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Mites/ insects etc

Leesa

Leesa

Warren Scout
Hi, hoping someone can give me some advice, i discovered a tiny little oval insect on the floor where my two bunnies live (in doors) so checked their ears & fur. Ears look fine but they have little brown dots in their fur and I think I saw some smaller insects/mites etc not sure what they are, in the fur too (maybe baby ones). I don't think they are fleas as not jumping. The bunnies don't seem overly itchy. Is there anything I can do for them until I can get a vets appointment tomorrow? Will obviously clean out their living area & start washing their blanket etc. making me itchy myself at the thought!
 
Sorry we missed your post yesterday. I would take them to the Vets, I am not sure what they might be.
 
Just back from the vets who advised it was fur mites but there isn't anything to treat them & said rabbits live fine with them on them & hopefully they will die off naturally. It's so gross it's making my skin feel itchy either though the vet said they can't live on humans. Poor little things, any ideas if there is anyway to get rid of them? I might but a flea comb or something to try and comb them out.
 
Leesa said:
Just back from the vets who advised it was fur mites but there isn't anything to treat them & said rabbits live fine with them on them & hopefully they will die off naturally. It's so gross it's making my skin feel itchy either though the vet said they can't live on humans. Poor little things, any ideas if there is anyway to get rid of them? I might but a flea comb or something to try and comb them out.
Click to expand...

Fur mites, the cheylehella mite, otherwise known as “Walking dandruff” are almost 0.5mm, about the size of a grain of sand, and are visible to the naked eye. They live on the hair shaft and feed on dead skin. They can easily pass from rabbit to rabbit, and even to humans. Thought they don't survive long on humans! They are also going to be present in the rabbit's bedding/ carpets, so the living environment also needs to be treated.

I'm not quite sure why your vet thought there was no way of treating them, as Ivermectin is very effective. Given in two (or even better three) spaced out, separate doses, this will kill the life cycle of the mites.

I should ask your vet surgery or nurse about this ...... (or change your vet?!)
 
MightyMax said:
Fur mites, the cheylehella mite, otherwise known as “Walking dandruff” are almost 0.5mm, about the size of a grain of sand, and are visible to the naked eye. They live on the hair shaft and feed on dead skin. They can easily pass from rabbit to rabbit, and even to humans. Thought they don't survive long on humans! They are also going to be present in the rabbit's bedding/ carpets, so the living environment also needs to be treated.

I'm not quite sure why your vet thought there was no way of treating them, as Ivermectin is very effective. Given in two (or even better three) spaced out, separate doses, this will kill the life cycle of the mites.

I should ask your vet surgery or nurse about this ...... (or change your vet?!)
Click to expand...

Thanks, the vets I currently use have had good details posted about then in this site. I will however phone the vets I used to use (moved house so changed vets).
 
The vet did say that frontline spray used to be used for this but wasn't anymore (didn't actually say it but implied that it was toxic to rabbits). Is it this? He also checked with another vet who advised wasn't anything to treat them with too.will definately phone up the other vets when it opens.
 
Appointment booked in with my old vets tomorrow night - they said they can treat them & sound like the same type as mentioned above. What a waste of £20 last night!!
 
If your rabbit(s) have what looks like dandruff then it is definitely the mite Cheyeletellia which is treated by 3 doses of Ivermectin but I didn't think you were able to see them with the naked eye.

I am pretty sure Frontline is not to be used for rabbits.

Mites are sometimes caused by stress which lowers the rabbit's immune system allowing the mites to take hold.

Hope you get the problem sorted soon.
 
As far as I am aware its thought that a lot of healthy bunnys carry a small number of mites asymptomatically and that its only when something lowers the immune system that the numbers increase and can cause flaky skin a bit like dandruff in appearance. Which may be where your vet is confused, there would be no need to treat unless the bun was suffering visable symptoms. However I always thought mites were really hard to see - you usually see the flaky skin moving rather than the mite itself, hence the nickname walking dandruff.

Your vet can give them invermectin by injection or prescribe you a spot on.

It would be a good idea to keep an eye on the general health of your bunny as and increase in mites can often be a sign of something else.
 
The second vet today was unsure too, but looked in his me fine book & I advised about what was on here & that the nurse on the phone had also thought it could be that. He prescribed Xeno 450 spot on so hopefully that'll get rid on them (3 doses 2 weeks apart). There is not dandruff like flakyness, but tiny brown dots with some of the larger ones can see moving.
 
The brown dots could be flea dirt. Bunnies can also get lice but they are not as common. Invermectin will treat all of them anyway.
 
The xeno should kill various mites and fleas so I expect whichever the bug it will solve the problem :)

The other possibility to mites would be rabbit fleas. The are small brown and unlike cat/dog fleas they don't hop about much and tend to cluster around the ears. It's fairly uncommon for pet rabbits to have actual rabbit fleas, usually they get cat ones which most people are more familiar with.

Here are some pictures: http://www.margueritecie.com/puces.php
 
Leesa said:
The second vet today was unsure too, but looked in his me fine book & I advised about what was on here & that the nurse on the phone had also thought it could be that. He prescribed Xeno 450 spot on so hopefully that'll get rid on them (3 doses 2 weeks apart). There is not dandruff like flakyness, but tiny brown dots with some of the larger ones can see moving.
Click to expand...

It sounds a bit like fleas from what you've just described! However, the Xeno should sort out the problem. Glad you managed to find a vet to help you. It doesn't often get better on it's own ...
 
Thanks, they don't look like those brown fleas either! Although maybe I've caught them quite quickly. Mainly there is tiny brown dots - maybe quarter of a millimetre size then the moving ones are up to a millimetre size but haven't seen that many of them. On Fudge there aren't so many and near his back towards his tail. On Coco they are at the sides below her ears (both of their ears are fine). They maybe elsewhere but she is seriously scared of me at the moment (she'd been having panacur doses prior to the two vets appointments and is a really scaredy cat - she hates being held at the moment) so I haven't inspected her as throughly as him. Fingers crossed it goes with the Xeno!!
 
If we ever suspect mites, mine are always treated as a precaution by the vet with the xeno or if more persistent panomec injection.
 
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