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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Not Sure What Is Wrong With Him…

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    • hiskatey93
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        Cash is my one year old Flemish Giant male. He came to me on June 9th as a birthday gift from my friend who breeds Flemish. She knew I had fallen in love with him, and surprised me with him.

        Anyway a few days after he came home I noticed he started to lose fur. It was his shedding time, but this was more than it should have been. He had dandruff that flaked off with his fur that was shedding in clumps. After eight days of being with us he had a bald spot on his rump that was fairly large. After finding that I rushed him to our vet, who specializes with rabbits. Both of us thought it might be mites, since he was showing classic signs of having them.

        She did a scraping, and saw no signs of mites, but said in her opinion that it was that, and followed through with Ivermectin injection. He goes back July 1st for his second injection. I cleaned every inch of my apartment, all of my clothing and bedding, and his cage with a chemical my vet recommended that is safe for pets, to kill any traces of mites. 

        But to make my friend aware, I informed her about his having mites, and my friend brought her other rabbits, who mine was constantly around, to get hers treated. And not a single one of them had a case of mites, nor any kind of fur loss. Which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Which means it probably isn’t mites.

        I’m wondering exactly what it could have been to cause this. He was recently at a show, when all of these signs started to show up, so I’m wondering if he might have gotten into something chemical related there, and have gotten a reaction from it. His skin is not inflamed at all, but the Ivermectin shot didn’t appear to do much. For the first two days his fur was falling out less, but now it’s back to falling out everywhere.

        Has anyone else ever had a problem similar to this? Or could it be some sort of parasite that isn’t mites? Any ideas for causes???

        ~~EDIT~~ He was in the care of my friends grandmother for a while, and came to me extremely underweight at 13.5 lbs. He has gained a pound or so already, and eating well enough that he should be gaining back his weight quickly enough. Could his being underweight cause fur loss?


      • longhairmike
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          it could just be a combination of dry skin and shedding.
          where are you located, and do you have your a/c cranked all the time now? that takes a lot of moisture out of the air


        • LBJ10
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            Sometimes stress will cause an outbreak of mites. My vet explained that sometimes the mites are present, but an animal’s immune system can fight them off. But if they animal is stressed, then it can cause the mites to “win” and flourish. Fur mites are often difficult to find in a scraping anyway. This might explain why your friend did not find any mites on her rabbits. They could be present in small numbers, but her rabbits are healthy enough to suppress them.

            There is still the possibility that it isn’t mites though too. Can you post a picture of the bald spots? Maybe someone here will have some suggestions.


          • hiskatey93
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              Posted By longhairmike on 6/21/2014 4:19 PM

              it could just be a combination of dry skin and shedding.
              where are you located, and do you have your a/c cranked all the time now? that takes a lot of moisture out of the air

              I have my a/c running constantly, although I will turn it off occasionally when it gets too cool in my apartment.

              My vet even said this is out of the normal because he now has a large bald spot on his rump. But I’ve noticed this has only seemed to stay on his rump area.


            • hiskatey93
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                Posted By LBJ10 on 6/21/2014 4:29 PM

                Sometimes stress will cause an outbreak of mites. My vet explained that sometimes the mites are present, but an animal’s immune system can fight them off. But if they animal is stressed, then it can cause the mites to “win” and flourish. Fur mites are often difficult to find in a scraping anyway. This might explain why your friend did not find any mites on her rabbits. They could be present in small numbers, but her rabbits are healthy enough to suppress them.

                There is still the possibility that it isn’t mites though too. Can you post a picture of the bald spots? Maybe someone here will have some suggestions.

                I don’t think it is, mainly because the others did not show any signs of mites. Also because after his treatment with an Ivermectin injection it only got better for a day or so, and then continued to lose fur.

                My vet told me the way he is shedding with this bald patch on his rump is highly uncommon, and although he has the dandruff, it is only staying on the rump area. The rest of his fur and skin are pretty much fine.

                I’ll just include a link to the album with a few different pictures in it of his situation. I’m new to binkybunny so I’m still learning how to use the forums. 

                http://s242.photobucket.com/user/silverthevampireprincess/library/Cash-%20weird%20fur%20issue?sort=3&page=1


              • LBJ10
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                  It doesn’t really look like mites in the pictures. He has what reminds me of guard hairs in his fur. It isn’t unusual for shedding to occur in “clumps”. Did you dig down in there to see if there is evidence of new fur growth? He should start getting a “five o’clock shadow” in the area as the fur starts to come in.


                • hiskatey93
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                    Posted By LBJ10 on 6/21/2014 11:29 PM

                    It doesn’t really look like mites in the pictures. He has what reminds me of guard hairs in his fur. It isn’t unusual for shedding to occur in “clumps”. Did you dig down in there to see if there is evidence of new fur growth? He should start getting a “five o’clock shadow” in the area as the fur starts to come in.

                    Geeze every time I go to check his bum he is fine with it until this time lol. He had me following him around for quite a while. I think he got shy for a second. 

                    I did notice some short hairs growing in the bald patch. Not a ton, but there were small clumps of it. They were about two centimeters long.

                    And when I say he was losing clumps, I mean if you gently pet him you will take away about a half a cup of hair with each pet. It just had me very worried.

                    And it doesn’t look like mites? Oh thank goodness. I feel more relieved about that. And what are guard hairs?


                  • LBJ10
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                      It doesn’t look like mites to me anyway. Mites tend to concentrate around the head and neck area first and there is usually skin showing. Sometimes the skin will start to get flaky/crusty and irritated too. So if the vet didn’t find anything and the meds didn’t seem to do anything, then mites are probably not the problem.

                      Now that you have described it more and shown pictures, I’m thinking it’s just a heavy shed. Especially if you are already seeing new growth.

                      Guard hairs look like the coarse straight ones your bun has mixed in with the softer “kinked” ones. I have a Jersey Wooly, so that’s why guard hairs popped into my head. Jersey Woolies have guard hairs mixed in with their wool, which helps prevent mats. Not that he doesn’t get mats. LOL


                    • LongEaredLions
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                        Looks like a molt to me too, not mites. Completely normal.

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                    Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Not Sure What Is Wrong With Him…