“Normal” Itching Amount

[naodar]

Hi! I know it’s a pretty difficult question to really answer, but I thought I would ask anyway before returning to the vet.

I have a 9.5 week old Holland lop named Anais. 

She was scratching fervently since we got her, but no dandruff or hair loss or junk in ear. Just over-grooming (her fur was a little spiky in places from excess of bun-saliva). She was also biting near her neck and feet. 

We took her to an exotic vet; he took a swab from her ear and found no mites. And there was no flea dirt (and I never got bit, so no fleas). He said that he could scrape her skin all day and never find a mite, but just cause her stress. I think he chose not to because she was only a bit over 7 weeks old at the time. So he gave her a puppy/kitten dose of Revolution. Then he checked her teeth, underside, feet/nails, eyes, heartbeat – all good.

It’s been 3 weeks, and she scratches less. Still no ear scabs or junk. No dandruff, no hair loss. She sometimes bites/licks near her neck and feet still, but as I understand that can also be normal grooming, right? She has stopped over-grooming so all her fur is fluffy. She plays and binkies and is eating and drinking and, of course, pooping normally. 

But, I never had her without whatever caused all the itching, so I have no idea how much is normal. My mother is practically convinced every time Anais scratches, it’s because of some illness/parasite. Rather than go to the vet so soon again for nothing, I was hoping to get maybe an estimate of how much your bun(s) scratch. Maybe in the form of “_____times about every _____minutes” or something similar. Or maybe some other scratch-inducer I should search her for. 

Thanks for reading!

[lillian]

My buns groom quite a bit and had scared me when I first witnessed it. My female bunny does seem to bite and clean around the back of her neck and the little “floof spot” (no clue why I call it that, but, the little furry pouch like area under her neck) and does it more than my little male. I’m not sure what is really the “good amount” but I see cleaning every 5-10 minutes with my buns when they are awake.

[manic_muncher]

I was concerned about excessive grooming when I first got Bumpy too. I thought cats groomed themselves a lot, but no… rabbits have them beat by a mile!

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