My rabbit is infested with fleas, help!

My rabbit is a little over 3 months old. I purchased him about a week and a half ago and he is INFESTED with fleas. He's even missing a couple patches of fur on the top of his head because of it. I have been trying to treat him with baths, combs, and a vinegar/water solution I spray on him everyday and in his cage. I even have a bowl of soapy water to attract fleas beside his cage, so they drown in it. I have been taking a pair of tweezers and picking what I can out (if they don't run off) and disposing of them. I really don't want this sweet thing to die. I know going to a vet would help, but is there a better 'at home' solution for this? It seems like he's just getting more and more. Please help! Btw, he was an outside bunny with a couple siblings, he's now inside in a large cage

Hiya - what country are you in? There are 'spot on' products that you can get for rabbits which you put on the back of the rabbit's neck and it spreads across the skin and will kill the fleas and stop eggs from hatching so break the life cycle. What you're doing will kill the adult fleas as you remove them but they will just be replaced with new ones which will be breeding in and around the area so you do need to do something different to your current approach.

It sounds as if he needs treating as soon as possible so I would recommend going to a vet surgery and asking if they will sell you a suitable flea product - they may be able to do this without seeing him (but you may need to register him as a patient of that surgery first). In the UK the main product licensed for treatment of fleas in rabbits is called 'Advantage'. You can buy it online or you could no doubt buy it at a vets or possibly some chemists; online is usually cheaper but obviously you need to wait for the product to arrive and that could be too long as it sounds like your bunny needs treating urgently. You need to be careful which product you buy because some of the other flea products designed for cats and dogs can kill rabbits so it's important that you only buy a product which is suitable for rabbits. If he has so many fleas then it is very likely that there are also loads of eggs in and around the area he lives so I'd also recommend buying a household flea spray and giving the floors and any soft furnishings a good spraying. Again I would recommend a product from the vets rather than one from a pet shop as the vet ones are much 'stronger' and more likely to work effectively.

Good luck with your little one.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

You don't say where you are, however, if you're in the UK, a good product to buy would be Advantage, however, I'm unsure of whether or not you can use it due to the young age of your bunny.

I would definitely not recommend spraying your bunny with anything, or bathing him. Definitely wash his cage and bedding, and change all that regularly, but the others things can do more harm than good for him. You will likely also need to remove him from whatever room he is in and treat the room several times too- if you treat him, then put him somewhere else, and treat the room the same day (and he will need to stay out of the room for a few days, at least), then you're tackling everything at once. To treat the room, you can use RIP Fleas, or similar (can be bought from a vet)- make sure there are no other animals around too. If you have other animals (i.e. a cat or a dog), they will need to be treated at the same time too.

That said, a vet check would be sensible anyway because he is probably run down, may be anaemic, may be struggling in other ways, and if he is struggling in another way, it may be why the fleas have taken hold.

Santa beat me to it- just to add to her brilliant reply- if you are offered Xenex, it is for rabbits, however, it is not wise to use it as many rabbits seem to have bad side effects. Advantage generally doesn't have side-effects.

Please be very careful with him as he is so young to have chemicals - a vet is really the best option. He will need a vet appointment anyway soon to check whether he is well enough for a vaccination (probably not whilst he is so infested) and to check sex etc and arrange future neutering.

As a quick and temporary measure, you can use a flea comb (or other very fine comb) to remove as many fleas as you can manually as often as you can. You will need to either crush or drown them as you catch them, though. They are escape artists. Battery operated human nit (headlice) combs are also good to reduce numbers. They electrocute the fleas as they get caught between the teeth of the comb.

You will still need to treat both the rabbit (Advantage spot on as recommended above) and where it is living. There will be flea eggs and larvae where you can't get to them, and they will re-infest your bunnies. Vacuuming will help to reduce numbers, but a serious infestation needs a chemical approach to totally blitz it. Please be careful with which ones your rabbit comes into contact with, though.

I would also recommend contacting a vet. It is unusual for a pet rabbit to have a heavy flea infestation and it may need checking out in case there are any other health issues. In 15 years, I have never seen a flea on any of my rabbits, although the cats and dogs do sometimes pick them up.

Yep, i'd seek vet advice, just to make sure....

All the best .......poor wee bunny must be so uncomfortable

Fee x