Bunny has a hard lump on her nose! Pic included.

I have a 10 week old bunny who we have had for a week and over the weekend she seems to have developed a lump on her nose, that honestly seems to be getting bigger by the day. It is on her left nostril (our right in the pic), the fur seems to have thinned on the top of it and its grey and hard. It doesn't seem to have affected her personality particularly, but she does seem to be nipping today, which she doesnt normally do.
Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

Bless her, what a sweetie she is!

Has she been vaccinated against myxomatosis? It is hard to tell from the photo but it does look to me like it could be a myxomatosis nodule - by which I mean on face value it could be the 'milder' form of the illness which is more often found in vaccinated animals (and possibly could be a reaction to the vaccine itself if given recently). Does she have any other lumps or bumps, especially around the ears, eyes, nose or genitals?

I would strongly recommend you phone the vet first thing tomorrow morning and arrange for her to be examined - the sooner she gets examined and diagnosed with whatever is causing it the better so I would ask for an appointment tomorrow.

Good luck, I hope your little one is ok x

I could not agree more with what Santa said. Hopefully we are wrong though xxx

Santa said:

Bless her, what a sweetie she is!

Has she been vaccinated against myxomatosis? It is hard to tell from the photo but it does look to me like it could be a myxomatosis nodule - by which I mean on face value it could be the 'milder' form of the illness which is more often found in vaccinated animals (and possibly could be a reaction to the vaccine itself if given recently). Does she have any other lumps or bumps, especially around the ears, eyes, nose or genitals?

I would strongly recommend you phone the vet first thing tomorrow morning and arrange for her to be examined - the sooner she gets examined and diagnosed with whatever is causing it the better so I would ask for an appointment tomorrow.

Good luck, I hope your little one is ok x

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Thanks! She hasn't been vaccinated, but she also hasn't been outside/in contact/anywhere near any other animals.. is it still possible for her to get myxo? She doesnt have any other lumps or bumps, and this one doesnt seem to hurt her or anything - i thought it was just a wart

Unfortunately any rabbit an get myxi, even indoor ones. I'd take her to the vets as a matter of urgency to get the lump checked, as Santa said. If it isn't myxy she needs vaccinating asap; if it is the outlook isn't good I'm afraid. Try to check with the breeder to see if her mother was vaccinated in case there's a chance she's passed on some immunity. Really hope it isn't myxy.

jezzabelle said:

she also hasn't been outside/in contact/anywhere near any other animals.. is it still possible for her to get myxo?

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Yes it is, it is spread by biting insects including gnats, mosquitos and fleas, and there are still loads of mozzies about, which get into houses all the time so I'm afraid she is still very much at risk. There is also another bunny disease called VHD which also needs vaccinating against (there is a new vaccine out this year which covers both diseases for 12 months in one jab) and in some ways, house bunnies are at more risk than outdoor bunnies because it is carried on shoes and clothes so you are more likely to walk it into and around your house where she is.

Please take her to a vet today to get her checked over for myxomatosis or to diagnose whatever it is if it isn't that. Hope she is ok x x

As Santa and tinsel have said indoor bunnies still need vaccinating. There are lots of gaps in houses for ventilation which biting insects can get through.

Myxo popped into my head at seeing title.
Hope shes ok.xx

Turns out the vet didnt really have a clue. Said it could be an abscess or rabbit syphilis or (upon me asking) myxi but gave me AB for the abscess. The lump has actually dropped off now leaving her nose grey, scaley and hairless but the scaley/hairlessness seems to spreading to the other side of her nose now too! (no lumps this time) any more ideas?

I would find another vet for a second opinion, myxi is still sounding like a possibility I'm afraid. You need a diagnosis of some sort!

Hele said:

I would find another vet for a second opinion, myxi is still sounding like a possibility I'm afraid. You need a diagnosis of some sort!

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Seeing as i havent had much experience with myxi, is she likely to show other symptoms i.e. behavioural / eating differently? Cos she seems absolutely fine in herself..?

jezzabelle said:

Seeing as i havent had much experience with myxi, is she likely to show other symptoms i.e. behavioural / eating differently? Cos she seems absolutely fine in herself..?

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I would advise having her checked as soon as possible by a rabbit-savvy vet.

jezzabelle said:

Seeing as i havent had much experience with myxi, is she likely to show other symptoms i.e. behavioural / eating differently? Cos she seems absolutely fine in herself..?

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As far as I know this depends on the bun and their immune response, don't forget that as prey animals rabbits are very very good at hiding illness as a sick bunny is easy pickings to a fox.

Even if this isn't myxi if you were to go to a rabbit savvy vet they would easily be able to rule it out and suggest treatments.

whereabouts are you? i'm sure someone will beable to recommend a rabbit vet for you.

jezzabelle said:

Turns out the vet didnt really have a clue. Said it could be an abscess or rabbit syphilis or (upon me asking) myxi but gave me AB for the abscess. The lump has actually dropped off now leaving her nose grey, scaley and hairless but the scaley/hairlessness seems to spreading to the other side of her nose now too! (no lumps this time) any more ideas?

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Whereabouts are you? You definitely need to register with a different vet - most vets are ok with cats and dogs and useless with rabbits. Rabbits really need t go to vets that have specialised in some way in 'exotics':

If you start a thread with the title 'need rabbit savvy vet in XXXXX' [wherever you are located] you will get suggestions.

That seems a little quick for a myxi nodule to drop off, particularly in an unvaccinated bun. You definitely need to find a more rabbit savvy vet.

Hele said:

I would find another vet for a second opinion, myxi is still sounding like a possibility I'm afraid. You need a diagnosis of some sort!

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Took her to another vet who said he had never witnessed syphilis so couldnt comment, but thought it might be parasitic so gave us something for that. Took her back to the original vet for a check-up who said hes 60% sure its bunny syphilis dont want to put her on penicillin unneccessarily so trying all other avenues first.

But now her nose has lost ALL of its hair, its uber crusty and now one of her lower eyelids is crusty too!! Has no one experienced anything like this with their bun? Now to top it all off she is limping/refusing to put her front paw down! All this and we have only had her for a month

will try and post pics soon!

I'd advise much the same action as others have posted already. Find a good rabbit savy vet and take her to be checked out there instead. Sadly there are plenty of vets out there who can't deal with rabbits but are happy enough to not say anything and take your money anyway.

jezzabelle said:

Took her to another vet who said he had never witnessed syphilis so couldnt comment, but thought it might be parasitic so gave us something for that. Took her back to the original vet for a check-up who said hes 60% sure its bunny syphilis dont want to put her on penicillin unneccessarily so trying all other avenues first.

But now her nose has lost ALL of its hair, its uber crusty and now one of her lower eyelids is crusty too!! Has no one experienced anything like this with their bun? Now to top it all off she is limping/refusing to put her front paw down! All this and we have only had her for a month

will try and post pics soon!

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this really does sound bad -

was the other vet one that someone on here recommended?? A rabbit savvy vet would recognise rabbit syphlis.

remind me whereabouts you are.

PS re the limp - has she recently been vaccinated with a vaccination against VHD? There is a very old vaccination which rabbty vets will no longer use which causes this - if you have a non rabbity vet they may still use it. The limp is a nasty side effect.

The growing crustiness you describe does sound like it could be syphillis (either as the main problem or secondary to something else) if it is going crusty like that. Please get her to a vet as soon as you can, it sounds as if it is just getting worse and if it continues to spread, it won't be long before she won't be able to breathe. They can do a skin scraping which the lab can use to confirm syphillis but to be honest many savvy vets will take the view that if it looks like it, and if it responds to penicillin, there's no point paying out for a test to confirm it. If the vet who was 60% sure it is syphilis is willing to treat it as that, I would perhaps do that as the first option - I know you want to try other avenues rather than use penicillin but honestly, it's perfectly safe when injected and it's got to be a better option than keep treating for other things while it continues to get worse.

There's nothing to worry about if it is syphillis, it is not like human syphillis and is easily cured - penicillin is perfectly safe for bunnies as long as it is injected, many people on here have bunnies injected with penicillin every day or every other day without problem, so the lower frequency to clear up syphillis is nothing to worry about.

Whereabouts are you, someone might be able to recommend a competent bunny vet near you if you're still not confident with the one who thinks it is syphillis.