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Fleas/mites help!

S

Scrufox86

Warren Scout
Hi my sister found what we believe are fleas on some of our rabbits. They are dark coloured small blobs and they are moving. At first we thought it was just dead skin cells coming off with thier moult but when checking them again some moved. Others we checked had white blobs on and have not been scratching at all. Those with the dark blobs have been scratching but not constantly. My sisters rabbit is being treated for mites using a "spot on" thing from pets at home and he scratches quite a lot so comparing to the other rabbits they haven't been doing that. Are the white blobs eggs and the dark blobs adult fleas?

I'm just really confused as to what to do. I thought i'd ask on here and maybe get suggestions because although i'd take my rabbits to the vet if they needed to, i wouldn't want to waste time for someone else's seriously injured pet. I did read in another post that rabbits can get fur mites? apparently if you leave them they just die and fall off, is it true and what do they look like? Please can someone help i am getting really worried. What do i do about the hutches, some peole say to bleach them and others just to wash them.
 
Its not a waste of time to take your bunny to the vet if they are not well or need treatment, and bunnies with fleas need treatment :) If someone else has a seriously injured pet they will still get an appointment no matter if your there or not ;)

Mine have been to the vets before with fleas and the vet gave me a flea treatment for them :) I would personally only use a treatment recommended by my vet, I think I had advantage for mine. Lots of pet shop treatments can have reactions I think x
 
I'm not 100% sure they are fleas. We don't have much money and we don't drive so the taxi fare is going to be a lot to take all 6 to the vet. Is there no way we could take the more infested ones and ask if we could have more for the others or would they all need to be checked. It is going to cost so much and if i had the money there'd be no problem.

Is there nothing else we could try like a flea comb or something?
 
I think if you call the vet and explain, they will tell you whether they need to see all the buns, i think probably best though.....i would imagine that they wouldnt charge you for 6 appointments to check them all for fleas, then that way you would be sure how many flea treatments you had to buy.
 
If they all have the same thing just take one in and say you couldnt get all 6 there together can you have treatment for whatever it is for all of them :)

If your not even sure what it is its going to be hard to treat at home, also bunnies have very sensitive skin and I wouldnt use a flea comb on mine :) x
 
It's ok we phoned the vets and they said to take the 2 that are worst infested. They said over the phone it may be ticks by our description but we'll know when we take them in about an hours time. They did say they would give us extra for the other rabbits once they know what the things are.

I was wondering on the 2 that don't have any signs of what the others have should we treat them just to be safe? 1 of them is in with her sisters and they both as far as i can tell only had 1 dark blob each so may have caught them in time before it gets worse. I think perhaps we got a bad load of hay with the little things already in it, it must have only been sunday when they got them which was when we usually clean out the whole hutch. Usually we just take away (every other day) where they have been going to the toilet.
 
Ok we went and the vet could not find any sign of them. They definitely were there wriggling on thier own so it wasn't just dirt but they had somehow gone overnight. Has anyone else had that happen with thier rabbits?

The vet did still say to use advantage on all of them as it will kill any stage of fleas. We were thinking to do this and vet agreed to wash out all the hutches with soap and water (we usually do this every other week). She did suggest to use something and to get it from reception but they were out of stock. Apparently it is to use in the hutch and can kill fleas/mites etc and last for a month or so.
 
Ivermectin

Hi,
I use ivermectin on my mini's it is really good. It was formerly only available when distributed from a vet but now is licensed to buy "over the counter" much better than those spot on treatment that you buy from the pet store most of these aren't strong enough.
You can buy it here from Pharmaq http://www.pharmaq.co.uk
 
Last edited:
When my buns have had fleas I've rarely seen a flea, but you do see the flea poo - its very distinctive, its black and banana shaped, and found at the base of the fur. I've always used Advantage (I seem to remember having to repeat it a month or so later) and its cleared up no problems.

If its mites then you normally see 'dandruff' on your buns, this is white and if you stare at it long enough it moves. This is usually accompanied by flaey patches of skin at the base of the fur. Ivermectin works a treat.

Its odd that the vet didn't seen anything, but best to treat for fleas to be on the safe side and it won't hurt the buns. I would try to get the proper stuff to clean the cage out though, as the soap and water may not kill any eggs - these can lie dormant form months and then reinfest your buns, and whilst Advantage won't harm a bunny, its best not to do it too often. Although saying that my old bunny does suffer a bit if I flea him, he goes off his food for a few days, so keep a close eye on your buns to be in the safe side.
 
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