we can share our experiences.

I do have a picture of Codie's eye at home from when it was fat and had lost hair. I haven't taken a picture yet of the balding in the face. However, I can't access the pics from my computer here at work.

I put someterramycin (antibiotic)on both in an effort to soothe any discomfort of the little one. He truely does not appear to be suffering any discomfort with any of these areas. He acts just the same as he did prior to this event. You can rest assured that I don't have a bunny with a broken neck or some horrific form of mange. He just has three little patches that are missing hair.
 
I understand what you are saying because the vets hereare not really rabbit saavy here either and I also try to do a lot on my own.
I think what you are saying is that hehasan injury from running into the cage and then that began to resolve but he now has lost patches of hair in other areas of his face and you are not sure if they are related to each other or is this a new problem?

When you get home post a pic of the way it looked in the first place and then take another pic today ; I would guess that the hair loss is related to the injury


 
Yeah, that's really what I'm thinking. I like to worry too much too. LOL It's probably just something relating to his trauma (which, by the way may have also been as traumatic for me to witness)...but I never had hair loss before...nor mites. I just read about hair loss and found mites. The area seems clean though, so it baffles me. I'll try to get some close up shots...it was hard last time as he likes to bob his head rather than hold still for my medical close ups. LOL He's a bugger for moving at the last minute.
 
If it was caused by anything other than trauma it would worsen; if it was caused by the trauma and possibly overgrooming his sore face and eye then it should slowly improve.

My dental bun lost a lower incisor and it seemed like within a few days his chin and neck had no fur. I know it was from drooling but it seem like it happened so fast andI know that it isn't mites
I worry all the time about one rabbit or another; I remember a few months ago when they were all well that I was feeling very very bored. I could not figure it out and then realized that it was the absence of worry.

that didn't last long because of Beau the dental patient bun ..so I once again I am in my familar state of worry :D
Iwould be really upset also if I had my bunny scared by the lawn mower and hurt himself. I'm sure that he'll get better
 
I hate to say it as well, but when I hear about hair loss, I think of tooth issues. Drooling and eye discharge can lead to hair loss, and drooling and eye discharge frequently are a result of eye issues.

Perhaps a dose of Revolution to get rid of any possibility of mites (they can start out in any area of the body), and treating the area with triple antibiotic ointment for a few days would be informative. It would eliminate the possibility of mites or skin damage leading to the fur loss. I'm sure your vet will do a dose of kitten revolution and it's well tolerated (every bun at the shelter gets it when they come in).
 
Luckily we have no drooling, or nasal discharge...so I'm not thinking it's dental in nature.

If it is mites, the other two buns that are presently living with Codie would also have to be treated, even though they are showing no signs of mites.

Here is a picture when Codie's eye was swollen. You can see the missing hair on it. The hair loss has not spread from that area of the eye at all:

100_3704.jpg



The redness under the eye is no longer there. It is just a hairless area above his eye now...but he also has a hairless area on his nose and moustache area. It was also scabby looking in this picture, but the scabs have cleared now and it's just hairless.
 
I would watch it for a few days . I would be concerned if it worsened but if it stays the same or starts to get better than probably a result of initial injury of running into the cage..
he is very cute :)
 
Yeah, it could also be some overgrooming by his cage mates because of his injury.

Could it also possibly be vent disease? Does he have any genital scabs, or does anybody else in the barn have it?
 
No genital scabs, nor have we ever had STDs in any of the buns. He man parts (what few are showing at this young age) all look healthy.

I'm beginning to think this is primarily self-inflicted. I saw him licking his mouth where the hair loss is. The hair looks like it's trying to grow back...so I'm hoping he lets it. Perhaps he was "licking his wounds" after the incident and got carried away. The eye, however, would have to have come from him scratching at it though. I don't know...just guessing.
 
Rabbits are susceptible to becoming obsessive. I have seen many rabbits obsessively grooming a certain part of themselves or another rabbit till their is no hair left. my best advice is for the areas he can groom with his mouth where there is hair being removed go buy one of the variety of foul tasting liquids on the market and just dab it on the areas, the next time he goes to lick them he'll be in for a shock. It will break the cycle and allow hair to grow back there. Once the hair is back you can slowly stop dabbing it and eventually stop.
 
It could also be overgrooming by his cage mates as well. If you're concerned about that, it might be good to separate him.
 
I might just do that. I haven't seen either of the chocolates going after him, but Ican't watch the little fuzzer 24/7. I think it's probably more likely he's doing it to himself. I think I'll seperate him today and see if the situation clears up any in the next few days. Do you think I should be applying anything to the bald patches? I was putting the antibiotic ointment on it, but that might just be giving him a reason to lick those areas. I know he's annoyed when I put it on, so maybe I'm helping to keep him aggravating those areas.
 
Yeah, if you leave it off and it looks less red and inflamed the next day, it definitely is an overgrooming issue. The antibiotic ointment should make it less red and irritated-looking.
 
Update: Codie has been by himself for a few days now. His eye is almost back to normal. His nose hair and moustache hair (for lack of a better term) seems to be growing back slower. I'm crossing my fingers he's not psychotic and licking his own hair off. I'm not sure how to treat a head case in a bun. :)
 
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