rabbit feet question... Post Vet Up-date: Allergy!

fenchurch · Sep 20, 2006

My bun has mystery hair loss [around mouth & eyes] but is healthy aside from that. seen vet, they have no idea. I noticed tonight that his front feet have no hair on the bottem of them and his back feet look like their losing fur. Before I call the vet again and make a fool of myself...

Rabbit DO have furred front feet don't they??

It looks like he has sore patches on the bottom of his toes... : ( Poor little guy!

melaniejb · Sep 20, 2006

Poor bunny! I have no idea why he's losing his fur but my two do have furry front paws - apparently rabbits have no pads on the bottom of their feet, just furry masses... :?

fenchurch · Sep 20, 2006

Thankyou melanie! My guy has no furry mass - just little sore boney toes!

Wish I knew why he keeps losing hair

doorkeeper · Sep 20, 2006

Could he have walked in something? He would lick his paws and wash his eyes which would explain the pattern.
Otherwise it could be ringworm, try getting the vet to treat for that. Not all ringworm varieties flouresce under a woods lamp.

BirdieBun · Sep 20, 2006

when you say the vets have no idea, have they just left it at that? :?

fenchurch · Sep 20, 2006

The vet checked him for mites, and checked his teeth in case he'd been drooling. She rang the Rabbit Expert who suggested syphilis :shock: but he doesn't have the other sytems; discharge on his you-know-what

Basically they didn't know and he's perfectly healthy aside from that. I should add that being paranoid I took him in as soon as he started losing hair so it wasn't that dramatic. Then when he lost more it seemed pointless to take him back when they didn't know/weren't concerned and he was still his normal bouncy and oafish self. I though maybe he was just shedding excessively and weirdly, after all rabbit hair takes so long to grow back.

By the way, buns name is Earnest.

and he's indoor on tiles so can't imagine it's a bedding/flooring problem

Jack's-Jane · Sep 20, 2006

Could Earnest be allergic to whatever you use to clean your floor tiles?

Ringworm is another possibility. Do you have any other animals in the house?

Janex

Kittykat23uk · Sep 20, 2006

Could it be mange? http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/furloss.html

I know that the pattern of infection of mange often starts around the nose, eyes and feet. I'd take him back to the vets and see if they can do some skin scrapings to check, perhaps they just missed the mites the first time round. :?

colliewoman · Sep 20, 2006

when i took in my rescue buns who had syph, the vet was telling me how important it is to treat the males in an affected rabbitry too as they rarely get the discharge/sores on their 'you know what' despite having the disease. so as you have a little boy i would ask the vet again, as the specialist suggested syph. mine were treated and it has never come back

Tamsin · Sep 20, 2006

Do you have a photo?

How did the vet check for mites? AFAIK they usually treat anyway incase they missed them on the scrapping.

What breed is he? Fur loss on the underside of the feet could be the start of sore hocks.

What does the skin under the hairloss look like?

Tam

fenchurch · Sep 20, 2006

thanks everyone!

Kittykat23uk said:
Could it be mange? I know that the pattern of infection of mange often starts around the nose, eyes and feet. I'd take him back to the vets and see if they can do some skin scrapings to check, perhaps they just missed the mites the first time round. :?

I didn't know that! The vet did a skin scraping for mites, she thought it was unlikely as Earnest has no skin irritation at all, doesn't scratch or anything...

thing is when he saw the vet it was only around his mouth not the eyes and feet...

Colliewoman, I'm taking him to the rabbit specialist [who suggested syphilis] and she should be able to tell... worrying though because Earnest has a friend, Audrey. She however, seems fine.

Tamsin he's a dwarf lop. He's not chubby, on a hay and veg only diet due to teeth. I checked up on sore hocks as soon as I noticed his feet but this is mostly Earnest's front paws - not back. They're freerange housebuns so I can't imagine its poor bedding, else I'd have sore feet too! :lol: :lol:

The bald skin looks perfectly healthy, no irritation or tenderness EXCEPT on the toes of his front feet, they have small pink patches that look abraded and sore, but not panic-bad. I *think* he's favoured his back feet, but they look like they are losing fur too.

He's still running round like a mad thing though :roll:

I'm going to call the vet this morning and make an appointment.

taylor v 109 · Sep 20, 2006

Mange is acompanied by dermatitis normaly on the face nose lips and external genitalia, so i dont think its that. alopecia can be caused by many thing so it may be hard to track down the cause, sometimes its caused by a partner rabbit over grooming or they can do it themselves or in some cases [not yours] by a nutrional deficiency.I have known rabbits that were under the weather for one reason or another to moult out the old coat but the body dosent want to use its energy to replace it while theres a problem of an illness to cope with. As for ringworm that usualy makes slightly raised rings of baldness, so you should be able to tell if its that. I do think you should go back to the vet as the rabbit has got worse and to be fare to the vet he should know this and be able to do some kind of test to see whats happing. val

Happy Hopping · Sep 21, 2006

were they healthy fur or matted fur? Show us a photo.

Does the fur "just fell"? Or did your bunny pick on it?

fenchurch · Sep 21, 2006

Sorry I don't have a computer friendly camera.

The fur is healthy, it just... falls out... :?

Wish I could stick a photo on, he looks really odd.

We've cordened off an area for them and put down an old doona. They don't chew things much so figure its safe. I want to prevent Earnest's sore feet getting any worse. He's seeing the vet on Monday, its a new special bunny clinic which is only open on monday and tuesdays except for emergancies. I'll let you guys know what she says.

Happy Hopping · Sep 24, 2006

When he pees, if he pees on a litterbox, then what would happened is the urine loop back around that litter box and soak his feet, then he would pick on the fur. That could examine why the fur fell off.

I don't have a digital camera niether, ea. yr. I use it, I have to borrow someone else, but in your case, it's very hard to guess w/o a photo.

fenchurch · Sep 24, 2006

Happy Hopping said:
When he pees, if he pees on a litterbox, then what would happened is the urine loop back around that litter box and soak his feet, then he would pick on the fur. That could examine why the fur fell off.

Definitely an explaination. Except that the fur loss on the bottom of his feet has followed hair loss in other places. Sorry I know its kind of useless without pictures.

Karly · Nov 23, 2006

Could be ringworm? Is the skin pink and flakey? If he had it on his feet he may have spread it to his face when grooming, or vice versa.

fenchurch · Nov 23, 2006

Sorry I put answer in the thread title. Vet thinks its an allergy. Earnest's been confined to a pen so we can figure out what too. No idea yet but the hair seems to be growing back.

Thanks for the suggestions.

We've also found a fantastic vet, she rang today to say she was thinking of him and wondering how he was. Then listenied to me rabbiting on for ten minutes.

Jack's-Jane · Nov 24, 2006

I said this ealier on in the thread

Jack's-Jane said:
Could Earnest be allergic to whatever you use to clean your floor tiles?

Janex

.....so maybe?

Janex

fenchurch · Nov 25, 2006

Thats definately a possibility. I did use bleach on the floors. Now use only some vinegar in the litter trays if they smell. Once the furs grown back we'll start letting them run around the house again, obviously without using bleach on the floors!

That will cheer Earnest up, he hates being confined - even when they have their own bedroom! :roll:

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