Mite treatment

[Alplily]

Hi there,

I pulled two Holland Lops from under a house. They are being neutered Friday. They clearly have wool mites, but the vet doing the neutering cannot do medications (which seems weird, but it is the local humane society). The exotic animal vet who WILL treat rabbits wants upwards of $240 for each rabbit and won't prescribe medication without doing an exam (which will be done by the neutering vet). These will be the $1,000 rabbits. All I need is access to Revolution for Kittens, or liquid Ivermectin, and I can treat them myself. Any ideas on getting around this part of an increasingly costly good deed? I can give them a good house rabbit home, but holy cow... (I have had kept house rabbits before and am experienced.) Thanks.

 

[Alplily]

Update: My equine vet has offered to provide prescriptions for both the Revolution and liquid ivermectin. But input on proper treatment is still appreciated.

 

[JBun]

If you are comfortable at calculating and dosing medication, ivermectin can be bought otc online or at farm feed stores(cheapest online). I got mine on amazon, as injectable ivermectin 50ml 1% solution(10mg/ml). It's about $25.

Dosage for ivermectin for mites is 0.4mg/kg, which would be 0.018ml per lb of body weight, for the 1% ivermectin solution. It's a very very small amount, and extremely important to calculate correctly and not overdose. I just draw it up into a 1cc syringe, remove the needle, then dose orally. This needs to be done for at least 3 treatments 10-14 days apart. Just fyi, rarely some rabbits can be sensitive to ivermectin and it can cause toxicity, particularly with blue eyed white, vienna carriers, and dutch rabbits.

Revolution(18mg/kg) may be slightly safer and it usually only takes one topical dose, though it is usually more expensive than the ivermectin.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/furmite/fur_mite.htm
http://medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/earmite/Psoroptes.htm (selamectin dosing info)

 

[Alplily]

I think I can handle that. I just need to get a small enough syringe at the local feed store and practice measuring. Hopefully they won't be sensitive (I had heard that can be a complication). They are standard tri-color Holland lops. I got them from people who were allowing them to breed willy-nilly. I just couldn't leave them there. They had never had hay or seen sunshine. But they are otherwise healthy, are curious and sweet and I hope to get them used to being handled (in time). Thank you!