Bald patch behind ears – new rabbit mommy here!

[Horlicks]

Hi guys! 
My husband and I recently got ourselves a 2.5 month old lion lop and she’s beyond cute! We noticed that she tends to scratch her ears and body so we brought her to the vet. She tested negative for mites and any sort of bacterial infection so the conclusion was that our rabbit just has dry skin, like me with eczema. 

We started applying some oil that the vet prescribed. Perhaps because of how oil naturally parts fur, we just noticed that she’s had a bald spot behind the ear. 

Is this something we should be worried about? My husband thinks it’s probably because of her dry skin, she ended up overgrooming herself and the bald patch will probably grow back once the oil takes effect. Do we need to bring her back to the vet again (after just 3 days)? 

If anyone has any advice or experience in this area, I’d be very grateful.

[Wick & Fable]

Firstly, I’d say look at her nails to make sure they aren’t too long. Wick’s fur, especially nose fur, sometimes takes a hit when his nails are longer than usual.

Secondly, can you post a photo? It could help to distinguish bald spot vs. parted fur. Typically, it’s very obvious if it’s a bald spot vs. parted fur to rabbit owners who have seen both.

Thirdly, I’ve never heard of dry skin in rabbits, though admittedly none of Wick’s health searches would align with dry skin symptoms. Can you provide more details on the treatment. How often you apply, where, what the oil is, if your rabbit seems irritated by it or eats it beyond regular grooming?

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.

[Wick & Fable]

^ and be noted that sometimes, it’s an acceptable course of action to see a vet again so soon. The vet has no idea how a rabbit will react to a treatment because while vets can be confident, rabbit vets especially fall victim to the fact that rabbits can’t vocalize their ailments, so having new information helps pinpoint the issue. After talking to my vet, I stopped giving Wick an antibiotic treatment. Literally 3hrs after a missed dose, he started being symptomatic again. I called my vet and we agreed it was bizarre, but best to recontinued the medication.

Wick’s healthy now he had a URI, so he sneezed a lot.

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.

[Horlicks]

I’ve attached a picture here.
Our rabbit has tested negative for all the infections, mites etc, so the vet concluded that she has dry skin which apparently she says she’s seen quite frequently. She gave us this oil called Dermoscent to apply on a weekly basis. We apply this on the back of her neck where she can’t reach. She doesn’t seem affected by it at all. She’s been eating and popping fine, and running around way too much.

Glad to hear that your rabbit is doing OK now!!

[jerseygirl]

Hi Horlicks

Ive popped the photo in for you now. The file attached, but just needed to be inserted in the post. Click on Insert Image icon next to the file name to do that.

Is the top area (top right on photo) cream? It looks like a white blister on my screen.
Did the vet check for ringworm? The ear is a common area where that might show up.

[Horlicks]

Thanks jerseygirl! The top right area is just her skin. I don’t think the vet checked for ring worm. She took a skin and ear swab and told me basically no infections whatsoever. Wouldnt ring worms affect both ears?

[jerseygirl]

Not necessarily. It may pop up on other parts of the body but not necessarily on both ears at the same time.

Lops do tend to have thinner portion of fur between the ears, back of neck. But that patch is bald.
What is the skin like at edges of the bald patch? It looks good on upper portion of photo. There appears to be a line at lower LH portion of photo.

Do you live in a region where it is necessary to vaccinate rabbits?

[Horlicks]

Actually the skin looks OK, no scabs whatsoever. Just pink skin. We just asked our usual groomer and she mentioned that the bald spot has always been there, except now it looks a bit bigger to her which we are suspecting it might be due to the oil we are applying near that area.. Perhaps she’s just born like that?

[Horlicks]

Oh I forgot to answer the vaccination bit. We stay in Singapore and the vet never mentioned to us about any need for vaccinations so we just assumed we don’t have to. You guys vaccinate your rabbits?

[jerseygirl]

In Australia, we only have one vaccine available that protects against some strains of calici virus. In the Europe they have myxomatosis vaccine and ones that cover multiple strains of calici (rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus/rhdv).

Im not sure what is available or commonly given for buns in Singapore! Maybe ask the people at the House Rabbit Society chapter there?
http://www.hrss.net
http://www.facebook.com/FHRSS/

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