Rabbit Fur Mites - Please Help!

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LizzyMayHarvey

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My big Flemish Giant girl has had mites for a few weeks now and I'm wondering what treatment people have found to work best on their buns. I have read that you should take them to the vet for ivermectin injections but I would only like to do that as a last resort to avoid any stress.
I have been putting Diatomaceous Earth powder on her which we use for our chooks mites but I havent read if that actually helps for fur mites so I am kinda doing it as a experimental treatment. It wasn't really working although the mites weren't getting any worse and bunny was not showing any signs of discomfort or itchiness but she did have a lot of dandruff and was losing some fur so we ordered some flea/bug stuff
online which apparently has selamectin in it but we did buy it for very cheap due to us not having much money from Covid so it could be anything. It is supposed to last for four weeks but they were very small pipettes for 500grams and over, but my FG is well over that so should I give her two doses at once? Or would that be a big no no? Or should I give her a next dose sooner then four weeks? I'm worried that it won't work and we'll have to take her to the vet.
Is there another option? Does anyone have any natural methods of getting rid of mites? It would be great to hear everyone's ways to get rid of them as this is my first experience with mites and everything online says to take them to the vet.

Thanks!
 
Selamectin? If it's Stronghold that's perfect, or good generic brand should be fine too. That's actually the preferred treatment over ivermectin, as ivermectin can sometimes have a higher likelihood of causing a reaction in a few sensitive rabbits.

Dosing for rabbits is higher than cats or dogs, it's 18mg/kg. So you have to go off of how many ml's of the spot on application are in the tubes you bought and the concentration of selamectin. Cat is 60mg/ml, dog is 120mg/ml. I would get your rabbits weight in kg, times 18mg, and that will give you the total mg's of selamectin you need for a dose. I think it's basically 3 times what is used for a cat of similar weight. The cat dose of 6mg/kg probably will still work, but if you can it would be better to go with the higher dose recommended for rabbits of 18mg/kg

If it's a really bad case of mites, you may want to retreat again in 2 weeks, instead of waiting a month. If you aren't sure about any of this, it's better you call a vet to get this sorted.

MediRabbit (fur mites in rabbits)

MediRabbit (selamectin dosing info)

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
And I would stop using the diatomaceous earth. I've read it can lead to intestinal issues in animals from it's use.
 
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I’ve read about putting olive oil right behind their ears on the base of their neck, but I’ve never used it and I don’t know if it’s safe.
 
I’ve read about putting olive oil right behind their ears on the base of their neck, but I’ve never used it and I don’t know if it’s safe.

Safe, yes, but I can't see how it would help without generously covering all affected areas for more than 3 weeks. Can't tell if that would be safe.

Oil does work for ear mites, much easier to coat the inside of the ears with an oil film.

Stronghold is easy to apply (2x two or three weeks apart), and works.
 

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