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Bunny loosing fur, no mites found

GabrielleB

GabrielleB

Warren Scout
Hello,
My bun Otis has recently started to loose A LOT of fur, it comes out, literally, in clumps. I took him to the vet, when I first described it to the vet (over the phone) he thought my other bun may have been pulling his fur out, but once he saw him, he thought it could be mites, he did a skin scraping, but found nothing, he gave the both of them injections anyway though. Do you think it could be something else? He is 4, got neutered about 2 months ago, he also got a toe amputated and his eyelid shortened....if that matters at all :) If you would like me to take pics of what he looks like (with the chunks of fur everywhere) I can :)
Thanks in advance :)
 
I'd say its stress induced moulting
Your Bun has been through rather a lot lately.
A good diet, TLC and a stress free environment should get him back on track

xx
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I'd say its stress induced moulting
Your Bun has been through rather a lot lately.
A good diet, TLC and a stress free environment should get him back on track

xx
Click to expand...


Could he be stressed from living with my female? Because I only put them together a couple of weeks ago (after they both got desexed)
 
GabrielleB said:
Could he be stressed from living with my female? Because I only put them together a couple of weeks ago (after they both got desexed)
Click to expand...

If she is the dominant Bun she may be bullying him.
The 'stress' I was refering to is the physiological stress of the neuter, amputations and eye surgery. Add being bossed about by a Doe and its enough to make any Bucks fur fall out !!

Watch the dynamics of their relationship.
Do they have large enough accomodation so as they can get away from each other should they choose to.
Is their any bullying over food?
 
Jack's-Jane said:
If she is the dominant Bun she may be bullying him.
The 'stress' I was refering to is the physiological stress of the neuter, amputations and eye surgery. Add being bossed about by a Doe and its enough to make any Bucks fur fall out !!

Watch the dynamics of their relationship.
Do they have large enough accomodation so as they can get away from each other should they choose to.
Is their any bullying over food?
Click to expand...

Right now they are living in an "indoor" cage, which is rather small, I am taking them onto the grass for an hour in the morning and an hour at night (not during the day because it is getting to be 35C+) As far as I have noticed the doe is the boss, she had been mounting him when they were first put together, but there has been no agression, and I've been feeding them in seperate bowls, so there has been no bullying over food, that ive witnessed
 
I think you need to look at significantly increasing the size of their accomodation. Over here (UK) the minimum recommended hutch/cage size is 6ftx2ftx2ft ( approx 2mx0.75mx0.75m ) with a large permanent run attatched

For indoor Buns many of us use large dog crates. Something like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Metal-D...14&_trkparms=72:1686|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1309

You can then add shelves within the crate so Buns have different levels to jump up onto, thus increasing exercise and giving them a place to retreat to.
A Rabbit needs at least 8 hours a day outside of their hutch/cage. Toys such as cardboard tunnels and wood chews help enrich their environment.

I think your Bun is 'stress moulting' and this should stop once you address the accomodation issues and closely monitor the Doe's dominant behaviour. I suspect your Vet was correct re the Doe pulling the Buck's fur out.If she is not spayed this would be beneficial too. Not just to reduce hormone driven aggression/bullying but it will also protect her from uterine infections and cancer. UC is extremely common in unspayed Does over the age of 3 and it is often un-noticed until it has become terminal.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I think you need to look at significantly increasing the size of their accomodation. Over here (UK) the minimum recommended hutch/cage size is 6ftx2ftx2ft ( approx 2mx0.75mx0.75m ) with a large permanent run attatched

For indoor Buns many of us use large dog crates. Something like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Black-Metal-D...14&_trkparms=72:1686|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1309

You can then add shelves within the crate so Buns have different levels to jump up onto, thus increasing exercise and giving them a place to retreat to.
A Rabbit needs at least 8 hours a day outside of their hutch/cage. Toys such as cardboard tunnels and wood chews help enrich their environment.

I think your Bun is 'stress moulting' and this should stop once you address the accomodation issues and closely monitor the Doe's dominant behaviour. I suspect your Vet was correct re the Doe pulling the Buck's fur out.If she is not spayed this would be beneficial too. Not just to reduce hormone driven aggression/bullying but it will also protect her from uterine infections and cancer. UC is extremely common in unspayed Does over the age of 3 and it is often un-noticed until it has become terminal.
Click to expand...


They do have a large cage, but that is currently 2 1/2 hours away from us, it is being brought up next weekend though :) it is a double level 2m long by 3 foot high, by 2 foot wide. In the cage they are in now, they have 2 toys each, as well as an extra level for them to climb up onto. Having them outside in their run atm is out of the question because temps are getting over 35C! And I am not allowed to have them out in the house as it is not bunny proofed (I moved in with my aunty and uncle to further my studies) I will try to keep them out a bit longer tonight (in the outdoor run) once the sun goes down a little and its not as hot
Also, my female is spayed, she was done on the 5th :)
 
When my bun was losing fur, I gave her fresh veggis and a couple of weeks later the fur was all back. hope that was any help:D
 
Daniel1Dirk said:
When my bun was losing fur, I gave her fresh veggis and a couple of weeks later the fur was all back. hope that was any help:D
Click to expand...

My buns are always getting fresh veggies :) How are you buns doing? I saw in a post the other day that you were having troubles with them, something about a cut on one of their side from them fighting? :(
 
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