Possible allergy to rabbit any suggestions???

I'm at a loss right now. Unfortunately I think my daughter is developing an allergy to her rabbit! She has sensitive skin and quite often complains of being itchy. It has been happening more and more frequently. At night she would come down and say how itchy she was, quite often it would be accompanied by welts. But I just assumed the welts were from her scratching. Her skin welts up very easily. But now I'm wondering if it was actually the start of hives? We got the rabbit in November, and now that I think back, that's about the time this all started happening. This morning she came down and showed me the inside of both of her arms were covered in hives. I had to give her 2 Benadryl to get it to calm down, 1 didn't help at all. She was fine after that, then this evening, her stomach broke out, so I gave her more Benadryl. Her arms were fine at that point, but she fed the rabbit right before bed. When I went up to say good night she showed me her arms they were completely broken out again, despite the Benadryl she had just taken.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm going to do some experimenting to be sure it is the rabbit. But I'm really afraid it is. There is no place else in our house to put the cage. Right now it is in her bedroom. We can move her outside for the summer, but we get to cold around here to house outside in the winter.

If it was a nasal allergy, it would be easier to deal with. But, I can't have her breaking out like this all the time. Especially as the Benadryl is barely helping.
Any one else deal with this, have any ideas or suggestions I could use to mitigate the problem. Just dread the thought of having to tell her, that we might have to rehome her pet.

Is she actually holding the rabbit before it breaks out or just being near it and is the rabbit in her room?
I would suggest keeping her away from the rabbit to be sure whether it is the rabbit or not, and perhaps trying a different antihistamine. I am assuming she's over 12 from the amount of Benadryl she's having so you have lots of options in terms of different active ingredients.
It also sounds as if the problem occurs when she's been in bed, but that's possibly just how it looks with the examples, does she allow the rabbit on the bed? If she has an allergy and the rabbit is going on the bed and then she's getting in it that would give quite a long contact time which could make the allergy worse than it would be with less contact.

My friends daughter is exactly the same so she can't pick up the bunny anymore the bunny is outside anyway and they still bring bunny into the house but the little girl can't pick him up but can watch him running round on the floor , she still feeds him outside etc she just can't touch him

I would eliminate other possible causes- I get this but the cause for me is the hay. Have you changed your washing powder recently or does the washing powder say 'improved recipe' on it? Do you have new bubble bath or shower gel/ soap? You could keep her completely away from the rabbit for a week or so until all symptoms are gone- then rub a bit of rabbit fur against the inside of her arm to see if it causes a localised reaction.

If it is the rabbit does she wash her hands including up her arms after she has handled the rabbit? Like others have said- is the rabbit going on the bed? She could wear a long sleeved top for handling the rabbit/ bedding which she takes off and puts in the wash afterwards then washes her hands. It might actually be a good way for her to learn to work around her allergies.

This is a really good article on living with pet allergies that you might find helpful http://cavyspirit.com/allergies.htm

If I forget to take an antihistamine in the morning then by the evening my hands and arms are unbelievably itchy. I don't know if it's the hay, the rabbits or the cats. As long as I take an antihistamine every day I'm fine. Could she take one a day?

I think an allergy to hay would be more likely than the rabbit itself. I would remove the rabbit from her bedroom (having allergens in the place you sleep is really bad for allergies) and take over the actual feeding yourself and see if that helps.

Sorry to hear this.

What bedding is bun on?

I think some things need to be ruled out before any decisions are made.

If your daughter is sensitive then her bedroom is probably not the best place for keeping a pet for her sake. If the bun is confined to a cage this is not good for the bun.

Rabbits can adapt very well to cold, given a little time, they can't cope with wet conditions, but they don't do well being confined o a small space.

Are you in the UK? As here it doesnt get too cold for rabbits in the winter, providing their accomodation is properly weather proofed and you take precautions. Having a friend to snuggle and warm up to helps of course as well. If you are worried a shed with a heater (just enough to keep the water etc from freezing, not enough to create a big temp difference between inside and outside) might be an option.

I too think it's more likely to be a reaction to the hay. I have an awful allergy to hay which only developed recently, which results in red welts on my skin and lots of sneezing, runny eyes and wheezing. I found that buying dust free hay helps a lot but if it's the actually bunny she is allergic to then taking the bun out of her room may help as well as preventing her touching the bunny.

Thanks for the ideas! That article had some good tips.

I'm in the US, Buffalo, NY. We get very cold here in the winter below freezing for much of the winter. Two feet or more of snow is not unusual at all, so that is why we can't winter outside.
I'm trying to figure out how we can rearrange things to move the rabbit out of her room. Yes, the rabbit is in a cage but has lots of run time, her room is rabbit proof. We have also been making plans to make a cage out of an x-pen so she has even more room, when she is caged. But there is no way to put an x-pen in any other part of the house. We also have a small dog, who can't be trusted with the rabbit. But he is gated downstairs has no access to Melody, my daughters room is the only one upstairs.

Her room is what originally was the attic, so its divided into 2 small rooms. If we can figure out some way to divide them it might help. The ceiling is low, so I can't use a normal door to divide them. But I'm sure we can modify one. I will try moving the hay out of her room today and give it a good cleaning. Bribing one of her brothers to feed the bunny, is also a good possibility! LOL

Thanks!!

I am allergic to rabbit fur and wood shavings. Hay makes me sneeze, the fur is worse for me I take daily hayfever tablets (big bullet shaped ones:shock

Talk to your doctors about putting her on daily anti-histamines. Its very easy to o/d on them so you really need to see your doc ASAP. I would make sure your daughter isnt sleeping in the same room as her bunny...she may become more tolerant if she isn't constantly exposed to the allergens. Poppy is in a shed with a run. It works for me, she isn't a rabbit that wants stroking (was a stray and not human friendly) so I am lucky in that she enjoys our company and a nose stroke...but thats all she wants anyway.

When I was younger I used to have to change my clothes and shower after cuddling my bunnies..I get the hives, rashes and it used to give me asthma attacks too. Its very easy to manage and cope with you just need to remember to shower after cuddles

Could you, or one of your children swap rooms with your daughter temporarily for a week or two? This would likely establish whether it is something in that room causing the problem.

Do you have a hoover with an HEPA filter? Many do these day and these are good for getting allergens out of the environment. I'd give her room and mattress and a good hoover, and also change all herr sheets etc too.

Sorry, I should have updated this thread sooner. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.
We think it was the hay!! I had bought a huge bale of hay from the feed store. We were storing it on the back porch in a large contractor bag and the kids would go out and get it as needed. I get kept getting upset of the mess they were dragging in the house. Plus, they kept slopping it all over the porch, then every time the dog went in or out more got dragged in the house. It finally registered in my pea brain, that all this hay dust was getting dragged through out my house! Not to mention all mold or pollen spores that were in the hay! We got rid of the hay bale, scrubbed the porch and thoroughly cleaned the house. No more hives!! Plus my husbands watery eyes, that we couldn't figure out, settled down. So now we are back to the small bags of hay, at least until I can figure out a better way to mange the larger ones!

Great news.

Could you store a large bale in cardboard boxes? I open the top of the box and transfer what I need to a large plastic pot. Then I use this to carry the hay to the bunnies. This stops the mess if you hold the plastic pot over the box of hay while you transfer a few handfuls and give it a bit of a shake before you carry it through the house.

that's great you found out what it was. Like several others on here I also react in a red itchy rash, sneezing and watery eyes to hay. Seems a couple problem!