HELP!!! Found a rash while brushing

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toyabrooke

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While I was brushing Horatio today I round a small bloody spotted rash near the back of his neck. The hair seems thinner there (but it could also be because he is shedding due to Australian Summer coming), but it is only a small patch and then the skin goes normal.

He is acting his normal active self - bounding around the apartment and loving cuddles with us. He has shown no signs of pain apart from when I was brushing that spot and then realised what was there. He just pulled away a little bit, but no noise.

He turns 1 year old in Janurary, eats a normal diet of lots of hay, pellets and veggies every other night and sometimes a little bit of fruit. He has sultanas as treats to train him.

He lives in a big 3 level hutch when we are out, and then has the whole apartment when we are home. He has never had ANY medical problems since we got him when he was 8 weeks old.

It looks like mites or heat rash? There has been no signs of bugs in his house or in our apartment. I have some revolution kitten and puppy grade flee and mite stuff that I got just in case, so should I use that?

HELP!!! I am so worried about my man.

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w44/toyahh/RayRash.jpg
 
RayRash.jpg
 
Oh and he also has no bedding now because it is getting hotter and just has come carpet strips along the bottom of his house, and then 2 big tiles on each level up after that to keep him cool.

I can see no sign of fleas or mites on him. We used a flea comb when we first got him because we thought we saw some, but we never got any and never saw any ever. He doesn't seem to be itching or scratching abnormally, and there are no skin flakes in his hair. There is no bald patch where the skin is red either, it was just parted for the photo.

If it is flees or mites, how do I disinfect his home so they do not come back? Would we need to do our whole apartment?
 
I take it he lives by himself so it couldn't be caused by another rabbit? Any chance that you could have scratched it while you were brushing him? Is it actually bleeding or is it just red?
 
It's just red but there are red blood spots up close to the skin. It doesn't seem like a cut or a graze kind of rash and definitely not from me brushing - I just use a 'nubrush' that people can use because he barely ever sheds and I only need to brush him when the seasons change dramatically. It seems like a flea rash but I'm just not sure. We just put some revolution on him though just in case.

He lives on his own with no other animals around him. He hasn't even met any other animals since he came to us!

He it eating completely fine as well - still a big gutso! He is not overweight either, just a big ball of fluff like a Netherland Dwarf should be!
 
It seems that the hair is much thinner over the rash, and is thinning over his shoulder blades in general.

Could he be a rash from grazing that same spot on his back over and over? Because he loves to run under our bed but always does it so quick and he doesn't always fit straight away so I gather he would hit that part of his back a lot!

Please someone help :(
 
So do you think he made it himself? My mum thinks (and we agree) that he has grazed it from going under our bed so much. He loves to run really fast under our bed and back out again at least 20 times a day! Each time he does it he ducks his head under but the rest of his body knocks the bed because he goes too fast for it to catch up! And he has gotten a little bigger lately, so maybe this has made that worse and that's why it has all of the sudden rubbed him.

It seems better today, just a little pink. We have completely blocked off the bedroom and wont be letting him back in until it heals. The hair where the rash is seems to be much thinner, and it is also thinning around the area down his back. Could this be because the hair follicles are weaker at this time (shedding), and the knocking and or rash has made them fall out easier? His rash also god redder when he was just being active last night (no knocking or anything) - could this be because he is active and the blood is rushing to the surface? Or maybe because of the flea and mite revolution gel we put on him that is now in this blood system?

Any advice would be great - I am so worried about my little man. He is completely A symptomatic but I still just want his lovely soft fur and his beautiful skin to be back to normal :(
 

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