Bald spots on the inner back legs?

[Thorunn]

 

I just noticed Thorunn licking and gnawing at her inner thigh and first thought she was just grooming until I noticed a bald spot. My boyfriend and I were not sure at first if it was a normal patch of baldness or not but I said it just didn’t look right and I wanted to ask the community about it so we took a photo. 

I actually stayed up all night (it is now 7:22 am so I apologize if my writing seems a bit off) researching this and I now believe it may be urine scalding. I really want to know what everyone else thinks. Thorunn is not spayed yet (she is a year and three months old) because I haven’t saved enough money yet but she has had two doctor visits. The last visit was last September. 

I read about symmetrical bilateral alopecia because it has similar symptoms that shows up in rabbits who are not spayed but apparently it is very rare and urine scalding is fairly common.

Thorunn usually does have a pretty messy bottom and I have to give her butt baths more often than probably most rabbits (once a month or more depending) but for the past month and a half I have NOT been locking her up in her cage aside from the two times I left the house for a couple of hours but even at night she is free to roam about the bedroom. She is litter trained but has a few accidents here and there but never urine accidents, they’re always poo accidents which leads me to believe she doesn’t have any difficulty controlling her urinations. So then I thought I must not be cleaning her cage well enough but I find this hard to accept because I never wait until the bedding is too wet or anything. I use Timothy hay as bedding but she does like to dig in it and push it around some times leaving a hole to the bottom of the cage where it may be wet with urine. I usually move the hay back over it when she does this. 

I just don’t understand when she spends 90% of her time outside of the cage why she would have urine scalding but I feel absolutely horrible about this. I blame myself because I am her caregiver. I have always said I take absolute full responsibility when it comes to the health and safety of my pet and this just disturbs me. I thought urine scalding only happened to rabbits who were being locked up for too long in a filthy cage… I’m absolutely horrified!

I took this picture and then immediately gave her a butt bath. Not knowing what was wrong and seeing her legs made me cry because I was thinking this could be some sort of disease. Her fur looks pretty clean around the area except for the very back of her bum. You can kind of see it a little bit at the very bottom fur in the picture. but it’s pretty much stained and a little matted all around in the very back there. Her tail especially has this very difficult tangle on the bottom that I have never been able to get out out of all the times I have groomed her.

[Roberta]

Mites maybe.

[Thorunn]

I did think mites were a possibility (though she has never been outside there are other animals in the duplex I live in who do go outside) so I checked her all over for dandruff before I gave her a bath but saw nothing so I started looking for other possibilities.

[Thorunn]

It’s strange because her skin does not seem red or irritated in appearance. I did however notice her grooming the area twice. Other than that she doesn’t seem to be in any discomfort… If anyone can read my rabbit’s behavior it’s me but still rabbits are really hard to read in general so I always worry.

[Thorunn]

It’s strange because her skin does not seem red or irritated in appearance. I did however notice her grooming the area twice. Other than that she doesn’t seem to be in any discomfort… If anyone can read my rabbit’s behavior it’s me but still rabbits are really hard to read in general so I always worry.

[Roberta]

Mites can get in on the bottom of shoes, plants, clothing all sorts of ways. Doesn’t mean you have done anything wrong they are just doing what mites do. It’s good there is no redness. Have you changed her litter or put anything different on the floors ?

[Bam]

Mites can be transferred from mother to kits and exist in very low numbers until sth stressful happens and there’s a temporary dip in the bun’s immune defense, then the mites sieze the opportunity to proliferate (not by actual choice of course, mites don’t choose what to do, obviously!). The stressful event can be sth as perfectly natural as a shed/molt.

Imo is a very unusual place for mites though, and the fact that it’s symmetrical is also weird and that the skin doesn’t seem to be compromized. I’d think with urine scalding there’d be redness and irritation, but I don’t have any experience with urine scalding.

Urine scalding does not have to be due to a bunny being poorly cared for. It can be due to to urinary tract issues, like a UTI. That can happen without any fault from your side, so don’t beat yourself up about it. The fact that she doesn’t seem to have a problem controlling her urination is inconsistent with a UTI though.

[Author]

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