Help. My rabbit is losing his fur

[Wood3]

Three months ago my rabbit lost his fur on his ears and eye lids with it looking very dry. The vets gave him one mite prevention drop, although have since found out it should have been followed up. I have been rubbing canasten cream onto him for the past 10 weeks but have now found out that he does not have ringworm. He now has extensive fur loss and white dry crusty skin and it is now bothering him. The vets seem to be at a loss as to what it is. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Beka27]

Is he a single rabbit? What meds did the vet give before? Are you saying HE (the vet) applied one drop and sent you home without any additional medication?

Extensive fur loss always makes me think of an auto-immune issue. Have you had blood work done on your rabbit? Does he have discharge also (from his eyes, or drooling from his mouth)?

Since you are a new member, tell us more about him please. His age, breed, is he an only rabbit, are there other species of pets in the house, his altered status (neutered or not?), where he is housed (inside, outside?), type of housing and litter/bedding, is he ever allowed to play outside if he is a primarily indoor rabbit, his daily diet (type and quantity of hay, veggies, and pellets)…. And anything else you think we should know.

It’s a lot of info but this can help give us an idea of what is going on.

[Wood3]

Yes he is a single rabbit. He is outside but comes in for a run around and company. Bedding is hay straw and litter box is sawdust. Eats pellets parsnip carrot broccoli apple and greens. He is a mini lop and 3 & half years old. Vet gave him only one dose of mite killer. He is neutered and i have no weeping from the eyes of no drooling from the mouth. He is still eating but i can see he is looking sorry for himself. Vet is now waiting to speak to a specialist to get their opinion but while i am waiting my poor boy is getting bolder. Must admit i never thought of auto immune so will look that up.

[Jessie1990]

Does your bunny get hay? I hope he starts feeling better soon.

[LBJ10]

Yes, either some sort of mite or, like Beka suggested, an autoimmune issue. If it is mites and he lives outside, I would imagine they would keep returning without a preventative.

[Wood3]

I have tried to attach a photo of what my rabbit looks like now in the hope someone has seen the same. I have looked up autoimmune and some pictures do look similar but I hope he hasn’t got that because if I am reading it properley then it doesn’t look good for him.

[LBJ10]

Oh my! Did the vet do a skin scraping to see if it was some sort of parasite? I would make sure it isn’t that first, then look into the autoimmune if his tests don’t show anything.

[Wood3]

I am now booking him in for a skin biopsy but also carrying on with mite medication in the meantime. Unfortunately the specialist wasn’t giving much away for free and my vet has never seen anything like this before, typical!! Will have to keep fingers crossed that the biopsy shows something or someone sees the photo and has had exactly the same problem with their rabbit. In meantime of waiting my poor boy is going to be bald on his face soon as more and more hair is coming out each day.

[Sarita]

Wow, that does not look good. A few of our member’s rabbits have been diagnosed with sebaceous adenitis which is an auto immune disease. Longhairmike and Fluffybunny’s rabbits.

[Author]

Messages