Tundra has ringworm :(!

[TundraBundra]

Hello!
I’m looking for some advice on what to do for my poor girl.
About 5 weeks ago, we noticed circular bald patches on Tundra’s back while brushing her. It looks nothing like mites or mange. We have dealt with ringworm on guinea pigs in the past so I researched how to do so for bunnies and proceeded with at home treatment.( 3 years ago when our piggies got it the exotics vet did a culture which came back negative. We had already started at home treatment prior to bringing them in. We were told to stop at home treatment but after a few days the ring worm spread rapidly. We continued and were able to handle it at home with topical treatments)

So for Tundra we:

– applied Davis Miconazole Spray day and night

-clipped hair around the affected area short to try to prevent spread

– twice weekly we wet the affected area with a damp cloth, cleaned with Davis Miconazole Shampoo, and wiped off the shampoo with a damp cloth, followed by blow drying. (We did not do full bathes since they can shock bunnies. We proceeded cautiously and Tundra responded fine to the process). We recently read about the benefits of using chlorohexadine in conjunction with miconazole and added hibclens to this routine.

– we started giving her an oxbow vitamin c treat  daily

– regularly changed her toys, houses, linens, liter box, etc

– and have kept her in a large x penned area. She is normally free roam but we did not want to contaminate other surfaces.

– just in case we were wrong about it being ringworm we gave her 2 oral ivermectin treatments 2 weeks apart.

The treatment cleared the original areas but it continued to slowly spread. We brought her to an exotics vet last Monday (4 weeks into the ordeal). They took a culture and we were told not to treat. I was wary after our experience with the piggies but followed their advice. Within 2 days the ringworm spread, so we decided to continue treatment. We told the vet who didn’t offer any advice and just said the culture needs more time.

We called the vet again today who stated there has been no sign of ringworm in the culture. I have a feeling much like our experience with our guinea pigs that this is just because we were treating beforehand and the spore count must have been low. The vet had no advice when we asked about treatment options and gave us no direction on how to proceed just that the culture could take another week.

Poor Tundra just wants to be free roam again and I’m feeling so bad for her. Should I go to another vet? I’m worried that we will go through the same process of waiting for a culture that lasts 2 weeks  just to get a negative. Any other treatment options I could do at home?

I also want to note that we did not hold off on going to the vet out of being cheap for vet service or neglect, this is purely because we got no help from a vet visit when we dealt with ringworm with our piggies and their at home treatment was so successful I was confident that with hard work we could help Tundra out without having to take prescription medications that can have bad side effects. Now I’m thinking she really does need a prescription medication to kick this.

We appreciate your time and advice!

[pinkiemarie]

I want to start but saying I’ve never had an animal with ringworm so I have no idea how to ID it or if you’re providing the right treatment. I would definitely suggest seeing another vet along with any documentation including records from the first vet and any pictures you have. My concern is that rabbits can be very sensitive and what is safe for a guinea pig might not be safe for her. I know that there are also other conditions that can cause various skin conditions so maybe a second opinion could confirm your diagnosis and treatment or offer an alternative diagnosis or additional treatment options.

[LBJ10]

@Wick has experience with ringworm.

 

This article might help: http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Fungal/Fungal_en.htm

And yes, cultures can be unreliable. I would think especially so if you had already been treating the area.

[Wick & Fable]

From my personal experience (via my rabbit Wick) with ringworm, I sort of forgo the environmental contamination thing… my understanding is the fungal spores that can cause ringworm are essentially everywhere and it’d be pretty difficult to identify where it was coming from and get rid of it. If I recall my research correctly, I think I found that rabbits you are 1) younger and/or 2) immuno-compromised for some reason are then susceptible to ringworm in the environment, while other rabbits who might be in that same environment are fine because their immune systems are doing fine combating it and proceeding as normal.  That is all a narrative from a non-professional doing “internet research”, so its validity can definitely be questioned– it is mentioned in the Medirabbit article @LBJ10 linked.

All that being said, is there anything that preceded this occurring or signs that Tundra may be unwell? My Wick’s ringworm sort of coincided with URI treatment, neutering, and then potentially his syphilis becoming symptomatic (or the ringworm may have facilitated that, or they are unrelated and coincidentally occurred proximal to each other; no way of knowing). The narrative I’ve built around it is he went a good while with a taxed immune system, fighting many things, and that made him susceptible to it.

I can’t find anything online via the usual places I’ve looked linking that actual spray to treatment, though creams of similar composition have been mentioned. I personally had used silver sulfadizine cream, clotrimazole, oral itraconazole, and nolvasan as a general soap of the area (this was not all at the same time; some were staggered and/or grouped together because we treated it for a longgggg time).

I honestly haven’t read a case of rabbit ringworm that was cured quickly– it always seems to be pesky and stubborn, though arguably more people are going to post online when treatment isn’t going smoothly to begin with, so take it with a grain of salt. If you are seeing improvements, I don’t see the harm in continuing the treatment, though I do not have experience or knowledge on the spray specifically– if there are side effects you’re noticing or know of that may make it risky to continue, then I’d feel more comfortable recommending consultation with a different vet on other treatment options and brainstorming what may be happening.

To confirm, is it apparent that this is not a shedding/molting phenomena?

 

 

 

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[TundraBundra]

Update: I spoke with the vets office again and realized I was not speaking with the vet that actually saw Tundra, but a vet tech. I was unfamiliar with the staff because it was our first time with this office and with COVID procedure we didn’t actually get to go in and meet the vet, a tech came and took her from our car. In further discussion with the vet they have decided to wait just until Thursday to see if anything else comes up in the culture at which point they will most likely prescribe an oral anti fungal even if ringworm does not show up in the culture.They believe that there is no sign of ringworm in the culture since we started treatment before the appointment. I’m hoping this is the extra help Tundra needs. I’m concerned because it has spread between her lower back and tail and I’m worried her tail will keep in moisture and make it difficult to clear the area of ringworm.

Thank you for the response @pinkymarie! We did provide the vet with a complete list of the products we have been using and they were unconcerned but if anyone has any experience with these products or suggestion please let me know!

Thanks @LBJ10 ! I did see that link in these forums before and it has been very helpful!

Thank you for al of that info @Wick!
We have been wondering why she got it in the first place and have 2 possibilities in mind:

1. 2 weeks before the discovery of the balding we brought her outside because of the nice weather. She loves being outside in an xpen (she’s not a fan of the harness and leash). Could that have exposed her?

2. 2 weeks before we took in our bunny Rosa from a loved one who passed away. We believed she was spayed, and started the bonding process. They are on separate floors of the house and we only swapped a couple toys, blankets, or a house once a day. They both seemed upset initially with each new item but after a couple minutes relaxed. We stopped after a week once we got more information on Rosa and learned she was in fact not spayed.
So a week after we stopped swapping toys we discovered the ringworm. It appeared that Tundra was just not grooming well or keeping up with her molting fur so we were brushing her and found the bald patches. We ordered ringworm supplies which came in within 2 days. During which time the patches did expand which we believe confirmed that it wasn’t just a molting issue.
Could the stress of the scent of the unspayed bunny have caused her to reduce her grooming or upset her immune system to the point that she got ringworm? She did have one attempted bond 2 years ago that went very poorly. Tundra had escaped her xpen (she wasn’t free roam during the attempted bond) and a fight occurred leaving Tundra with a bad bite on her ear that required vet treatment. I’m concerned that with such a bad experience in the past the attempted bonding may have stressed her immune system.

(P.S. Rosa has been checked by our trusted exotics vet and is ringworm free. We booked a spay appointment right away when we found out she wasn’t spayed and she went in the same week we discovered Tundra’s ring worm)

We did start out with a clotrimazole lotion but found that it gummed up in her fur very badly which is why we switched to the spray. It seemed to be very similar ingredients it’s just an oil base rather than a lotion base.

It seems like we are seeing improvements, especially when I compare the rate of spread when we were treating her compared to the two days we held off per the vets advice. Her initial bald patches are now completely covered with fur. She still has 2 large bald spots though: the one below the original spots between her tail and lower back, and above the original spots between her shoulders :(.

Has anyone had experience with oral antifungals? Should we use bene-bac while she is on the medication? Should we expect major improvements with the introduction of oral anti fungals?

Thank you so much for your time and support! This is the best community a bunny parent could ask for!

[Wick & Fable]

Wick took itraconazole, which is an oral anti-fungal and it was fine. We never did a probiotic pairing, and he was fine with it. I can’t speak much to “major improvements” because it has been a while since Wick’s ringworm and it was so stubborn, but I believe itraconazole was in the treatment for the last “round” of ringworm we observed.

Bald spots will stay there until the fur wants to grow back on its own — just like a molt, bald patches will be there until the rabbit’s fur is ready to grow in. Not growing back in immediately is not a sign of ringworm still being there.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Lindsey]

Hi there! You’ve received a lot of great info already, but I just wanted to pop in because my past rabbit (Ollie) had a ringworm/fungal infection on the outside (fur side) of his ears at the beginning of 2020. We tried a topical cream first, and then because the infection persisted, we were advised to give him Griseofulvin orally (1x/day for 30 days), and I think if I remember correctly by the end of the 30 days, the infection had cleared up and when we took him back for a re-check at the vet.

[TundraBundra]

Thanks for the additional notes @wick , and thank you @lindseyjae for your experience with ring worm! I’m so sorry for your loss of Ollie :(.

 

I assume the vet will also go over this but out of curiosity did you continue topical treatments while your buns were on oral antifungals?

[Wick & Fable]

For Wick, we did do both oral and topical at the same time.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[LBJ10]

Yes, you can do both at the same time.

[Author]

Messages