Hi guys, my rabbits have mites and I need help on how to properly administer Ivermectin on them. I found this drug dosage calculator for rabbits, it says to administer orally, do I just use the mean recommended dose and mix that amount in their food? One of my rabbits is pregnant and I think it has mites too because both are living together on the same hutch, should I wait for it to give birth before feeding it the ivermectin?
Help with dosage of Ivermectin
- Thread starter owen2
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You need to be asking these questions and having your rabbit properly examined, by a knowledgeable rabbit vet. It's not a good idea for someone inexperienced at calculating dosages and administering meds to animals, to be doing this without a vets supervision. Ivermectin has to be carfully calculated or you risk an overdose, sometimes resulting in the death or permanent disability of the rabbit. There are multiple accounts of this exact thing occurring. Just recently a new member on here did just this, calculated the wrong dosage and frequency of dosage, which resulted in an overdose of their rabbit. Please contact a knowledgeable rabbit vet to get the proper diagnosis and treatment for your rabbit,
Medirabbit: ivermectin toxicity
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
Medirabbit: ivermectin toxicity
https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
As much as I want to do that, vets in my country that specialize in rabbits are extremely hard to find, so far I only found 3 vets that specialize in rabbits. But sadly, they are too far away from me, not to mention the vets I found charge so much 
and my budget right now is tight. So I’m basically all on my own here, would feeding them below the recommended dosage be considered “safer” and would it still have the same effect? Thank you so much for the reply!
and my budget right now is tight. So I’m basically all on my own here, would feeding them below the recommended dosage be considered “safer” and would it still have the same effect? Thank you so much for the reply!
Your country? You listed Miami as your city, and there are rabbit vets on that list for Florida and Miami Dade County. Are you not in the US?
A lower dose is safer, but still needs to be in the effective dosage range, which is 0.2-0.4mg/kg for fur mites and 0.4mg/kg for mange and ear mites. It's not necessarily the dose that's the problem, unless you have a breed that has a higher risk of being sensitive to ivermectin because of the MDR1 gene (BEW, Dutch, Vienna carriers), it's when the dosage is calculated incorrectly and too much is given.
I don't recommend doing this yourself, but if you're still going to do it, it's very important to make sure the correct dose is exactly calculated for the weight of your rabbit. The recommended dose for mites is 0.4mg/kg(0.18mg/lb), which when giving the 1%(10mg/ml) ivermectin injectable solution(I would never recommend using the large animal paste), would be 0.04ml per kg of body weight(0.018ml/lb). It's essential that the mg of dosage isn't confused with the ml of the amount being administered. Otherwise an OD will occur.
I will draw the injectable solution up into a 1ml syinge(the appropriate dose), then remove the needle and give by mouth. And this is a miniscule amount, usually less than a drop and less than one tenth of a ml/cc for a rabbit under 5 lbs.
In Europe there is a topical spot on ivermectin for small animals(including rabbits) called Xeno 450, and this will have instructions for application. If you aren't in the US and have Revolution/Stronghold topical spot on available to you OTC, that would be my first choice for treating mites as it's a little bit safer for sensitive rabbits and less likely to cause an OD. The recommended dosage is 18mg/kg for rabbits.
Medirabbit: ear mites, revolution dosage
Medirabbit: fur mites
Medirabbit: sarcoptes mange
A lower dose is safer, but still needs to be in the effective dosage range, which is 0.2-0.4mg/kg for fur mites and 0.4mg/kg for mange and ear mites. It's not necessarily the dose that's the problem, unless you have a breed that has a higher risk of being sensitive to ivermectin because of the MDR1 gene (BEW, Dutch, Vienna carriers), it's when the dosage is calculated incorrectly and too much is given.
I don't recommend doing this yourself, but if you're still going to do it, it's very important to make sure the correct dose is exactly calculated for the weight of your rabbit. The recommended dose for mites is 0.4mg/kg(0.18mg/lb), which when giving the 1%(10mg/ml) ivermectin injectable solution(I would never recommend using the large animal paste), would be 0.04ml per kg of body weight(0.018ml/lb). It's essential that the mg of dosage isn't confused with the ml of the amount being administered. Otherwise an OD will occur.
I will draw the injectable solution up into a 1ml syinge(the appropriate dose), then remove the needle and give by mouth. And this is a miniscule amount, usually less than a drop and less than one tenth of a ml/cc for a rabbit under 5 lbs.
In Europe there is a topical spot on ivermectin for small animals(including rabbits) called Xeno 450, and this will have instructions for application. If you aren't in the US and have Revolution/Stronghold topical spot on available to you OTC, that would be my first choice for treating mites as it's a little bit safer for sensitive rabbits and less likely to cause an OD. The recommended dosage is 18mg/kg for rabbits.
Medirabbit: ear mites, revolution dosage
Medirabbit: fur mites
Medirabbit: sarcoptes mange
