Help! Rabbit Chewing Fur

Hi just wondering what advice you could give me, i posted yesterday about my rabbit being prescribed antibotics for a urine infection which seemed to be iritating his skin got some get advice thanks.

Well just been home to check on him and he seems to have chewed most of the fur off his inside of back foot which is hanging off in a big lump and there is another couple of sore looking patches too i have called the vet and he is booked in for this evening but looking at the advice i was given yesterday i wanted to perhaps bath him as the urine in his fur smells and put vaseline on the sore areas depending on what vet says later so:-

Will the bath or vaseline make it worse?

What's the best thing to do with a rabbit that's not keen on being held will it just be a battle of wills?

Any advice apreciated

Thanks
Amanda & Magic
X

not sure on your questions - but hopefully someone will be here soon who does - but I do know sudocrem is fine on bunnies and good for skin probs.

I think the best thing would be to shave the rest of the fur from the affected area, and apply a thin layer of vaseline or other similar 'nappy rash' cream.
If your vet thinks the skin is infected you might need a medicated cream instead.

Once shaved, I would bathe the area daily with luke warm water (no shampoo) to remove any traces of urine.

Amy

Hi,

I posted my experiences on another post yesterday with regard to urine scald. When I took blackeye to the vet, I was told to bath his bum every other day to remove the urine as it will only make matters worse if you leave it. They clipped his fur for me there and then so as I could get to the skin better, and they also did the first bath for me (I think they have a shower attachment thing which must make it easier).

This is how I bath Blackeye:

Buy a washing up bowl and some johnson's baby shampoo. Put a tiny amount of shampoo in the bowl, add some warm water, about 2" at the most (must be just lukewarm, don't go too cold or too hot). Now holding bunny underneath behind his front legs, but supporting his rear end, gently lower him in so he can stand his back legs in the water. Now you can gently splash the area with the water. Take him out, and replace the water with fresh, just clean plain water and do the same again to rinse any shampoo out.

Now towel dry as much as possible and get your hairdryer - MUST BE USED ON THE COOL SETTING AND ON THE GENTLE BLOW SETTING. Now you can gently blow dry bunny, but keep the hairdryer moving or ruffle the area you are drying with your fingers so as not to get the skin too warm.

When this is all done and bunny is TOTALLY dry, put some sudocrem on any sore looking skin and rub in well. This really makes a difference to reddened skin in a matter of days. Then if all goes well within a 2-3 weeks you should start to see nice downy bunny fluff starting to grow back.

Also, as Blackeye is an outside bunny, I let him run around in the kitchen for approx half an hour for his body to return to a more normal temperature before I put him back outside in a lovely deep clean bed of straw.

Blackeye is now quite prone to urine scald which my vet and I have discovered is diet related (he can't copy with a lot of calcium, it gives him "sludgy urine" which then leads an infection if not caught early enough).

I am very lucky in that Blackeye is a dream to handle, but in your case, I would recommend someone helps you the first time to ascertain how receptive he is to the bath.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

Kerina
xxx

thanks for replys

how to bath him that's great, will update later after going to the vets.

Amanda & Magic

As I said yesterday I would have the fur surrounding his genitals removed and apply a barrier cream (if inflammed your vet may recommend Fuciderm which is an anti-inflamatory corticosteroid cream). This is a preferrable option to bathing everyday due to the stress, temperature changes and also the drying effect it will have on the already sore skin.

If the fur is shaved, bathing daily with a small amount of water only shouldn't make the skin sore. In my experience it's using shampoo that dries the skin out.

An alternative would be frangrance-free baby wipes.

Over a long period creams tend to build up on the skin and create a layer of crud that can be difficult to remove without water.

There is a difference between wiping the skin with a damp flannel and dumping the poor bunny **** first into a sink or the bath

Update - Back from vets

Hi

Back from vets, yes he has urine scald but the skin looks like it recovering, i asked her to clip him which she did and suggest we bath him just to get the skin clean and then put a little sudocream on the sore spots and then just to keep him dry as possible.

He is a wriggle little mite so wish me luck, thanks for the advice you guys are really helpful especially Sooz22 are you a vet? You are very helpful.

Thanks
Amanda & Magic

Glad to have helped

No Im not a vet, I just seem to live in my practices surgery

Well after a bath and some sudocream he is much better this morning, currently lay full length in his hutch, the skin looks quite normal coloured this morning and the antibiotics are doing there job.

So one very happy rabbit.

Amanda & Magic