Walking Dandruff/Cheyletiella

[Noodle's Mom]

My bunny isn’t doing too well. We’ve been fighting off Cheyletiella (“walking dandruff”) for the last six months with not much sign of improvement. He’s losing fur all over and it’s breaking my heart. Ollie is a 4 year old Holland Lop, and I believe I brought the mites home from when I used to work at PetSmart. We’ve been to the vet 4 times over this, but I’m starting to lose hope.

 

We’ll go through periods with crazy hair loss (currently his sides are bald) and then seemingly recovery, but it always relapses. His appetite goes down sometimes, which has led to weight loss. The vet says his hip muscles have deteriorated a little from the weight loss as well, so now he’s on a daily dose of Meloxicam (1 mL) to deal with the pain. He’s gone through two antibiotics, and tons of revolution since this has started. First he was on a 0.15 mL dose every two weeks, which was finally upped to a feline dose, again every two weeks. I’m just not seeing any changes. He has no bedding that can hold the mites, and I clean his bowls regularly. I feel like we’re fighting a losing battle and I don’t know if he’s suffering. I don’t want to let him live in pain, but I also don’t want to take away his chance at life if he’s eating/drinking/pooping regularly. I’m just at a loss. Has anyone had a bunny with cheyletiella mites that just won’t go away? I want to ask my vet about ivermectin injections. Thank you in advance.

 

UPDATE: We got x-rays done to rule out a tumor that another vet suggested could be causing this. Ollie has actually gained almost half a pound so that has me hopeful. I’d rather him be a little chubbier than underweight! I’ve attached the images of his x-rays if anyone is interested. Look how cute his little ears are.

 

[Wick & Fable]

I’m sorry your rabbit is going through this.

This reminds me of a scenario for a past member, whose rabbit was taken over by a skin condition, leading to a lot of fur loss. It was discovered that a tumor had been growing on the rabbits liver (or kidney, I cannot recall), and this was straining the rabbit’s systems, making him incapable of fighting off the skin infection.

Has your rabbit had formal medical assessments to confirm the mites, as well as screenings (x Ray’s and such, blood tests) to check for other conditions? The fur loss and weight loss could be factors of something else.

That being said, I have no experience with walking mites, I’m sorry.

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.

[Noodle's Mom]

Thank you for the input, I hadn’t thought of internal factors. My vet was having trouble finding the actual mites, but was able to find a nit (baby mite) after 3 different attempts with scotch tape and a microscope. I spoke with her a few hours ago because I was ready to pull my hair out, and she’s going to upload images of him and his case to VIN, which I guess is a huge database/forum for vets all over the world. She said she pays $600/year for this, so fingers crossed we can make a breakthrough. I’ll ask her if she thinks we should do an x-ray or blood test.

[Wick & Fable]

Yes, it may be worthwhile. When antibiotics and treatments aren’t working, it’s helpful to think of multiple things:

1) Is it the right medication?
2) Has enough been given?
3) Is something preventing the medication from working?

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.

[Noodle's Mom]

@Wick

I figured I’d update you, thanks for the advice. <3

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