Our Lionhead is shedding like crazy!

[sarashep]

Hi all- We have 3 rabbits for 4H projects right now- 2 polish and 1 lion head. The lion head is the youngest about 5 mos old.

Sunday we noticed that he had a bald patch across his shoulders. The skin underneath looks fine- not red, flaky or bumpy.

Then in the last few days he has really lost a lot more of his coat- very thin and patchy all over his sides. He is black so its very noticeable.

is this a normal molting process?  could the heat be causing it? (its been high 80’s-90’s here for about 2 weeks) is this something we should see the vet for?

This is our first time having rabbits so I don’t know what the molting process is like at all. Any advice is appreciated!

[Bam]

Rabbits can shed in patches so they get big bald spots. If the skin looks fine, smooth and uncompromized, it’s normal. Within a week a fine velvety fuzz should start to show.
Hot weather often brings on a shed, and the bun can look positively moth-eaten and like it’d been severely neglected during a heavy shed. It’s still completely normal. Try to brush off as much hair as you can so he doesn’t ingest too much of it.
Signs of an “abnormal” shed are big flakes of “dandruff”, sores, leaking sores, refusal to eat. Then it can be about a parasite or a fungal infection, but if it’s just hair-loss, it’s not sth you need to worry about.

[sarashep]

Thanks!

[Author]

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