fur issue on neck

[Meg]

Hi everyone!  

I’m all worried because tonight I noticed that my 5-year-old Lionhead/Dutch mix, Athena, has a weird patch on the front of her neck.  It’s basically just an inch or less below the very top of her neck, under her jaw.  There’s a small strip of stiff fur from some sort of dried liquid, and also a bit of a yellow tinge.  And in the middle there’s a tiny patch (smaller than a pencil eraser) of bare pink skin (which otherwise looks healthy), next to a larger patch (about a square half-inch or so) of fur that is weirdly short, as if she’d gotten a haircut.  So it could maybe be from rubbing or biting.  (I’ve attached a photo, but it’s not a very good one.)

The dried-liquid strip does not lead to her mouth, and she’s eating all her food normally, and acting basically normal.  I did bring her onto my lap tonight to check her out, and I didn’t feel any weird lumps or anything.  She also didn’t seem to mind my cleaning the area with a wet paper towel.  (Since I did that the yellow has not come back, though it’s only been 5 hours or so.)  

I read around on the forums here, and it seems like it might be stress — we moved to a new apartment 7 weeks ago, and then I had to go out of town for over a week just lately.  (We have a terrific bunnysitter, but still.)  I feel so guilty: I saw something similar (just noticed the stiff fur) shortly after the move, but thought she’d just somehow gotten food or something there, so I didn’t fully investigate.  I can’t say for sure if it got better and then came back, or what.  I didn’t notice discoloration until today, but it is in an area that’s hard to see.  

This spot is a place that she can reach when she grooms herself, so she might be over-grooming from stress.  :/  Her BFF, Teddy, does groom her too but only gently, and almost certainly not in this spot. 

Should I be worried about dental problems or other concerns?    Both she and Teddy are sooo nervous traveling that I worry that a trip to the vet would totally stress them out.  (And unfortunately we’re in a new city so there’s no one here who’s seen them before.) 

What else might help this poor little bunny girl?  They are never caged, but they don’t venture off their rugs (onto the hardwood floors ) so they don’t have nearly as much run space as they did in our last carpeted apartment, poor buns.  I was thinking of getting the Maze Haven so they’d have another stress-reliever, but only worry if it could make any over-chinning worse?  (Now they have a wooden bunny condo, a wooden playhouse, and a bunch of little cardboard hidey houses.)  Also, would it make sense at all to give Athena a little dried chamomile sometimes, or is that just for emergencies?  I don’t know what direction to go in to help this little sweet bun — any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you so much in advance.  I love these bunnies so much.

 

p.s. Oh!  There’s more rug-territory they could have in an adjacent room, but I can’t get them to go there.  Even though it’s all connected 100% by grippy rugs, and I’ve placed cardboard hidey houses along the path for extra bunny security, they still won’t venture into the next room.  Any tricks on encouraging them?  That might help make them more relaxed and happy.

[manic_muncher]

I’m wondering if its a ‘hot spot’. I don’t know a lot about rabbits specifically, but in dogs and cats, licking/rubbing/scratching too much in one spot will lead to pink inflamed skin, which then will produce a yellowy pus discharge. See if you can smell a stinky smell from it. I’m not sure offhand whether betadine is safe on rabbits, but at the vet hospital we treated hot spots with a 50/50 betadine/water mix. Cleaning it and patting it dry… if it IS a hot spot, you will need to find a way to keep her from licking it. Like an elizabethan collar. She may even need an antibiotic.

Hopefully someone else here can offer more advice

[jerseygirl]

Smelling the area is a good idea. Betadine is safe also.

Did you check right under the fold at base of neck. It can get warm and moist there and sometimes they’ll get bacterial or fungal skin infection.
Maybe she’s pulled a bit of fur herself or is coming into a molt? Something like moving can trigger one.

Could Teddy be spraying her at all? (New place, new boundaries, stress relief for him etc)

[Meg]

Thanks! I can’t smell anything but maybe haven’t gotten close enough. I don’t see any yellow on the skin, but it’s true, this spot is right near the base of her neck, where her dewlap would be if she had one. She is definitely in a molt (a couple of weeks in, almost done). I don’t think Teddy is spraying her — this would be a hard spot to reach, and it’s just a very faint yellow.

I’ve been watching her more and she definitely grooms herself a *lot*. :/ I made an appointment with a bunny vet in our new city for Monday. But I’m all worried because if this is a stress problem to begin with I don’t want to make it worse, since they hate the car and the vet so much!! (And this is at least 40 minutes each way in the car.) Athena won’t let me come near her today after I picked her up yesterday to check her out (she usually loves cuddling, but hates being picked up), so I hate to think what a vet trip would do to her nerves. What do you think?

Both bunnies are eating a little less than usual but seem otherwise relaxed (apart from Athena’s avoiding me more). Would it be better to wait and see, or would the stress of the vet definitely be outweighed by the benefit of checking it out?

[Meg]

Update:  Athena let me pet her for a long time!!    Seems like she really was just scared I’d try to catch her again.  Once she realized I meant no harm, she let me pet her for like 10 minutes before she got hungry.  (;  

Also, I think I was too quick to say the bunnies are eating less — it’s about the same as usual. 

Would love to know your thoughts on whether to risk a trip to the vet!

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think I would go ahead with the vet visit since you don’t know what it is. Better safe than sorry, is my opinion.

[Meg]

Thanks!  I will take both bunnies to the vet tomorrow and keep you posted.  Please send them peaceful vibes so they don’t get too freaked out by the long car ride and the vet’s!  Poor sweeties.

[Meg]

Just got back from the vet, with good news! She said it looked like a little injury (scratch or bug bite) that had scabbed over, the scab had come off, and now the fur’s starting to grow back. She said her skin looked good, and the stiff fur stuff is just saliva from all the grooming — I can wash it off. I feel terrible that I didn’t see this sooner (as it’s a spot that’s hard to see normally) but SO grateful that it’s not anything more serious!

[manic_muncher]

That’s really good to hear. Glad it wasn’t serious. I was beginning to imagine her with an e-collar on!

[LittlePuffyTail]

Glad you got that figured out.

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