Fur mite symptoms, but no mites on tests?

[Waffle65]

Just hoping someone else has been in this situation before, and can maybe calm me down.  A few days ago Kiwi developed flakes on the back of his ears.  It seemed to worsen over the weekend a little, and I think his ear fur looks thinner than before, so we went to the vet tonight.  The vet said it looks like signs of fur mites, so she did the tape test and two skin scrapings to check.  However, none of the samples showed any mites when she checked for them.  She said it’s possible that he does in fact have mites, despite them not being seen, so she went and gave him Revolution for the next 6 weeks, hoping this may clear things up.  She said there is also a chance this could be a skin disease (I was so shocked and can’t even remember what she called it exactly), saying that it would be very difficult to treat, and that would require a biopsy to confirm.  

I’m just wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with this before?  I mean honestly, what are the odds of him having mites, but them not showing up on tests?  Hoping for any advice/experience/words of wisdom to keep me calm until his next appointment in 7 weeks.

[Jadeo09]

Can rabbits get a bit of dry skin like humans?
Can you try a little Vaseline?
Your vet will get to the bottom of it, your doing the right thing.
If your vet doesn’t get it sorted in a few foes I’d try a specialist. Honestly my specialist vet has always worked miracles and ended up saving me lots of money even with the extra travel costs.

[Eepster]

Porky just gets dry flaky skin. No disease, no mites, no fleas, just dry flaky skin. He’s had it for years with no major issues. I can tell it itches a bit, b/c he will scratch his fur a bit thin occasionally, but nothing too bad.

It’s good that you have taken him to the vet, since these thing can be a sign of illness of parasites. But they aren’t always, so don’t worry too much.

The problem with moisturizing is anything you put on a bunny, will end up inside the bunny. I’m sure olive oil would make Porky’s skin more comfortable, but it would also probably be really bad for his digestion. So I just let it be since good digestions is more important.

[Bam]

It’s fairly common that mites don’t show up on a tape-test. Revolution is bunny-safe so it can be given empirically. Cheyletiella mites are very very ommon in bunnies, they can be asymptomatic carriers for many years.

I have used home made beeswax cream on my bunnies. You only need very little and if the bunny ingests some, it’s not a huge deal since it’s non-toxic. I make beeswax cream with beeswax and organic canola oil. Similar creams can be bought of course. As Eepster says, flaky skin can be just dryness, Bam hs had that on his ears.

[Waffle65]

Thank you all for replying! I did try putting some Bag Blam on his ears over the weekend, hoping it was just dry skin at first. I didn’t think it improved his ears, but I’ll try to keep using it for a while. He’s been shedding like crazy since it is very warm here, so maybe all the shedding is drying him out. The vet did check his poo for any parasite, and thankfully there weren’t any, so fingers crossed this is a pretty mild issue.

[Jadeo09]

Manuka honey is used on hamsters its antibacterial and soothes skin.
You can buy medical grade on ebay

[LBJ10]

If you don’t see improvement or the symptoms return, it certainly doesn’t hurt anything to give a dose of Revolution.

[Waffle65]

The vet did prescribe him three doses of Revolution. He had his first dose at the vet, and 24-48 hours later a good amount of his flakes came off, so it’s looking like he does in fact have fur mites. All of his stuff has been scrubbed down in case mites were hiding in bedding or anything, so hopefully he will stay on the up and up.

[LBJ10]

Oh good! Yeah, it actually happens pretty often around here. A bunny has symptoms consistent with mites, but the mites aren’t seen or found when a scraping is done. Give them some Revolution though and the problem starts to resolve.

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