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Rabbit lost most of fur on head

S

smokeysmum

New Kit
photo.jpg


Just been out to check my rabbits before bed and my little boy has got a major bald patch on his head, im really worried about him. He lives with his sister who hes lived with all his life. i havent changed his food. Phoned the emergency vets and they said to keep him inside for the night to keep an eye on him and take him in first thing tomorrow. He seems bright enough, no discharge from anywhere, eyes wide and bright and eating/drinking ok.... anyone experienced anything like this before? Ive posted a photo showing his head :(
 
That just happened this eve? Good grief! :( I hope the vet can help the little man feel more comfortable - that looks sore. Let us know how you get on tomorrow x
 
oh no! I haven't seen anything like that before! hopefully the vet will be able to work out what happened. It does look very sore and inflamed, so could he have got to anything that could cause an allergic reaction? Maybe plants such as Euphorbia which have irritant sap, or any chemicals?
 
Please go outside and turn him up to check his genitals for inflammation.

Afraid the only time I have seen this hair-loss pattern before was with Hawthorn when he had myxi. It also happened quickly - though the myxi had showed up in his genitals for a couple of days before that.
 
Its happened at some point during the day, yes :(

He's been in his hutch and run with the cover over him today as its been raining. The only thing i considered was that i put some lawn seed down a couple of days ago - he's not been near it but i was wondering if any could have blown into his hutch.... although not sure that could do anything.... i've not changed anything about his daily routine/food/water/bedding etc so i really don't know :(
 
it looks to me one of the following
an allergic reaction? were the lawn/grass seeds treated with anything?
severe overgrooming
a scrap they have had possibly with a cat or between the bunnies (was the fur strewn around the cage and were there any unjuries elsewhere?
possibly myxi related but usually the lumps come up first still check his genitals

i would get him vet checked but in addition prehaps bathe gently with warm water and dry just in case some kind of allergy to something then some calendula cream gently rubbed into the sore area.

if its been like this a while it could be a mite problem (sorry if you have said its happened gradually ) x
 
The fur was just in the corner of their bedroom - no injuries or sign of any other problems other than the bald head - his sister seems fine, no scratches or anything on her, they are both placid rabbits, always cuddled up together, in the year i've had them i've never seen any bickering between them.

The grass seed has a coating on it to help it grow quicker or something similar but we did check that it was safe for animals before using it as we also have a dog. Although we haven't let the rabbits anywhere near the treated area, i'm not sure that with the positioning of the hutch and where the seed is that any could blow in easily, especially as we've had lots of storms for a few days so the covers have been over far more than usual but i will mention it to the vet to eliminate that possiblity.

He's happily munching on his hay at the moment so i'm just going to keep him in the inside hutch for tonight until i can get him to the vets. Thanks for all your replies so far, it scares me whenever any of my animals show any signs of illness :( x
 
That's pretty quick and dramatic! Not seen anything like that in that area before. Is there any swelling? It looks maybe a bit swollen but hard to tell from a picture.

The location would suggest over grooming, but I haven't heard a bun remove that much fur out of the blue before.

Let us know what the vet says :)
 
We've had Monty to the vets this morning and they checked him over and said they are sure its overgrooming by his house mate Smokey, he's also maulting quite badly so he thinks its a combined effect. Just got to see how it goes for a while, if it gets any worse or shows no signs of growing back then we have to take him back again - so fingers crossed it'll grow back quickly.

Thank you for all your replies :)
 
Crikey, thats a new one :shock:

Im glad its nothing serious :) Does his sister usually groom him so much?? :?

Hoping it grows back soon :wave:
 
smokeysmum said:
We've had Monty to the vets this morning and they checked him over and said they are sure its overgrooming by his house mate Smokey, he's also maulting quite badly so he thinks its a combined effect. Just got to see how it goes for a while, if it gets any worse or shows no signs of growing back then we have to take him back again - so fingers crossed it'll grow back quickly.

Thank you for all your replies :)
Click to expand...

could be made worse by the moulting, one of mine has a nearly bald ear cause i was cleaning it the other day (something stuck on) and it all fell off!

EDT - exaggeration, it only part of the ear.
 
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