Health Probs: Skin & Eyelid

[skunklionshow]

We acquired Tobey (Holland Lop) about Feb this year.  Several months ago during a major shed, I noticed several bumps on his rump.  They look like dry, flakey skin.  If I pick at the skin, he will get a scab on the bump.  They get very irritated if I try to brush out his fur.  Initially we (us & the vet) shaved down the area and she decided that Calendula cream would be beneficial.  They went away for about 6-8 wks and now they are back w/ a vengence, even further up his backside up to his honchos (back legs).  They looked really bad last night, I guess b/c the fur gets tangled up in the dry skin.  I brushed him out pretty good, but didn’t shave him down.  I’d love to get some input from the bunny people.

 

Also, early on when we got Mr. Tobey, we noticed that he had a bad eye.  I treated it w/ antibacterial ointment.  Vet said the ointment & drops.  It cleared up, but came back.  She feels it is a chronic condition that either we can be aggressive and take him to another vet in Raleigh (almost 2 hrs away) or continue to treat it as chronic.  We believe that his eyelid is defective.  Rather than rounded at the top, there is a slight crease.  Another vet professor suggested, w/o seeing it, that it may be an inflamation of the nictating membrane that may need to be cut.  I’d love some thoughts on this as well.

We are going to Philly this weekend to visit family.  We have been tempted to bring Tobey w/ us to see our former vet up there.  However, our former vet went to school w/ our current vet.  I just wonder if current vet is just not aggressive enough w/ tx b/c maybe she is not as experienced w/ rabbit stuff as she appears to be.  I HATE living in a smaller town area w/o access to everything!!!!  Sorry just venting, I actually love my area, but hate that everything is not at my finger tips.  Thanks

[Sarita]

Did your vet do a skin scraping on the skin? I would do that and see if it shows anything.

As for the eye problem…have you considered taking him to a specialist for this?

[skunklionshow]

We have been told by our vet, that we could go to the rabbit specialist in Raleigh, there is not an opthamalic vet in our area. 

For the skin, she did a thorough exam w/ skin scraping, but now that I’ve seen all the mite info, I’m a little freaked out.  Wouldn’t his mate have similar skin issues if it was mites?  I think that was also our vet’s thought, since she also examined Jessica.  However, my head is spinning that it could be mites……

[Sarita]

Not necessarily. Usually mites will “feast” on an animal who may have a lower immunity or illnesses…so both rabbits may not necessarily get the mites. It’s possible that Tobey just has lower immunity due to his eye condition.

[skunklionshow]

Why wouldn’t the vet have id’d if it was mites?

Would mites have gone away and reappeared?

[Author]

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