Bepanthen / Bunny First Aid Kit

[Azerane]

So I’m just doing research into rabbit first aid kits and double checking what I’m doing. I know that Bepanthen can be safely used as a treatment for sore hocks, however upon looking it up there seems to be two types. They have a First Aid Antiseptic cream, and just a regular Antiseptic cream. I’m going to assume that the regular cream is the one that would be used, but it doesn’t hurt to double check. Does anyone know?

Bepanthen First Aid Antiseptic Cream – Ingredients: Purified water, liquid paraffin, soft white paraffin, dexpanthenol, cetyl alcohol, wool fat (anhydrous lanolin), PEG 40 stearate, stearyl alcohol, chlorhexidine hydrochloride, pantolactone. Contains Chlorhexidine hydrochloride 5.5mg/g See here: https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/Buy/52063/Bepanthen-First-Aid-Antiseptic-Cream-100g

Bepanthen Antiseptic Cream – Ingredients lists only: Benzalkonium Chloride 500mcg/g Link: https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/Buy/1117/Bepanthen-Antiseptic-Cream-100g

For the first one, I know that Savlon Antiseptic cream is unsuitable for rabbits and also contains Chlorhexidine hydrochloride, but I’m not sure if that ingredient is the reason it’s unsuitable or whether it’s the Cetrimide. My logical assumption is that the plain (non first aid) Bepanthen is the one that should be used.

Also, while I’m here. Regarding Neosporin, I’m aware it’s a triple antibiotic cream. From the whole lot of nothing I’ve found, I’m assuming that we don’t have over the counter cream that’s equivalent (in Australia), only by prescription, does anyone know? Is Bepanthen a close replacement for applying to cuts and wounds to prevent infection etc? Is Dettol a safe disinfectant to use prior to applying cream?

I go overboard when I research things 

[Bam]

You could perhaps find Fucidin prescription free, that’s also an antibiotic and it’s listed as bunny safe.

Chlorhexidine appears to be pretty safe for both humans and animals: http://www.endoexperience.com/userfiles/file/Toxicological_aspects_of_CHX.pdf

Cetrimide seems to be more problematic: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9129701

[Azerane]

Fucidin is also prescription only here, but thank you for the suggestion.

And thank you for those links. I suppose that’s the twisted benefit rabbit owners get from animal testing, is that a lot of testing is done on rabbits so it’s going to be more widely known what can and can’t be used on them. Fortunate for pet owners, very sad for the bunnies

[redbunbun]

The names for the creams are a bit different here in Finland, but I use the regular Bepanthen for my rabbits. I’m pretty sure it’s the same one as the non-First Aid version you listed there. We’ve cleared it as safe with our rabbit-savvy vet; even if some is licked off or something (as is bound to happen!), it’s not dangerous. Another one that works and is safe is Helosan, but I don’t know if you can get that there.

[Author]

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